When you think of Primal, you’ll probably think of it as, incredible, action game. Even the opening intro, in which Jen and her boyfriend are attacked by a hideous looking demon, screams raw action. None of which is really true, as you will undoubtedly find out when you play the game. Instead, Primal feels more like a game that seems caught between two winds, with on one side, adventure, and action at the other. Usually, this is no bad thing, but when you’ve got a game that doesn’t manage to do either one of them well enough, you end up with a mix called mediocrity. This is not to say that Primal is a bad game. No, it’s quite a good game actually; but in all but the story and its characters, it never really manages to shine. Graphically the game is absolutely gorgeous. Over the duration of the game, you will be exploring four different worlds, each with their own setting, such as a snowy landscape, where eternal night reigns, or a volcanic maze that is so incredibly detailed, you’ll get hot just looking at it. And all these realms – as they are called – are all huge and very diverse. Rarely will you come across the same location twice; but when you do, you won’t hold it against the game because all of it is a sight to behold, even after passing the same area a second time. But that’s exactly what it is, gorgeous scenery, nothing more. During the course of the game, you will always have a companion by your side, who goes by the name of Scree, who introduces himself to Jen in the beginning of the game, and also provides some information on what has just happened to her, and why. The further you progress, the more you find out, not only about the story, but also about Jen. Things she would rather never have known about; and if she had a choice, she would return home and never look back. But if she does, not only will chaos engulf Oblivion, the world of Scree, but Mortalis -- Jen’s world -- as well. Simply put, it’ll be the end of all that is good. Scree himself is a gargoyle that helps you along your journey, and provides you with advice or information when necessary. But luckily that’s not all that he does. With each realm that you visit, Jen gets a new demon form, to a total of four, which she can transform into at will. Scree can absorb energy from special stones, and corpses of enemies, which in turn, Jen can use to recharge the energy of any of her forms. Without him, she would run out of energy very quickly, and be forced to face the dangers along her path as a mere human; and this would surely result in her death. Of course, even though she’s got Scree by her side, Jen can still die. But when she does, it’s usually not game over, as our stone friend has a certain amount of time to reach a nearby portal, called Rift Gate, to bring her spirit back to Oblivion before her body dies and she is lost forever. However, the little gargoyle has more tricks up his rocky sleeves. He’s also able to posses certain -- large -- objects, allowing him to directly control it. Most of the times this is nothing but performing a simple action, such as making it topple over in order to create a makeshift bridge for the two of them to cross safely. On a couple of, very, rare occasions though, he’ll get to control a statue that he can full control, and actually do battle with. Unfortunately, you’ll never be able to hold on to these fighters for long as they only come into play at a certain point in the game, after which you’ll never use it again. Finally, is also able to scale certain walls, allowing him to reach places where Jen can not go, usually with the intent on finding a way for her to continue past a locked door or other obstacle blocking her path. But if you’re expecting to be able to jump on just any wall, and go explore the area, you’ll be sadly mistaken, as the game only allows you to climb walls where it is necessary for you to do so. It’s not just Scree, though, with whom you’ll get this false sense of freedom. When controlling Jen, in the beginning you will often attempt to explore the world you’re in, only to find that there’s nowhere to go but where the story leads you. Sure, occasionally you will be able to find a secret spot where you’ll find one of the game’s many tarot cards for you to collect, but other than that, there’s really no reason to keep trying every single door, and checking every corner, as you will only end up finding yourself at a dead end every time. But, despite this lack of freedom, you will still do a fair share of traveling from one point to another. This constant running around wouldn’t be so bad if there was actually something that happened, apart from the occasional puzzle, and boring fights, that you run into. Even though the scenery is absolutely beautiful, this still can’t prevent the boredom from taking over after a while, after which you’ll find yourself praying for some action that never really comes. It’s really disappointing to see that something so appealing on the eyes can be so linear, and that this linearity still ends up being such a boring chore. The story and sound, however, are terrific. If there’s anything that will keep you hooked on this game, it’s its interesting story, and a great cast of characters, brought to life by superb voice acting. Every character in the game, whether they play a major role or a small one, not only looks outstanding, but you can also hear that their voice actors really did their best to make them come to life. And it works. The chance of the player skipping the cut-scenes is highly unlikely, as the characters will manage to captivate you every single time, both through sound as well as graphics. And even though the game carries a rather dark, moody, tone, the duo of Jen and Scree manage to provide you with a nice amount of comical relieve that helps make the two even more likeable. Even the music is a pleasure to listen to, with each realm having its own, suitable, tune, and a heavy dose of rock blasting from your television set as you engage in combat. That’s what brings us to one of the worst aspects of the game. The fighting. It’s a nuisance which manages to do nothing but frustrate the player. Using both the L2 and the R2 buttons, you can perform some basic attacks, which you can then, theoretically string together to form some nasty combos. Paired with the fact that you can perform either quick, light attacks or stronger, but slower attacks, depending on how hard you press, it should make for some exciting combat. But just because it should, doesn’t meant it actually will. When fighting, Jen’s movements seem wooden instead of fluent. It feels as if you’re controlling a robot, rather than an actual person. And performing combos is no easy task either, as the controls are very unforgiving and seem to require exact timing in order to successfully follow one attack up with another and create a noteworthy flurry of strikes. This means that you’ll have the choice of either watching Jen closely in order to press each button at the right time, or you can simply mash away and hope for the best. But even this button bashing will soon eradicate all hope of having a decent fight. This way of fighting will, on a regular basis, result in short pauses in-between moves, leaving you open for attacks which you would otherwise easily be able to prevent. The camera, too, is an absolute pain during combat. Even though you have full control over it by use of the right analog stick, and you can center it behind you by simply pressing down on it, you will still face an awkward positioned camera during a great deal of the battles. This, paired with the clunky controls, make it easy for your enemies to blindside you, adding to the frustration. And although in the beginning you will easily be able to successfully defend yourself against the monsters you face because they never really seem to attack all at once, later on you will find yourself getting attacked from various sides, by even stronger monsters, and usually in larger numbers. Add to this the grievance of the controls and poor camera, and you will find yourself near death’s door far more times than necessary. The game has a great story, with a memorable cast of characters, and the alternation between the two main characters works very well, and is seamlessly implanted into the gameplay. Unfortunately this does not make up for the frustrating, and rare, fighting, nor its boring linearity. Even though, overall, it has great sound and graphics that still can not hide the fact that this game tends to have far too many cases of boredom that drag the overall enjoyment of the whole package down.
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