Interesting concept, though the execution is less inspired. Essentially a Serious Sam clone with less fun. Though the enemy types are a bit creative and the shootings solid enough, you usually feel bored. It's nothing we haven't seen before. It's too bad they couldn't have crafted the bizarre premise into something a little more memorable. Still a solid shooter none the less.

Vivisector is a strafe-fest of a shooter that unfortunately feels like a late 90s shooter that came out way past its due date, and not in a good way. The gunplay doesn't have especially satisfying oomph to it, the enemies aren't especially interesting, and the level design is poor. A pity, I was hoping for an experience more similar to Serious Sam or Painkiller.

The game came out in 2006 (late 2005 in the CIS) but even though it's set on a tropical island, this feels more like Doom than Far Cry. It takes a while to get used to the graphics (dated as they are and already were when the game was released) and general feel of the game, but when you do you start to ease in to it. There is so much retro stuffed into this game that it almost works as a time machine. The graphics, the game mechanics, the endless waves of enemies a la Serious Sam; this all takes you back 15 years to a time when shooters didn't have to feature evil terrorists and super realistic graphics. Do you remember Mr. Health Bar and Ms. Full Arsenal? Maybe even their inbred cousin Sir Boss Fight From Hell? They are all invited to Vivisector: TBW!

A very simple but solid FPS with an absurd plot and characters, nominally based on The Island of Dr Moreau. (In practice, the only similarities the plot shares with the book are a) there's an island, b) there's a doctor, and c) there are some animal-men things.)

I'd've given Vivisector three stars for being solidly average, but the super-weird plot and enemies make it unusual enough that I'm giving it four.

Hi,

excellent first person shooter (FPS). Has, jump, crouch, autorun, flashlight, map, abilities to increase + more. Surprising action packed shooter. Enemies like, beastly animals, soldiers + more. Weapons like, knives, pistols, machine guns, sniper rifles, explosives + more. From tropical island forests to military war installations to underground caverns + more. Has NPC's speeches, sounds + more.

excellent first person shooter (FPS),

XDDVX

Primitive shooter that doesn't do anything particularly well...it fails at giving a Half Life style story experience, it fails at being a 'Serious Sam survive the hordes of enemies' experience, it fails with the damage model and it generally fails at making things fun. Graphivally it's not that good either so not worth persevering even for the eye candy.

This game turned out to be quite a lot more enjoyable than I thought it would be. Sure, the graphics were dated even when this game was first released in 2006 - but it has several other things going for it. The weapon arsenal is solid and most of the enemies are really cool and well-designed. If you're a fan of first-person shooters and can look past the low-tech graphics and don't mind the basic, old-school shooting mechanics... well, then there's definitely a lot of fun to be had with this title!

This is one of the least interesting arena shooters I've ever played. Serious Sam and Painkiller are interesting and fun in their own ways but Vivisector just lazily throws waves of uninteresting enemies at you. A perfect game for anyone who loves circle strafing for hours.

This game turned out to be quite a lot more enjoyable than I thought it would be. Sure, the graphics were dated even when this game was first released in 2006 - but it has several other things going for it. The weapon arsenal is solid and most of the enemies are really cool and well-designed. If you're a fan of first-person shooters and can look past the low-tech graphics and don't mind the basic, old-school shooting mechanics... well, then there's definitely a lot of fun to be had with this title!

I had some expectations about this game. Everybody says this is an Oldschool Shooter. Well on the surface it is. But the game dynmaics are too off to be compared to the real classics like Quake or Painkiller. Compared to Quake, Vivisector´s enemies teleporting in awalys precicly behind your back is much much more annoying that in Quake.

And what most other reviews also fail to notice is, that Vivisector is an Arena Shooter most of the time, like Painkiller, but falls short of the finetuned killing finesse that Painkiller delivers so light handedly. Beacuse you need more luck than skill to survive. Vivisector just throws attack waves at you and tries to sell raw force as challange. So we have two core game mechanics that fail in the first place. Not Good.

Same with the Level design. They look like they can be explored but there is NO REASON over the whole game to waste time with that. You get the exploration points while walking the path you have to take anyway, while straying off 20 meters. No use to go further.

The Damage scheme is also totally not inf you favour, even at Normal difficulty.

This is definiteyl one of those game just not worth playing twice! Play something else instead.

If you're looking for a very old school style shooter, then this the game for you. The game has a silly/dumb story but the writing and voice acting is just cheesy enough to make it a good laugh. As for the gameplay itself it's classic old school shooter through and through. Your char can carry a crap ton of guns that range from standard pistol and shotgun to tesla guns that shoot balls of electricity. It does have some quirks such as no reloading or recoil, enemies explode when you kill them with a knife, and Kurt (the protagonist) can't survive a fall of more than a few inches XD The game also has a very brutal damage mod similar to Soldier of Fortune so expect to see a lot of exposed spines and ribcages.

Overall it's a rough but thoroughly enjoyable shooter that is worth picking up if you need to scratch that old school itch.

Um, be careful when purchasing this game. It does not support widescreen resolutions and the graphics are simply dreadful, especially for a game which was published in Europe in 2006 (this is not so evident with the characters and inner surroundings, but it is a sore-eye with the outer surroundings such as forest, sky and so on). The game will try to pull you into its story and universe but mostly with many recycled and re-appearing themes and cliches. This leaves the players with the combat system, which is semi-great. You got plenty of weapons and smart opponents. Too smart that they will instantly notice you, even before you get the chance to notice them. Also, there is an interesting graphic system that registers where you have shot the enemy, which is a fun eye-candy effect.

If you have good tolerance to bad graphics and story, but thoroughly enjoyed games such as Soldier of Fortune and other similar titles, you will probably enjoy V:BW as well.

If you really, really dislike the idea of anthropomorphic cybernetic animals then Vivisector may very well be the game for you. You're literally blowing apart these creatures for the most part of the game.

Vivisector clearly takes a cue from Soldier of Fortune and includes damage modelling that ensures every enemy you encounter won't be getting an open casket funeral. However, unlike Soldier of Fortune, these beasts may well carry on the fight even after you've removed their face with some buckshot.

The most defining influence is unmistakably The Island of Doctor Moreau. But it's not such an overwhelming influence on this game that it's in any danger of making sense. For instance, human soldiers will attack you, despite the fact that you're both supposed to be fighting the cyberfurries. Yet others won't, despite being on the same side as those that do. Going so far as to make demands of you as soon as you meet them. There are other inconsistencies that don't make sense, but I post spoilers here.

There is also an attempt to distinguish the game with an ability to upgrade some of your abilities as you progress through the game. You can increase your speed, health, endurance and accuracy. Points towards these upgrades can be earned through killing enemies in certain ways and / or a certain number of them in rapid succession. You also get points for finding secrets.

Although it runs well on Windows 7 64bit, there are some bugs in this game. Mostly physics based, such as ammo crates dropping out of the level. Sometimes enemies don't open up the way forward like they're supposed to and you have to start the level over. But don't worry too much about losing the ammo crates. In this game there's about three or four times the ammo and health you'll ever need to stay topped up at all times. Especially later on.

Probably the worst thing about the game is the opening few levels. It's as if the developers significantly improved during the development of the game as the gameplay improves throughout.

It's a shame therefore that they didn't go back to those early sections as they definitely leave you with a much more negative opinion of the game. Some of it really is very amateurish. Another thing is that you never need to reload your weapons. Given that this game was released eight years after Half-Life, that's a glaring omission

Those that loved Cryostasis and are looking at this previous effort by the developers as a potentially similar game I have to say don't bother. This is nothing like Cryostasis in terms of either quality or gameplay.

That said, I certainly don't regret buying it. But I might have done if it wasn't £1.50 at the time.

If you don't mind taking a step back from "current" graphics engines you can get a lot of enjoyment from this game. And it will run FAST on modern hardware. When it was released its graphics would have been very unique, and considering that the team that developed this had many members that developed Cryostasis, then you can sort of imagine this as one of the steps on the evolution to that title.

Some of the later levels are trully awesome, especially when you consider large outdoor areas had not been done much before.

P.S. Don't let the first 10 mins of the game dictate to you what the rest will be like.....

Recommended!

This FPS rocks and I really mean it. After reading a fair amount of negative reviews on major gaming sites, I decided to still give it a shot and GLAD I did! Like stated in other reviews on GG, the game starts up slowly at first but gets VERY intense after a while (just wait till you meet up with flame-throwing tigers teamed-up with plasma shooting lion...OMG). Overall sound effects are good and so does the music, still, I have mixed feelings about the graphics...Don't get me wrong, the details in the enemies you'll encounter is great with very neat fur-effect. It's more on the level side that I'm a little disappointed. Most are well detailed but some are really bland design and colour wise. Like I said before, the enemy truly shine and the boss fight are also great...got to love a rhino-tank charging right at you...A great game so do not let the negative major reviews discourage you to buy it!

This is a FPS loosely based on The Island of Doctor Moreau, and you'll be fighting enemies such as soldiers, beasts and cybernetic beastmen. Gameplay is above-average and feels right for me, though there's not much value replaying singleplayer campaign(and there's no multiplayer!). Graphic is good, especially with enemies dissection(even though bodies disappear quickly). It gets sometimes annoying when Gorilla monsters(with mortar!) accurately snipe you from a distance, and when you're trying to break boxes open(they break in REALISTIC way, that you'll have to make several holes on it to grab items inside). Still, It's a fun arcade FPS for hours, good deal for the price offered here.

I am genuinely surprised by how much fun I am having with this game... don't get me wrong I'm all for the more obscure games, but I just didn't have high hopes for this game. The first hour or 2 was pretty boring, but once the action picked up this game became intenesly fun. granted the story is laughably horrible, and the fact that it tries to take itself seriously doesnt help itself.. but in arcade shooters, gameplay is where it matters and this delivers. It feels very much like painkiller.

trust me, get the game and play trough it's crappy start.. it will get worth it. But only if your into arcade shooters anyway

the game was fun i loved it it worked perfectly on windows 7 if you like serious sam, painkiller, or soldier of fortune buy this game

Vivisector is an arcade-styled FPS loosely based on The Island of Doctor Moreau. You play a soldier sent to a tropical island to investigate a series of disappearances, and end up fighting for your life against enemy soldiers and beasts - and later on, beast-men - who have been genetically altered via scientific experiments. The plot is dumb and full of holes, but as a cross between Far Cry and Serious Sam, Vivisector works somewhat better. The levels are varied, wide-open and large, there are lots of creatively-designed monsters, and you carry enough guns and ammo to overthrow a small nation. Put all those things together, and Vivisector is pretty good at what it does. Vivisector doesn't have a multiplayer mode and once you've finished the fairly lengthy campaign, there aren't a lot of reasons to go back to it. But while it lasts, the game is fun enough. Vivisector can safely be recommended to fans of "old school" games like Serious Sam and Painkiller.

An excellent arcade FPS, and one that deserves more attention. The gameplay's simple: move through the levels and shoot the bad guys - but it's done brilliantly. The levels are diverse and imaginative, there's a huge variety of enemies, and a huge variety of weapons to blast them with. More importantly, it just 'feels right,' which is surprisingly rare even today! If you're a fan of Painkiller, Soldier of Fortune 1 or Serious Sam, you'll have great fun here. That's "if you are" not "if you were" - if you find those games dated, you'll find Vivisector dated too. And yes, it is a bit dated. The graphics look like 2003, there are no attempts at realism, and the story's ridiculous. Who cares - the game's fun. Just as games should be. I loved it.