Abomination

aka: Abomination: Action Strategy Mayhem, Abomination: Ação, Estratégia e Medo, Abomination: O Projeto Nêmesis, Abomination: The Nemesis Project
Moby ID: 638
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Description official descriptions

A real-time strategy/action game from Hothouse Creations which put you into a post-apocalyptic world plagued by a deadly virus and an even more deadly alien threat, The Brood. You will take command of an elite squad of eight bio-mechanically enhanced super agents with other more "earthly" comrades to battle The Brood and their followers, The Faithful, to save the world from a dreadful future...

The main goal of the game is to defend the most important areas of the world. A map gives an overview and shows every part of the world which is endangered - clicking on such a point starts the mission. This part of the game is in real-time which means you sometimes have to wait until something happens. These are randomly generated which includes the goals, e.g. killing all enemies, defusing bombs or evacuating humans. For every mission you choose four of your team members which have special abilities, e.g. healing or invisibility. You also choose weapons and other gear for every team member.

The gameplay of the missions itself is very similar to X-COM: UFO Defensive, just in real-time. You indirectly move your team over the map, give them tactical orders, e.g. to knee, to use barrage or to pursue enemies. The game can also be paused at any time to give orders. After a mission is completed you receive experience points which can be used to improve your team member's stats. All new weapons found during the mission are automatically researched by the lab.

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Credits (Windows version)

77 People (59 developers, 18 thanks) · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 66% (based on 32 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.1 out of 5 (based on 17 ratings with 4 reviews)

Man, I'm not even gonna MENTION Xcom...

The Good
What can I say? This game is certainly a mixed bag. For one thing, there's a lot of action that really doesn't ever let up. You certainly become attached to your characters as the game progresses. The game tries its best to be atmospheric (although I think turn based would be creepier) and some of the monsters are downright chilling. You can get into tight spots that are actually pressing. And...what else? Perhaps good fanfic fodder.

The Bad
Oh god, where to START? The overall game looks like it was made on a weekend to fill in time between blockbuster games. The balancing is AWFUL. At any given time there is one weapon to use. The M60E3, the Minigun, when you have these, that should reasonably be all that you're using. There is no balance whatsoever. Not to mention the 'superpowered' Nemesis Project soldiers are positively useless. Detonate can lay explosives? Big deal, its faster just to shoot the monsters. Pyro can zap bad guys with her mind? Hah, it only effects one enemy, and the ones that rely on quality rather than quantity won't be killed by it anyway. About the only useful one is the woman that can soak up a lot of damage. The 'pathetic' normal soldiers are the real heroes, that ones that have skills with particular weapons types. Some of the enemies attack hand to hand, and they move SO SO BLOODY SLOW they'll only hit you if you're seriously effin around. Not to mention the AI - Absolute Idiocy. The computer basically controls its units as such. 1. Close to firing range. 2. Fire. 3. Repeat as necessary. I am not joking. And some of the weapons, well, I have no idea why they were even included, they're so useless. Did I mention the poor balance?

The Bottom Line
I picked this game up for like five bucks. For such a price, I would actually recommend that you do to. For all my ragging on it, the game does have its redeeming features.

Windows · by Kristoff Jean-Paul (2) · 2003

It's great fun to fight the Brood, in a fast-paced, engaging game, right from the beginning to the end!

The Good
Good graphics and sound effects, great music and cutscenes. It's got the most engaging gameplay which forced me to play right from the beginning to the end virtually non-stopped (That means three days without sleep!) A great variety of interesting weapons and special effects. Good random-map generator which never let one tired of the AI-placed tiles. good soldier AI and path-finding algorithm, decent enemy AI. Great monster and level design, especially those extremely long and fun Portal Missions. Engaging War chapter give a interesting change of pace. The isometric-viewed tactical battles are really fun! And the RPG-like experience points system is very well done, give one a lot of freedom to customize your agents' abilities...

The Bad
A lot of bugs when first released (though the first patch has already out to fix quite a number of them...) and the over-head strategy map is not very interesting. The tactical part is not very deep (but this can be a good thing ;) and the War chapter can be a bit too difficulty (and before the patch, it's insanely difficult, but this again can be a good thing for some people) The eight bio-mechanically enhanced agents are not exactly balanced, some got very useful special skills while others are not that good. The overall gameplay time is not very long though there are certain replay values...

The Bottom Line
a brilliant computer real-time strategy/action game with certain interesting RPG elements and good overall feel. And it got great fun factors to hook almost all-kinds of gamers. However, its gameplay is hindered by quite a few bugs (most fixed in the first patch) and some small flaws. Generally it's a game everyone should buy and will get a lot of FUN out of. It's good for a wide range of gamers, and it can be described best as a mix of X-COM and Syndicate Wars, with the gameplay a bit more inclined to Syndicate. However, it also got a lot of its own innovations to distinguish itself out of the others and makes for a great FUN game!

Windows · by DarkTalon (156) · 2000

Another victim of the real-time mania.

The Good
Surely you've played this kind of games: With every step you take, every klick you make, you curse the developers for destroying a solid gameplay with grave mistakes in design. Abomination is a splendid example for this category. In this special case, the cause is the seemingly manic urge to make a game real-time, but mediocre, when it could have been great with turn-based combat. The gameplay is solid through and through; it's basically a clone of the X-COM series, set in an intriguing scenario. The slowly developing plot tied me to my chair. Graphics are well done, although the blood-red city map is rather insulting to my eyes (but then again, it may be style - who knows?).

The Bad
Considering the positive features mentioned above, it's a pity that Abomination spoils all the promising approaches by bad game design and balancing. Combat is always a gamble, as you've got no time to react to the situation -- you're surrounded by a throng of enemies as soon as you fire a single shot. You can pause the action any time; still, tactical decisions are fairly useless, as the silly interface makes them too complicated to execute; simple hit-and-rush tactics prove to be more successful, anyway. My soldiers kept dying too quickly, forcing me to retry the whole mission -- saving is not allowed. Combat is what this game is all about. Alas, the combat system is a failure.

The Bottom Line
Another fine game ruined by real-time combat. Gameplay's too tricky and frustrating to be enjoyable.

Windows · by -Chris (7762) · 2000

[ View all 4 player reviews ]

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Related Sites +

  • Abominable Horizon
    The first and foremost unofficial fan site dedicated to the absolutely brilliant computer real-time strategy/action game, Abomination : The Nemesis Project. Lots of infos, tactics, and more...

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  • MobyGames ID: 638
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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by DarkTalon.

Additional contributors: chirinea, formercontrib.

Game added January 1, 2000. Last modified January 22, 2024.