Pollaxe
Reviewer - PollaxeI had never heard of this game and so I tried to approach it with an open mind. On first sight it was not a game I would have purchased. My game-playing ability is not brilliant. I tend to prefer things like the Total War franchise but I do enjoy a good first person shooter from time to time too. If you want to understand the kind of gamer that I am, imagine your favourite uncle trying to use your console at Christmas and haplessly crashing or getting completely beaten up by the game's bad guy(s) whilst moaning about the controller.
The Good
I like alternate histories and so the premise of the game was an interesting one. Once I was past the first stage of the game (more on this below) I found the shoot-ups quite entertaining. Dodging behind cover, nipping out to shoot another silvery git in the head and the occasional lobbing of explosives (most amusing!) appealed to me too. There never seemed to be quite enough ammunition to be comfortable but usually at critical moments you’d find some. The female lead (Ava) reminded me a lot of Fiona Bruce which made me chuckle.
An appearance of the huge bloke from Prison Break (just before you meet a scientist of famous memory) also amused me (okay, she’s not Fiona B and he’s not the Prison Break guy either but I find such things moderately entertaining.) There was quite a bit of climbing and general monkeying about which I was not used to and that for me was a fairly novel experience as I don’t own a console or play this type of game too often. The graphics were pretty good, the settings quite immersive and they try to hook you early on with the storyline; not unsuccessfully, I might add.
Click for larger imageThe Bad
Well, like everyone else I could not install the game from the DVD. I started on Friday morning but it wasn’t until Friday evening (and on reading the Hexus thread) that I took Kalniel’s advice and copied the disc to a local drive and installed it that way. My first fifteen minutes with the game were also not positive. I found the flying to be very unintuitive. I thought I was getting the hang of it when suddenly I’d do a somersault (presumably on reaching the top of the skybox or just drifting off course from where the game wanted me to be) and be plummeting to earth. I struggled through about ten deaths in a row (bouncing off walls or making like Wylie Coyote) before the game kicked-off. Fortunately, it was then to third person running around and shooting. I’ve only played a couple of console games but this felt very console-orientated. (Is it a port? I don’t know, I haven’t looked but I suspect it could be.)
My biggest problem with this game is: motion sickness. I’ve been jogging around, leaping up ledges and scooting around with a jet pack and frankly, I feel sick as a dog! I’ve had this before with some games but this one’s got me quite badly. As a result, I feel unwilling to play on to be honest – not that this is the fault of the game, though.
Conclusion Overall, I would give this game 7 out of 10. It has enough in it to keep me interested and one thing I use to judge a good game is whether it makes me want to go back and try to do something better or to finish something that I’ve not been able to complete. Dark Void has done this which suggests it is a playable game. My main problem is feeling very sick when I play it and as a result, I'm not sure I'll go back to it.
Pollaxe scores - 7/10