Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - First Assault Online Preview

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - First Assault Online -- I’ll refer to this game as First Assault from here on -- is a multiplayer first person shooter, set in the Ghost in the Shell universe and based upon the Stand Alone Complex animated series. The world is a cyberpunk future where almost anyone can interface their brain with various networks, whilst some people are essentially full-on cyborgs. Think of Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Mankind Divided, but in a Japanese and 90’s style.

The game opens with a short cutscene where Motoko and Batou, the leader and second in command of the law-enforcement division Public Security Section 9, discussing a new mech body, before transferring you straight into a tutorial. Other than this, I have not encountered any form of ‘story’.

First Assault is purely a multiplayer shooter, so if you’ve played an FPS in the last 10 years, you’ll know what you’re doing. While lacking the double jumps and lateral boosts that many major AAA shooters have these days, it does share this new focus on individual characters -- characters from the Stand Alone Complex animated series -- in addition to a variety of unique loadouts.

Like Call of Duty: Black Ops 3, you select a character to use in-game. Each have their own special ability -- ranging from faster sprinting, to active camouflage, to a rocket-firing forearm. Over time, you build up a gauge that lets you use a tier one level of your ability, but by earning kills and scoring points, you can build up to tier two. Additionally, any players in close proximity to you, or vice versa, when a tier two power is used can use its tier one power. To explain, if I run into a firefight and activate my tier two camouflage, my buddy behind me (and anyone else in the vicinity) gets a prompt allowing them to use tier one camouflage, regardless of their chosen character. In game, this adds a depth of strategy to each encounter, with each player choosing the appropriate moment to use their power to benefit the whole team.

You can customise your loadout but there are only a small number of weapons available at first; an assault rifle, submachine gun, and sniper rifle. By using each weapon you earn points towards unlocking its own attachments like new barrels and scopes. Other weapons are available to purchase using an in-game currency earned in matches, but looking at the prices in the market and the slow rate at which you earn this currency, I won’t be surprised to see the option to purchase these with real money added later down the line.

At this stage, there are three game modes available split across five maps based on locations in the anime supporting up to 16 players. Team Deathmatch is as standard and Demolition gives you a single life tasking one team with planting a bomb at either of two locations. Terminal Conquest has the addition of Think Tanks, large robotic mechs that will spawn when your team takes one of the flags. Like in Battlefield, Conquest is a tug-of-war, with teams pushing forward to make ground and reach the other’s final position.

As of writing, First Assault is in an Early Access stage and you can buy variously priced “Access Packs” to get in -- the differences of each pack solely being the amount of bonus cosmetic items you get. The developers state on their Steam page that this game is planned for release as a free-to-play title later in 2016.