Disintegration

Things fall apart

- IAN EVENDEN

PART OF THE HYPE around Disintegration has centered on the presence in the game director’s seat of one of the co-creators of Halo. Disintegration takes an odd approach: This is a shooting-management game, where the manager has a big gun.

Positioned up to 15m above the battlefield on a Gravcycle, shootermanager Romer Shoal has a couple of guns, a healing ray, and up to four troopers with abilities that he can direct to move, attack, or use a special weapon.

Adapted from a racing machine, the Gravcycle is meant to swoop gracefully around the battlefield, dodging enemy fire and issuing commands, all while firing to take down heavier threats and heal allies. In reality, you spend as much time hovering in place, dishing out priority targets and manoeuvering close to green healing nanites. Your troopers aren’t mindless drones, though—they’ll attack whichever enemy is closest or is firing at them, and follow when you move on.