31st July 2004, 8:50 PM
The graphics are very nice, the artwork is great (of coursez -- it IS French, after all... :)), and yes, it isn't just a standard platformer. Or action-adventure. It's also fun. :)
Oh, why don't I just list the flaws I think are in the game again.
Simplistic combat -- it's not awful, but it is quite easy and there is a lot of it for that level of simplicity. But it's entertaining so this is not a big problem. The dungeons are fun most of the time. But I wish that the combat was both more complex and more challenging. Either, or preferably both. There have been just a couple of times when it's actually been a challenge and those have been some of the more fun parts of the game... I wish more enemies were tough. Sadly few seem to be. It's definitely a missed opportunity. Like with all of these.
Simple story. Big issue, IMO. It seems to just not be like a real world. In a real world, no totalitarian government would ever allow the kinds of shows of opposition and resistance that this one seems to ignore! The protesters seem a nice touch, but they seem to just leave them there... even if they round them up later in the story, it should be the way it would be in reality. Crushed as soon as possible. On a similar note, the resistance. It seems absurdly easy to get in to... I'd think that the network would be riddled with enemy informants with that kind of 'security'! And a link to the very top of the network right in this cell? Huh? That breaks every law of resistance movements I've ever heard of... it just is too simplistic. Oh, it's not a terrible story, but it's not deep or complex. It is exactly what it seems from the start: about evil people trying to take over this planet using nefarious means. I haven't had any plot 'twists' yet that I didn't see coming miles away, that's for sure... From a game built around its story I'd expect more than this game has to offer.
On a similar note, the stealth gameplay. Yes, I know that this cannot be Theif. But I think that having the guards just do one blast of that gun and then turning around and leaving is such bad design... no human would do that! I wish it was more like a real stealth game... if you get seen alarms go off and it gets harder to progress, you can be followed by badguys, make the levels a bit less linear (as it is it's really 'rooms that are puzzles', not stealth -- the stealth areas are just types of puzzle rooms, not true stealth gameplay, I'd say.
And finally (continuing from the first on this list), difficulty. Or the near-total lack of it. As I said when we first discussed this game, I really think that the death system was made FAR too lenient. When you die you start just before the room you were at. With one healthbar full (which can be a HUGE gift sometimes). This means that there is virtually no death penalty worth mentioning... you just have to retry the room until you get it right. No continues, no chance of failing the dungeon and having to restart it unless you quit, and no redoing of ANYTHING beyond the very room you are in. It's too easy. I honestly wish that the continue points were spread out... maybe the places where you save? Yes, it'd make it harder and more frusterating at times, but with a challenge level like this game it's needed... or make the 'continue at room you are at' thing a option in the option menu. That'd work too. :)
Score? I'd probably give it about what the PC sites were scoring it... 84 or so. As in knocking off a few points because of the shoddiness of the PC port (compared to the 87-88s that the console versions got on average). Hmm... actually, maybe 82%. Or 84. They're pretty similar really... :)
Oh, why don't I just list the flaws I think are in the game again.
Simplistic combat -- it's not awful, but it is quite easy and there is a lot of it for that level of simplicity. But it's entertaining so this is not a big problem. The dungeons are fun most of the time. But I wish that the combat was both more complex and more challenging. Either, or preferably both. There have been just a couple of times when it's actually been a challenge and those have been some of the more fun parts of the game... I wish more enemies were tough. Sadly few seem to be. It's definitely a missed opportunity. Like with all of these.
Simple story. Big issue, IMO. It seems to just not be like a real world. In a real world, no totalitarian government would ever allow the kinds of shows of opposition and resistance that this one seems to ignore! The protesters seem a nice touch, but they seem to just leave them there... even if they round them up later in the story, it should be the way it would be in reality. Crushed as soon as possible. On a similar note, the resistance. It seems absurdly easy to get in to... I'd think that the network would be riddled with enemy informants with that kind of 'security'! And a link to the very top of the network right in this cell? Huh? That breaks every law of resistance movements I've ever heard of... it just is too simplistic. Oh, it's not a terrible story, but it's not deep or complex. It is exactly what it seems from the start: about evil people trying to take over this planet using nefarious means. I haven't had any plot 'twists' yet that I didn't see coming miles away, that's for sure... From a game built around its story I'd expect more than this game has to offer.
On a similar note, the stealth gameplay. Yes, I know that this cannot be Theif. But I think that having the guards just do one blast of that gun and then turning around and leaving is such bad design... no human would do that! I wish it was more like a real stealth game... if you get seen alarms go off and it gets harder to progress, you can be followed by badguys, make the levels a bit less linear (as it is it's really 'rooms that are puzzles', not stealth -- the stealth areas are just types of puzzle rooms, not true stealth gameplay, I'd say.
And finally (continuing from the first on this list), difficulty. Or the near-total lack of it. As I said when we first discussed this game, I really think that the death system was made FAR too lenient. When you die you start just before the room you were at. With one healthbar full (which can be a HUGE gift sometimes). This means that there is virtually no death penalty worth mentioning... you just have to retry the room until you get it right. No continues, no chance of failing the dungeon and having to restart it unless you quit, and no redoing of ANYTHING beyond the very room you are in. It's too easy. I honestly wish that the continue points were spread out... maybe the places where you save? Yes, it'd make it harder and more frusterating at times, but with a challenge level like this game it's needed... or make the 'continue at room you are at' thing a option in the option menu. That'd work too. :)
Score? I'd probably give it about what the PC sites were scoring it... 84 or so. As in knocking off a few points because of the shoddiness of the PC port (compared to the 87-88s that the console versions got on average). Hmm... actually, maybe 82%. Or 84. They're pretty similar really... :)
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