Bryce Fraser, writer
Shiftsync Media

Scourge Outbreak storyline has you in charge of a squad in the future apart of the rebel group Tarn battling against the evil Nogari Corporation, who are believed to be behind the massive plagues in the game. You start out by landing on a Nogari base to rescue a Reisbeck who has been a spy for Tarn in the Nogari corporation and to retrieve a sample of a meteorite that Nogari is experimenting on.

Starting the game you have your choice of who to play from four different characters. Whoever you choose to play as, will have their own backstory that you will unlock while playing the game. First off, you can choose Major Victor “Stonewall” Dantrix, his back story is he’s from a family of soldiers but has been forced into mercenary for Tarn to eventually receive proof of his innocence. Stonewall is the standard character you would see in most action movies, his stats are that he is fairly good with heavy and light weapons and very good with melee damage and melee resistance, and also very fast.

Tasya “Amp” Semivolkova is a self-destructive adrenalin junkie who is working for Tarn for the promise of a cure to her addiction. Amp is the only female of the four characters, which is great for female gamers out there who are sick of being forced into playing male roles in games. Amp is a standard character generally good at everything, but she is better with light weapons than heavy weapons.

Next, we have James “Mass” Lang, who is more accurate with heavy weapons, great stability with light weapons, and very great with melee damage and resistance.

Finally we have Ramiro “shade” Cortez. He is more of the anti-hero because he is only out for revenge, and because of his appearance the fact he wears a mask and has scars on his face . His skills are that he is great with accuracy, handling, stability, and speed with light weapons.

In the game you have a choice between 6 different control schemes, you can’t customize your own but the default control will feel very familiar to gamer’s, the right trigger to fire, left trigger to aim, the Y button brings up next weapon, and the X button to reload. The B button being the use button in the game might take some gamers some time to adjust to being that so many other games use it as a cancel button, but if it is too much to adjust to there are four other control schemes that have the B button for crouching or melee with feels more in tune with other games.

You can take cover behind objects in the game, you can also shoot blindly over the cover leaving your character more protected, and of course, the player can still see and you even get a laser pointer if one is attached to aim with, this mode is just without crosshairs. You can also aim over while in cover mode, but your character is just a little more vulnerable.

Weapons are straight forward, you get a pistol, shotgun, assault rifle, sub machine guns, and grenades. You can carry two weapons and two grenades. You don’ have to stick with the pistol, the game allows you to mix and match, you can have shotgun and assault rifle combo or even two assault rifles. You also have a usable shield to protect your character and a shock wave ability that can blast your enemies from all directions. Both run off your character Ambrosia. To fill up your Ambrosia you must find cells in the game.

You have a four person squad including your character. The option to play co-op with other players through Xbox Live is available so you can play through the game with your friends instead of a computer controlled teammate, although the computer controlled teammates were able to heal me when I needed it, and to shoot the enemy smoothly. You can order your squad to do things in the game, you can select a spot for a squad member to go to, you can order them to shoot at enemies, also to go and hack a panel, even to heal another squad member. Your teammates can also heal you when you are on the brink of death in the game. Controlling your squad feels really simple and easy to manage.The game not only offers co-op, but also a versus option that allows death match, team death match, capture the flag, and any team option for game play so you can fight against others online.The game is smooth running and the graphics are good for an Xbox Arcade game. The game would be good for gamers who are looking for gamers who are looking for a futuristic shooter for only 800 Microsoft points.