PSX5Central
Playstation/Gaming Discussions => PS3 Discussion => Topic started by: RichG on April 09, 2002, 07:40:21 AM
-
Seems when this game was coming out only me and a few others on the board were hyped up about it. It finally came out but due to weeks of delays in the UK I ended up getting something else. Well i\'ve finally played the game and for the most part its pretty good...
My review...
Well playing the game consists of controlling 4 characters all belonging to the Urban Protection Agentcy which is basically a special police type squard for the future. Set in a future world where buildings tower up into the sky and the underworld is plagued with crime and corruption you, the UPA are sent to investigate some disruptions at a meat factory.
From my initial paragraph you can probably tell this is an action / adventure game. However would you have guessed its also a puzzle game of sorts? The originality and charm of Project Eden is that you control 4 characters. These have special abilities, ones the leader, ones an engineer, ones a hacker and ones a robot (capabile of exploring areas where humans might be in danger, like gas contaminated rooms).
Like most adventure games the story progresses as you play by either speech from the guy upstairs known as the control or happenings in the game. However unlike most adventure games you need to really think how to best use your 4 characters. Some sections of the game force you to use the characters abilities to continue, a puzzle of sorts. A good example of this is when you have to get through this passage. First you would use the hacker to hack into a computer and activate a switch to cause a pipe to swing. Then using your robot you jump onto the pipe and enter the pipe system (where theres gas), and disable the gas. Then you enter your engineer to fix a switch to one of the automated doors so that the hacker back at the terminal can open it. Finally your leader can then go through into the next room where a similar situation is present.
These head scratching puzzle sections are split up with exploring and action segments, the later not being particularry well done. Its not that the action is bad because of aiming or any such problem its just that the action isn\'t all that interesting. Objects around you don\'t break or shatted when your in a gun fight. The people just run round like headless chickens attempting to avoid your gun fire, and finally when their health is depleated they simply fall over. Not very exciting much more could have gone into the action areas of the game.
Theres a fair few weapons in the game which can be fired in two modes. As well as weapons you will be using such equitment as flying cameras and little robot tank like droids to explore the area where your 3 humans or 1 robot simply can\'t fit. The weapons have unlimited ammo in a sense and instead drain energy which has to be charged up at charging areas. Usually around these areas are respawn places so if you do die your character can respawn and then with a little bit of walking join the rest of the squard.
The control for the most part has been adapted from the PC version very well. As you can imagine with these games theres the usual flaws like asking your team to follow one person and someone getting a little left behind and lost. Also sometimes you may want to leave a room and someone is in your way meaning you will have to change characters and manually move them but for the most part its ok. Also they will defend themselves so its not like you have to babysit every character constantly. The controls do take a little bit of getting used to but they do work once you have got used to them and they can be customised.
So thats the gameplay. For the most part its ok but it can get a little teadious at moments. Also some of the puzzles can leave you walking around the level for ages just to say find one switch.
The graphics are for the most part nice. There not incredible but they do the game justice. Generally it runs very quick with very smooth scrolling when looking around. However say you are looking at a more detailed section, the game may slow down a little and suffers from Vsync problems which are apparent with redrawing and texture tearing. Also the game made me feel a little nausated. You can choose between first or third person view, you character takes a little bit to get up to full speed. So first you will be walking quicker and quicker and then turning and then changing characters and prehaps turning them, and then you might be using the flying camera etc, which can lead to a little sickening feeling.
Sound is not that great. I mean the sounds have been captured and they simply go into the back of your mind like most games however in a sense also like most games the sound is just average. Its no Silent Hill where sound is concerned.
Unfortunatly that is the games downfall. It is fairly average. The combat sections are just average, the sound is average, the graphics are "nice" etc. Nothing really makes the game incredible. The game does have some nice well thought out levels and puzzles. Like Halo you will be playing the levels for some time. So the sort of original puzzle like adventure gameplay does make the game fun and worth checking out, even though that can become a little tedious at moments. It definatly deserves more attention than what it got.
7/10
Verdict: A slightly different slant on the adventure genre. Its worth checking out and for the most part is fun.
PS: I never got to try the multiplayer options however one of them allows up to four people to select one of the characters each. I can imagine this to be great fun.
-
thanks for that Rich, nice review. This will be another to rent i think.
-
Cheers Rich, but it\'s just the VSync issue that really puts me off.. it looks horrible
-
Nice review eventhough I hated it... Too boring IMO
-
yeah i really wanted to get this, played the demo, wasnt great...maybe ill rent it somtime, or get it for pc!!
-
Well it seems I underestimated this game. At the time of writing I was on about mission 4, I don\'t normally write reviews of games so early. In this case its ok as the game doesn\'t really change much.
However im about to take it back to blockbuster and even though i\'ve been playing the game none stop for the past week I still haven\'t completed it. Theres still a mission or so left and each mission takes about 2 hours.
The story really does pick up on the later missions and the array of weapons you get later on are cool.
Although the game still feels tedious after long playing sessions.
So in short this game is better than I originally said. It has a good story and the length of the game is very impressive.
Therefore im amending my score to 8 / 10.
I just wish I could actually complete it but even if I played from now till blockbuster closes I know I won\'t see the ending scene. Ill have to rerent it but I think ill rent some other games next.
-
so.. what? Syndicate meets the Lost Vikings? eh?
quite obviously i stopped reading after a couple of paragraphs :p sorry old chap.. its 3am :(
-
I know this thread is older but it made me think about checking this game out. I have passed it up now for quite some time and I think I can get it brand new for 25 bucks or so. Is it worth even that much?
-
This thread is fairly new its the game which is old. :p
Anyway yeah definatly. Its worth full price. Its a good game and its not that old really.
-
or you may wanna get it on pc...cos the way it plays is more for a pc than a ps2 on a pad!!