Sanity First Impressions

GameSpot recently received a final build of Monolith's isometric 3D adventure game, Sanity: Aiken's Artifact. In the single-player game, you take the role of Cain, a cop endowed with special psionic abilities, which are called "talents." These talents are Cain's primary weapon as he attempts to take down psionicly empowered criminals. Unfortunately, even psionic cops can't be trusted with their abilities, so Cain volunteered to have an aggression control chip implanted in his body. As a result, you won't be able to fight unless provoked.

You control Cain through a simple mouse-driven interface not unlike Diablo's - simply click an area and Cain will walk over. When Cain is able to interact with an object in the area, a magnifying glass will replace the basic onscreen icon. Guns, talent power-ups, and other important items can be accessed through the menu at the bottom of the screen. In addition to the health indicator, there is a sanity meter, which essentially shows how much energy you have available.

Though each mission has a single major objective, several minimissions add a good deal of depth to the game. One of the early missions requires you to infiltrate a trailer park to find a woman with psionic abilities who is in charge of the trailer park's psychic institution. Before you reach her, you'll have to help out some local residents and figure out how to disable the psychic center's security system. There is quite a lot of interaction with other characters, and they'll react if you pull out your gun or show them your badge. Though much of the dialog is linear, occasionally you'll be able to select what Cain says to other characters, and some characters won't be at all responsive to a harsh tone.

Sanity will be out on store shelves at the end of September. GameSpot will have a full review of the game as its release nears.