The Specialists - Gameplay

Gameplay

The Specialists is intended to resemble a generic action movie and is often compared to the film Face/Off, though several of the default player models, maps, and some of the game-play elements appear to be references to The Matrix. It contains over 29 weapons, many power-ups, and 5 official game-types. Weapons and attacks are highly lethal while accuracy is unaffected by movement, leading to a frenetic pace of gameplay.

One of the features that The Specialists is known for is Bullet Time; the ability to manipulate time to pass in slow motion. Bullet Time has been implemented in other titles such as Max Payne, but is typically found only in single-player titles, whereas The Specialists is mainly a multi-player modification. The game also makes heavy use of stunts, even rewarding players with scoring bonuses for stunt combinations, and also has a simple, yet powerful, kung fu system for melee attacks. Although it is far from being the first shooter to include stunts and kung fu (notable spiritual predecessors include The Opera and Action Half Life), The Specialists is the first to combine them with multi-player slow motion game-play and to integrate the various types of combat (shooting, stunting, melee) into a fluid experience.

The various stunts that can be performed are all dependent on the direction that the player is looking in. Weight is a very important part of The Specialists, as it determines a large part of how the game can be played. Carrying vast amounts of firepower will limit the number of stunts able to be performed and the speed at which the player can move, whereas players armed with only knives or a pistol will be able to move very quickly and perform more stunts. The Specialists contains a variety of power-ups which can be separated into two categories: Passive and active power-ups. Passive power-ups do not require activation; they last until the character is killed and their effect is maintained for the entire time. All can be found on the map but most of these are awarded after reaching a certain status. Active power-ups must be activated to have an effect. Active power-ups last for two or three seconds depending on which power-up is used. Active power-ups can be particularly devastating when used with an appropriate weapon. The player may only carry one active power-up at a time.

The Specialists is also known for its vast number of role player servers known as "TSRP". Role playing became widespread in The Specialists community after the release of version 2.0. While pre-2.0 role play consisted mostly of character interaction with very little plugin support, post-2.0 was mostly Role-playing game style role play with more advanced plugins but very little character development. For a long time, the most common plugin to run role play servers was "talkarea", which allowed players to communicate within realistic distances within the game world.