This game didn't recieve the recognition it deserved. It is an entertaining leap into an untapped realm of games.
John’s powers develop as the story develops. He gradually learns new moves, all of which are very interesting and fun to use. The game’s stealth system isn’t quite what you might hope it would be. If you are crouched behind a wall and completely obscured from your opponents view, the AI will still continue to find you until you find a worthy hiding place for a short amount of time. Occasionally the alarm sounds for a bit longer than it should while the clunky AI wanders around looking for you.
Although the stealth system struggles, the actual face to face combat works great. It is easy to switch weapons in the heat of combat, as well as change psychic powers. Luckily you are also able to switch between conventional firearms and psychic abilities with just a tap of the a button.
The AI isn’t very impressive, but the enemies pose enough of a challenge to be worth opponents. Your powers give you a good collection of different attacks and ways to dispatch enemies, or at least frighten them off to get them out of your way.
At one point in the game you are required to coax a frightened psychotic mess out of an asylum using one of your psychic abilities to calm her. (Add that to your list of strange video game objectives) Your gunshots frighten her and if you are attacked, it becomes a bit frustrating when she simply crouches in a corner and allows herself to be shot repeatedly.
The graphics of the game aren’t quite based on realism, but more on a nearly cartoony style. It is a bit strange at first, but you soon get used to the slightly strange appearance of the characters.
Free Radical, the developing team, takes a page from their popular TimeSplitters series by adding some unique humor into their game. You can use your powers to possess an enemy, and either point a gun or punch another enemy to cause a fight to ensue. The computer opponents also have interesting comments or strange actions if you look in the right places and listen for some quiet or almost imperceptible speech.
The voice acting is excellent. Each voice matches each character very well and the sound is dubbed with the mouth movement very well also, which is occasionally where games fall short.
The storyline of the game is a bit confusing, but easy to follow after you get past the first few bumps. It’s enough to keep you going with a sense of urgency and you get the sense than John Vattic’s mind is a muddled confusing place. He is a very sympathetic character.
After playing through the game once, there are just a few tiny unlock able mini-games to search for. The levels are fairly straightforward and you won’t miss much if you don’t explore everywhere, but it is fun to go back and play though your favorite levels, but that being said there isn’t that much replay value.
I would suggest renting this game, borrowing it, or buying it if you can find it at a reasonable price. This game is entertaining, and a very cinematic type of game. It’s a fun experience that a lot of people are missing out on.