So, what do you get when you cross between Nova Terra from StarCraft and Mass Effect – Everreach: Project Eden. Yes, when you look at this game basing on the advertised screenshots and clips, you really cannot help yourself saying “wow – poor man Mass Effect” or “That’s Nova” (or something like that). Heck, it got me as I looked at it and felt a little gooey thinking it’s Mass Effect on a budget as I need more “Mass Effect”. And even the plot is so cheesy that it hurts so much – that is, humans discover first hospitable planet filled with beautiful vistas, alien artefacts, colonists living in harmony then all communications halted from Eden – you have been send in to investigate and blah, blah, and more blah.
This kind of storyline is so overused it’s no longer funny – like storylines when you have amnesia or there’s a plague – nonsense stuff. So, I marched on as I mentioned before, I need more Mass Effect. And about halfway through, it’s the same ole path – nice vistas yet some squad attacks you from time to time accompanied by some flying robots, and the list goes on and on as this have been done this a million times before.
Then, something happened…something changed about 2/3 into the game. Something that really got me hooked. Out went the cliche storyline and in comes “WTF just happened?” – and I really mean it. It was something straight out of left field and then hits you like a sledgehammer. All I can say is this; it reminded me when I first played Bioshock back in 2007 – the game starts off like some cheap thrill – all that glitter and no gold then 2/3 in, the game does a complete 180 degrees turn for the amazeballs effect. Everreach has done the exact same thing – the amazeballs was in full force that it was simply astounding to see. And here I’m referring to is the storyline.
And this was the game’s saviour – the storyline. If it wasn’t for that, it all boils down to this – why on Earth (Eden) was this game made. It looks like a blatant rip-off from Mass Effect with Nova added into the mix. It’s like wondering what’s the point of creating such a game where it’s obvious that they just want to suck people in like me wanting more of Mass Effect or playing as Nova. Well, the point of making this game in my opinion, was to tell a story that’s not forgettable, and with morale dilemmas and a great ending to boot. That’s something rare about any games as it ticks the important stuff – great plot and a great ending.
However, the gameplay is struggle street to say the least. The controls are clunky as you play Nora (see, even the name Nora is remarkably like Nova – ok, I will stop now) as she cannot jump, gets stuck often and even moves about like she had a couple of drinks. That’s not good when you are trying to solve this communication problem. You cannot even swap weapons whilst moving – she stands still like a stuffed sloth whilst going through the animations of changing weapons. Other words don’t do this in the middle of a firefight. Even when zooming around on your hoverbike, the controls are simply a joke – you cannot mouse look and the control execution seems to have a small delay.
Because it’s tagged as a role-playing game (RPG), it does have an extensive skill tree. Looks daunting at first as there’s no tutorial on it, it all boils down to locating materials to enhance your character. Gaining experience points governs your attributes only. That’s a brilliant concept as it forces you to explore the world trying to locate materials to improve your skills. There are three materials to collect being EM Coil, Energy Cell and Liquid Nitrogen. Each skill governs the amount spend on those three materials, yet some only requires two or even just one. This gives a big tick once you get an understanding of how the skill tree works.
Visually the game is a work of art – it’s decent to look at as it promises that Eden is a beautiful place to visit (or stay). And thankfully the graphics can match that. It’s not cutting edge however well suited as there will be times you want to screenshot an area because it’s that wonderful to see. The art director I believe is Mai-Anh Tran (who worked on Warcraft and others) so that’s another big tick. Sound quality is also decent – the voice acting is decent and thankfully there’s emotion attached to it in some areas where it really needs it. The soundtrack is divine to listen to and I have no idea why the soundtrack is not for sale – I will buy it as it’s that good to listen to. Sets the mood in the perfect way possible.
The game’s length as advertised is about 8hrs so it’s pretty “typical”. I took around 14 hrs to complete as there was a glitch that seems to only affect me. The glitch was, when I load a saved game (checkpoint saves – not a fan), my character had negative stats – yes you read it right – all stats are in the negative. I loaded the entire chapter again and it seem to correct this. Not sure how this was triggered yet this added into my playing time. For achievement hunters, there are 10 to collect and all can be earned during a single playthrough. Mind you, there are some that can be easily missed as I think I got lucky with two of the achievements (not saying which one though).
So, Everreach boils down into two paths – you play it for the “tactical” gameplay or play it for the story. I want both however the gameplay is somewhat lacking – to put it simply, clumsy. The skill tree where you need to locate materials to improve them is a great idea though. The storyline though is brilliant – sucked me right in. This was the saving grace of this game and it really excelled. A couple of morale choices (as some are shrouded extremely well as I groaned at the end only because of my lack of tact) and as explained before, the storyline that suddenly does 180 degrees turn roughly 2/3 in, that’s worth the playthrough just to experience that. Whilst the price tag of about $36 AUD is steep for this game, it regularly goes on special. I feel between $20 - $25 is a good price to pay for this.
So, bypass the obvious Mass Effect / Nova Terra “influence” and the clumsy controls and enjoy the story – it’s a blast.
8 / 10