Games: Second Sight

And I thought I had mental problems.

Second Sight
Developer: Free Radical Design/Codemasters
Platform: Gamecube, PS2, XBox (Gamecube version reviewed)
Genre: Action/Adventure

Some of you may be familiar with Free Radical Design already. They are the creators of the acclaimed Timesplitters FPS series. Second Sight, the team's most recent offering, is a bit of a departure for the group because it steps quite a distance from their tried and true FPS success story. Their newest game is a 3rd person action/adventure with psychic phenomena and a plot that will have you bolted to the couch for hours.


Story

John Vattic is a man with problems. Big problems. He has recently arisen from unconsciousness strapped to an operation table and covered in bandaged wounds. His left eye is swollen shut, his head has been shaved and blood-soaked gauze has been strapped around his chest and arms. He looks like hell, he feels like hell and he has no memory of his life until this very moment. His only knowledge about himself is his name and that he apparently has control over a strange host of psychokinetic and telepathic abilities.

Rising from the bed, he escapes his isolation room and begins wandering around the inside of an odd medical facility, obviously not a hospital, most likely owned by some private corporate entity. As he tries to liberate himself from his captivity, his memory comes back to him in jarring chunks. He remembers himself as a civilian analyst that had been commissioned by the U.S. military to accompany a special task force named WinterICE to Siberia in search of a genetic scientist named Grienko. But, frustratingly, he cannot remember the details of the mission or the events that lead to his imprisonment, mutilation or acquisition of these terrifying powers. Now empowered with the desire to obtain the truth and his own freedom, John stalks the laboratories and corridors of this medical facility, seeking the answers to his questions.

And that's all the explanation I'll give you on the plot details. The game progresses afterwards by having you play through an alternating series of chapters. About half of the chapters take place in the present, and the other half take place in Siberia as John is undergoing his mission with the WinterICE team. Throughout these chapters, John will actually change the events of the past through the flashback sequences, hence the title of the game.

The story really only gets better and better. I'll spare you the details because the plot is honestly this game's strongest point. Each chapter is loaded with cutscenes that push the narrative forward and will keep your interest in tow the entire way.


Gameplay

As Vattic, you really have two different sets of commands at your disposal. First, your weaponry. Free Radical is intimately familiar with the nuances and design of a gun-based combat system, and in that arena this game does very well. You have a healthy selection of firearms to choose from in this game that range from standard pistols to sniper rifles. The latter of which has the coolest videogame implementation of a sniper rifle I have ever seen in my life, outisde of the Silent Scope games, or course. When using a sniper rifle, the entire view does not zoom in on the action as in most games, but instead a small circular window opens up in the lower right hand corner of the screen with the zoomed-in view. This provides a much more realistic feel to the use of the sniper rifle, and as such, makes it this game's coolest weapon.

Aside from that, you've got your normal handguns, submachine guns, shotguns and assault rifles to pick from. The actual aiming and use of the weapons is very well-executed. When armed with a gun, hold down the L Trigger to lock onto the nearest target and press the R Trigger to fire. You can strafe around the target with the joystick while locked on, and you can fine-tune the aim of the gun on your target with the C-Stick at the same time. So, getting those headshots while dodging bullets is actually a pretty fluid and graceful action.

The second set of commands is your list of psychic powers. There are five in all, and I will detail each one individually.

Telekinesis - Lift objects and people (once the ability is upgraded) into the air and move or toss them around. Very useful for many of the environmental puzzles and taking out some of those nastier enemies in a much quieter fashion than shooting them.

Healing - Burn PSI to heal your wounds. When in use, Vattic is immobile and thus completely susceptible to attack.

PSI Attack - Either burn half of your PSI meter to hurl a fatal ball of psychokinetic force at a single target or burn about 75% of your meter to unleash an area-wave of PK force unpon all enemies in range.

Charm - When in use, Charm alters the perceptions of living creatures around you, making you invisible to their attention. While this absolutely works against all living beings, it does not work against machines. Therefore, security cameras will still see you and still broadcast your presence to those watching the cameras. Also, this power will lose it's effect if you collide with another person. Charm can also be used to calm hysterical persons and to give orders to some NPCs.

Projection - Removes Vattic's consciousness from his body, allowing him to roam freely, completly undetected by other people and any form of security measures including cameras and laser-barriers. While Projected, Vattic can interact with the world around him to a very limited extent, meaning he can flip switches and open doors. Vattic's projected form cannot be seen by anything, and cannot be hurt in any way shape or form. However, while projected, Vattic's corporeal body lies prone, and should a hostile locate it, he will start absorbing damage from their attacks. Once upgraded, Projection allows Vattic to temporarily possess the body of a single living being.

Each of these abilities is useful in it's own right. Most likely, the most commonly used of the bunch would be Telekinesis, mainly because it's the first ability you recieve and it has the most widespread applications. The least useful of the bunch would probably be PSI Attack, simply because you've got guns to do the damage for you, and you should probably be hanging onto your PSI for things like Healing and Charm. However, that's not necessarily a big deal because Vattic's PSI meter recharges over time.

Aside from those commands, Vattic is capable of all the basic abilities such as running, opening doors, activating switches and so forth. There is no real jump command, but you do have the ability to hang onto ledges, climb ladders and all of that stuff. There aren't any real platform elements in the game, so a jump command would have been pointless.

One of the things that most people will question immediately in regards to this game is whether or not it shares any similarities with the recent PS2 psychic action title Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy. Yes, both feature a similar list of psychic abilities and a focus on gunplay. To be perfectly honest, Psi-Ops did a better job of integrating the psychic abilities and gunplay together in a more seamless fashion. You can lift enemies into the air and fill them with bullet holes in Second Sight as well, but the actual mechanics of pulling it off are a bit tricky. On top of that, the actual physics of each liftable object in Psi-Ops felt much more real. Lifting a large wooden crate felt genuinely different in terms of weight and inertia than lifting up a soldier. In Second Sight, the physics of all liftable objects feels just about the same, with no real differences in the weight or momentum of larger or smaller objects, which is a bit disappointing.

Thankfully, both games feature a fantastic rag-doll physics engine. Tossing a guard against a wall in Second Sight will cause him to slump onto the ground at the correct angles. Tossing people around in this game looks great because their arms, legs and necks will bend and twist at the correct angles dependant upon the surface that they land upon.

The places where Second Sight trumps Psi-Ops, however, are much more plentiful. First and foremost, level design. I have played quite a good bit of Psi-Ops, and throughout the entirety of what I saw, I never once felt as though the setting was an actual military installation. To me, it looked like a videogame level, filled with oddly placed corridors and side-rooms that seemed to serve no purpose other than to house the single switch you needed to flip in order to progress through to the next area. The areas in Second Sight are much better, ranging from the initial Osiris Medical Facility, to the dark and damp Penfold Asylum to the frozen lands of Siberia. Each area is designed to feel like an actual, functioning location. The hallways and laboratories of the Osiris facility feel like parts of a real location and not just some random level from a videogame. My personal favorite areas from the game are the Siberian regions, due in large part to the graphics, level design and the fact that you get to use that kickass sniper rifle a whole lot.

The other major areas where Second Sight undoubtedly outdoes Psi-Ops are in the plot (duh), firearms mechanics, stealth aspects, PSI selection and the regeneration of the PSI meter. In Psi-Ops, you have to find PSI powerups to replenish your psychic abilities, as opposed to Second Sight, where the meter just refills over time.

If I have one major gripe with the gameplay, it's that the entire game is just a little too easy. Mr. Vattic is capable of absorbing an inhuman number of bullets before succumbing to death, and some of the powers like Projection can take a little of the challenge out of clearing a room full of enemies. Being able to possess an enemy from a safe distance and then use him to wipe out his buddies is certainly fun, but there should be more serious reprocussions for it. As long as you get the possessed guard away from the bodies before releasing control of him, he'll most likely not be able to make it back to the scene of the crime before you have a chance to catch him and plug him full of lead. Possessing a guard should have immediate consequences. The possessed guard, when released, should be asking "what the fuck just happened?!" followed by going into alert status afterwards.

If there is one balancing attribute to the gameplay, it's that if you get spotted by the enemy, they will radio it in and in moments you'll have a literally endless stream of guards to fight off. Unless you can evade them and find a good hiding spot, they will not give you any peace until you're dead. Avoiding their gaze isn't terribly difficult, but once you get caught, losing your pursuers is a much more difficult task.


Graphics

Second Sight uses a very similar graphical presentation to the Timesplitters games in that the character models have an odd, exaggerated, almost cartoonish look to them. They don't have blue hair or huge anime eyes, but their proportions are slightly charicatured, giving them a very distinct and memorable appearance. All of the animations are very fluid, and slightly exaggerated like the models. Personally, I love the character presentation in this game. It's a very distinct artistic approach that still retains enough realism to hold onto the credibility of the game's atmosphere.

The environments are even better, however, especially the Siberia levels. In the arctic regions, snow flurries around the characters realistically, the sun barely pushes through the gray sea of clouds and the plantlife and man-made structures feel as though they truly belong where they were placed. The other environments are all commendable as well, especially the Asylum and Streets levels, which have a palpable sense of decay and ruin to them. The stark contrast to those areas would be the sterile, white Osiris facility, with gleaming tile floors and spotless glass walls.

The special effects in the game are also very well done. Each of Vattic's PSI powers has a distinct appearance. The Charm ability makes his entire body translucent and blurry, almost as though someone rubbed vasoline over the lens of the camera to blur him out. The Projection ability creates a ghostly blue energy-Vattic that flickers in and out of vision. The PSI Attack power creates a visual warping of the air around his hand as he charges the ball attack, and causes a rippling distortion that spreads violently outward when the wave attack is unleashed. Other effects such as the muzzle flashes from guns and the blood from fallen enemies are also handled very well. It's sickly amusing to watch Vattic leave behind dripping, bloody footprints when he stepts over the body of a downed opponent.

All in all the graphics are fantastic. I can't find a single flaw.


Sound

For a creepy, sci-fi, psychic thriller, Second Sight features a list of tracks that echo that of the Metal Gear Solid games very closely. A lot of quasi-industrial themes, some spookier ambient pieces and a very Silent Hill-ish horror track used towards the end of the game. All in all, the music is pretty good. The only truly memorable piece is the title theme, but the rest of it gets the job done pretty well.

The sound effects are also fairly well-done. All are up to par with what you'd expect. Gunfire, footsteps and other standard effects all sound as you would expect them to. Vattic's shoes create a different sound when walking on tile, wood or snow. My one wish is that Free Radical had added a little extra detail to the sound effects so that when Vattic is walking around leaving bloody footprints, his shoes would squeak appropriately. That would have been the bow on that fairly morbid package.

The voice acting can be a bit of a mixed bag. For the most part, it's great. Vattic, Jayne Wilde, Colonel Starke and the rest of the American characters in the game sound just fine. The more negative side of the spectrum comes from characters like "Tex" and "J.C", who both speak through slightly painful stereotypical southern and spanish accents, respectively. I wish that they had hired actors who actually have those accents, because the individuals playing the "foreign" characters in the game are obviously forcing the accents, and as such, it seems a bit hammy to me.


Flaws

I'll re-state these for convenience.

1) The PSI powers weren't balanced perfectly. PSI Attack feels pretty worthless when compared to your guns, while Telekinesis is capable of neutralizing some of the toughest foes the game throws at you.

2) The gunplay and PSI powers should have been molded together more seamlessly. As far as I can tell, you can't have a gun and a PSI power active at the same time without going through an overcomplicated process of "re-equipping" your active command. It would have been nice to be able to just seamlessly lift an enemy into the air and start filling his guts with bullets without having to momentarily pause the action to "equip" your gun in place of Telekinesis. It's not like you have to actually go into the pause menu to do this, all of the weapons and PSI powers are mapped to the D-Pad. It's just not as fluid as it should be.

3) When using Telekinesis, the objects you're manipulating really don't have much in the way of realistic physics or weight. A giant metal crate feels no different than levitating a gun.

4) On the Normal difficulty, the game is just a little too easy. Vattic can shrug off an inhuman amount of bullets entering his midsection and certain powers like Projection can make the process of clearing a room full of enemies slightly too simple.

5) Some of the characters' voice acting can come across as hammy or contrived. Tex and J.C. are the prime culprits here, sporting accents that will make you cringe.


Overall

I enjoyed the hell out of this game. The story truly is top-notch and kept me guessing the whole way through. The gameplay is, by-and-large, very good with some truly entertaining and useful PSI powers and a hell of a lot of bullets flying around. The graphics are incredible, with some of the absolute best arctic environments I've ever seen in a game. The music is effective and sound effects work nicely. The voice acting is certainly very good, with only one or two very minor flaws.

If you're looking for a great, atmospheric "thriller" game, I would highly recommend giving this one a try. Although a little short, at only about 12 to 13 hours on average, the adventure is great while it lasts and is certainly worth the 30 dollar pricetag. You can thank me later.


Score: 8.4