GheeTsar
Reviewer -GheeTsarThings I really liked:
* The game’s ambition – some really good ideas amongst the rehashed fodder that makes up the rest of the game
* The vertical sections – loved these and I almost got vertigo!
* Frantic battles using the jetpack. At first I played this game like a Gears of War/Mass Effect game, but soon found it was much more fun to use the jet pack to leap/fly over the battle and rain destruction from above.
* A very good musical score – much better than most games
* The final boss looks great (if very easy to beat)
* Hijacking spacecraft!
Things I quite liked:
* I liked being able to upgrade weapons, which were pretty good fun to use anyway.
* The graphics were good in places, especially some of the jetpack levels
* The game gets better as it goes on and I enjoyed using the jetpack once I got the hang of it.
* Some of the watcher animation was pretty good
* Good feeling of scale – some environments felt huge
* Some humour included – there are nods to Star Wars and Back to the Future
Click for larger imageThings that could have been better:
* Characters – voice acting was largely sub par (although not dire) and some of the models were poor (eg: Nikola) and the animation was not up to modern standards. For me it was a trip to the uncanny valley.
* Plot – third rate and clichéd mostly, some bits ok though
* Not enough polish/bug testing (eg: lacklustre menu, some clipping issues)
* Collect-em-up journals did not offer enough reward for the effort of hunting for them
* Mouse/keyboard controls took a bit of getting used to in the air, but worked sufficiently well after practice.
* AI – pretty basic and it didn’t really put up much of fight
* Could have made for an excellent multiplayer – but none provided.
Things I really did not like:
* Installation – in short it took five install attempts to get this working and much frustration
* Crashing – a further hour was wasted trying to resolve framerate stuttering and crashing during cutscenes (this was successful in the end). Later it completely locked up my machine requiring a hard reset while I was paused to go to the loo
* It’s too short – the game took just over 5 hours to complete - not what I’d expect from a full price title. It’s pretty easy on normal too – which doesn’t help the playtime issue.
* Sniper rifle aiming – nearly impossible for some reason
Conclusion
Once you’ve got through the opening stages it does offer some really good, if short-lived and unpolished, fun. If there were no installation/crashing issues I’d give it 7/10 but as it is I think 6/10 is more appropriate.
If this game gets reduced to budget and the crashing can be resolved with a patch, I reckon it would be worth considering.
GheeTsar scores 6/10
