I’ve never had a game cause me so much pain.
I absolutely loved the first hour of this. Hell, I loved the entire first half. I was so into it. I was digging the absolute shit out of it. And Yknow, there were tonal inconsistencies here and there, but whatever. It’s from 2005… who cares… right?
I had no idea. No clue. Absolutely not an inkling of what I was in for with the last quarter of this game.
Let me start by saying how incredible the premise of the game is. I love how much is had going for itself right off the bat. You have a story about a man who’s possessed, and regains consciousness to find he’s murdered someone. Playing as him, you have to cover it up and figure out what the hell happened, all while you’re also playing as the detectives who are looking to find and arrest him!
Holy shit guys, like that’s an awesome idea. There’s a supernatural element that really works, and on a narrative level, I love the back and fourth between the parallel storytelling. Plus the environment all of this is set in rocks so damn hard.
The game keeps up its quality for a while. It starts to meander into the supernatural stuff a bit hard at the end of the first half, and that began to worry me, though not in any significant way. It was alright. That angle kept the story intriguing for a while.
All of the little character moments were great also. Digging into their day to day lives, their secrets, etc. it fleshed everything out really well. But then there’s a giant shift that occurs. The murderer becomes Neo from the Matrix… and it doesn’t stop there. We learn there’s this underground society, and an indigo child that can save the universe, and AI trying to stop them, but also you, and also… wait, what the f***?
Huh??????
What a hard left turn. You have such a richly set up, grounded story… and that’s where you take it??? Why? What happened??
It hurts so bad because, despite the clunky tank controls… this was shaping up to be a new favorite game of mine. On a narrative level, it was such a unique and exciting experience. I genuinely had so much love for it. And it feels like the cloth was ripped from right underneath me.
I’ll always love the first half of this game, and I’m sure I’ll replay it. But I will likely never get over, or return to the back half. What a shot to the heart.
I absolutely loved the first hour of this. Hell, I loved the entire first half. I was so into it. I was digging the absolute shit out of it. And Yknow, there were tonal inconsistencies here and there, but whatever. It’s from 2005… who cares… right?
I had no idea. No clue. Absolutely not an inkling of what I was in for with the last quarter of this game.
Let me start by saying how incredible the premise of the game is. I love how much is had going for itself right off the bat. You have a story about a man who’s possessed, and regains consciousness to find he’s murdered someone. Playing as him, you have to cover it up and figure out what the hell happened, all while you’re also playing as the detectives who are looking to find and arrest him!
Holy shit guys, like that’s an awesome idea. There’s a supernatural element that really works, and on a narrative level, I love the back and fourth between the parallel storytelling. Plus the environment all of this is set in rocks so damn hard.
The game keeps up its quality for a while. It starts to meander into the supernatural stuff a bit hard at the end of the first half, and that began to worry me, though not in any significant way. It was alright. That angle kept the story intriguing for a while.
All of the little character moments were great also. Digging into their day to day lives, their secrets, etc. it fleshed everything out really well. But then there’s a giant shift that occurs. The murderer becomes Neo from the Matrix… and it doesn’t stop there. We learn there’s this underground society, and an indigo child that can save the universe, and AI trying to stop them, but also you, and also… wait, what the f***?
Huh??????
What a hard left turn. You have such a richly set up, grounded story… and that’s where you take it??? Why? What happened??
It hurts so bad because, despite the clunky tank controls… this was shaping up to be a new favorite game of mine. On a narrative level, it was such a unique and exciting experience. I genuinely had so much love for it. And it feels like the cloth was ripped from right underneath me.
I’ll always love the first half of this game, and I’m sure I’ll replay it. But I will likely never get over, or return to the back half. What a shot to the heart.