Dirty Bomb (video game)

Gameplay

At the beginning of a match, the player is placed on either the attacking or defending team and must complete various objectives in order to win the round, while fighting both the opposing team and the clock. The player can choose up to three mercenaries, or 'mercs', to play as during the round, and can switch between them freely between lives. Teamwork and communication are strongly encouraged during the game, hinted at by the ability to revive 'downed' players, as well as the fact that being the 'lone wolf' often leads to a short life. The gameplay is based on Splash Damage's previous titles Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars and Brink, such as similar classes, gameplay objectives, and certain classes having access to abilities like placing ammunition packs, healing stations, or sentry guns. The main goal of the attacking team either begins by repairing and escorting an Extraction Vehicle, abbreviated to 'EV' in-game, to a predetermined location, or to plant C-4 on a certain target. The objectives after that point are more varied from map to map; for example, on the maps Trainyard and Bridge, the attackers' goal is now to steal data cores/drug samples from the defending team and deliver them to a helicopter, while on the rest of the maps, the objectives are only to destroy various targets. Also available on each map are 'side objectives'; objectives that aren't mandatory to complete, but assist the attacking team in completing their ultimate goal. Attackers are encouraged to take advantage of these side objectives before the defending team is able to seize them. There are currently three playable game modes: Objective, Stopwatch and Execution mode. There is also a Competitive mode but it is just the same as Stopwatch. In objective and stopwatch you can have up to 16 players making it 8 vs 8. In Execution you can have up to 14 players making it 7 vs 7. However, in competitive even though it is the same as stopwatch there is a cap of 10 players making it 5 vs 5.

In Objective mode, the aim is for the attacking team to complete all of the maps objectives before the time runs out. If they are unable to do so, the defending team wins. In Stopwatch mode, the mode is similar to Objective but there are actually 2 games played, one time you are attacking, and the other you are defending. The team that completes the objectives faster wins the game. It is also possible for games to end in a draw, and overtime is also implemented where appropriate. In Execution mode, there are two ways for the attackers to win, either kill all the enemy players or plant C-4 and destroy one of two available pylons. The defenders can win by defusing the C-4 after the attackers have planted the C-4, or by killing all the enemy players, or if the 2 minute time limit expires. It operates in a best of 12 rounds system, where the first team to win 7 rounds wins the game. Draws are also possible if both teams win 6 times. In Execution mode, there are no respawns, so if you die you must wait until the round is finished before you can resume playing in the next round. Players that are incapacitated although not completely finished can still be revived by medics, or be helped up by any teammate to continue fighting. After 6 rounds, the attackers and defenders switch sides. Objective and Stopwatch modes currently have 6 maps available, including Chapel, Underground, Bridge, Terminal, Dome and Trainyard. After a game is complete, there is a voting system where the players in the lobby can vote on one out of 3 maps (in rotation), and the map with the most votes gets selected. Execution mode currently has 3 maps, Market, Overground and Gallery.

There are currently 19 mercs that the player can choose from after they are unlocked. Each merc also falls into a certain role; Engineer, Fire Support, Medic, Assault, or Recon.

Loadout Cards

Load out cards in Dirty Bomb play a key role in the games progression and what keeps the players addicted to the game besides the actual gameplay. There are many different variations of the cards which can be unlocked within the game. These cards can be unlocked either by playing the game and opening cases or the game offers another option in which a player can purchase cases with real money to offer the player a better chance of obtaining a higher ranked card. There are nine different variations that the cards can fall in; Default, Lead, Iron, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Cobalt, Obsidian, and Special Edition. Each card the player acquires can come with a different camo for the merc to wear, and depending on the variation of the card, it can come with a number of augments, with three augments being the most any card can have.

Development

During development, the name changed from Dirty Bomb to Extraction and back to the original name, Dirty Bomb. Dirty Bomb entered open beta in June 2015 on the digital distribution platform, Steam as a free-to-play game. In the first release of the game the player could choose from 12 playable mercenaries. The two initial modes were 5 vs 5 and 8 vs 8. As of April 2016, there are 19 mercs available. Each month the development team releases an update to either fix issues in the game or to add new content such as maps, mercs, events, etc.

Reception

Dirty Bomb received positive and average reviews with a 63 Metacritic score based off 8 critic reviews.