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Quality Indie Games: Soldat

By Trevor Fehrman . October 26, 2006 . 11:45am

Soldat is a unique multiplayer game freely available for download from developer Michal Marcinkowki. The game plays like a cross between Quake 3: Arena and Worms, and somehow manages to make an excellent argument for the continued marriage of the two. With a wide variety of multiplayer maps, game modes and weapons, Soldat constitutes one of the most fully featured free titles out there. I love games like these: games lacking in all that flashy rigmarole of their retail counterparts. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I necessarily have anything against retail games; quite the opposite, in fact. It’s just that when you compare many of those games with a game like Soldat you realize that they’re relatively on par with each other in terms of complexity under the hood; one is just wearing far more expensive clothes than the other.

You can play Soldat with your friends or with bots for some laid back fun, but the action only gets really furious when you try your skills against the regulars playing in one of the games many open servers. That’s “servers” with an emphasis on the word “serve”. I’m going to be real clear about this from the get go just so that there’s no confusion, don’t go into your first game of Soldat thinking you’re going to be able to hold your own. You will, in all likelihood, get viciously beaten. But hey, that never stopped you from enjoying either Q3:A or Worms before right? Or am I the only one who sucks at those games…

I really like to see games like these flourishing. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy to know that there’s still room for the independent spirit in video games. Soldat may not be pretty, it may not support 7.1 surround, hell it may not even seem as if it’s entirely finished, but I’ll be damned if it isn’t fun.

TAGS: Indie Games, PC

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Kerberos

Aah, the good old times with Soldat. Does anybody remember the old game Abuse?

The controls are just like that (walking/jumping with the keyboard, aiming with the mouse).

The Graphics aren't eye bursting, but they fit the style of the game (like the wacky landscapes in worms).

The Sound? Hmm....I usually crank my music up when I play it, but the 3 standard songs are pretty good. The FXs have been chosen with care, except for a few.

And the best part about Soldat?

This freeware can be modded with almost no tools! I have seen a lot of mods for this game (Counter Strike, Unreal Tournament, Firearms, Halo...), but "sadly" it only changes the looks of the sprites and sounds, but it's nice if you wanna have some theme in your carnage.

All in all: Soldat is good for a quick fragging with friends or bots ^^

-Kerberos