1922. Returning to Ireland, though it may be a bad idea. Awful accents. You're there to repay a life debt. You fought with him in World War I. You wouldn't be here if not for him. Four cruel siblings who won't leave alone their one brother. Only problem? They've already passed on. And yet they won't. You're the only hope. Expert on the occult. Clive Barker's works makes sense for two mediums more than the rest: books and video-games(this has been said to read like one, whilst being a novel). The detail, background, world-building, length, how gruesome it gets, the beings, the events, etc. Having not played Jericho, not taken in a word written by him short of Arabat(the initial of that series, both of them titled that), and only watched Hellraisers 1, 2, 5 and 6(yes, I'm one of the lucky ones to have steered clear of most of the sequels), Candyman 1-3 as well as Dread, I base what I say about him, not to mention Lovecraft, on cultural osmosis.
This has a *lot* of notes. And they are heavy, they aren't in the style that people actually talk, and they play a lot of stuff close to the chest. Much less so than the Penumbras. Of course, that does bring up that this isn't a pure action-adventure like those are. It would have worked as one. Some would have preferred it like that. And where those are all exploration and investigation, this is fast-paced, and this element bogs you down. Mostly, they're spaced out. It's the worst, with explaining what you've got on you, in the opening... where you move for 5 seconds before one cutscene gives way to the next. At least it's a third-person one, with cuts and angles, not you merely looking at a gardener, maid or groundskeeper, who is likely to be murdered soon, expositing, and maybe granting you passage. Of course, it's still a lot of talking. Lot of words in this one. And still no subtitles, and yet so few of them spoken. Too much is told, not shown, and we don't see firsthand what happened before... with one exception.
Other than what is here Kill Bill Vol. 1's respect for what you'll acquire to use in the fight, this, by and large, avoids the standard FPS clichés and traits. It does go back and forth between that genre, and, well, diving into the lore. You'll wanna approach this like one of those. One of the early ones, at that. Strafe, keep your distance, never stop moving, let the projectiles fill the air. Enemies can stagger you, especially if they're using melee. When they surround you, that gets ridiculous. Unless you follow that advice. And consider using the easiest of the three difficulty settings. Trust me, you will still be challenged. This doesn't have modern weapons. The ones it does have, are awesome and, like almost everything in this, varied whilst aiding and fitting the thick atmosphere.
Let's get the obvious out of the way. Revolver and shotgun. Oh, and they have alternate ammo of silver and phosphorous. You can use both barrels at the same time. Molotovs. Those, by the way, you light with your fingers, using pyrokinesis. Same for torches and candles. Admit it: if you could, you would, too. For everything. A speargun with zoom, which can be charged with your lightning. A Phoenix that you can guide. It's straight-up the Redeemer from Unreal Tournament '99. When you get it, you're in a level that has a lot of open areas where it's useful. The Tibetan War Cannon: Cold: freeze small patches of water, slow and harm enemies. It's really effective against a number of them. You can charge it up, by holding it down. It takes maybe a second between pressing the trigger and it firing. Arcs in flight, so it can't go more than maybe 20 meters ahead of you and/or up. It may seem too powerful, even for the delay. It'll one-hit-kill a bunch. And you cannot run out of munitions for it. Don't hit too close to yourself, it'll hurt you, too. It does splash damage. It's alive on my hand, like Half-Life! Only way creepier. And that says a lot. It's an actual dragon's head. And the Scythe of the Celt, which can separate a soul from a mortal shell. You do have to scroll through them. Well, that, or use the menu/ring. It doesn't pause for it. You have to keep it pressed, then point, then let go.
You dual-wield one of these, in your left hand, with one of the spells in your right. Like was later done in BioShock 2. Not 1, for some reason. And this, like System Shock 2, has you using the two options in tandem. Some are boosts, others are attacks, others defense. They use Mana, which regenerates over time. Haste: speeds you up, necessary for some of the occasional, and relatively seldom overly obnoxious, jumping puzzles. Those are also sometimes done with the, sparsely allowed, wisely leaving us wanting more, Flight. I've seen a lot of different takes on that. This one is one of my favorites, as well as a different take on it. You hop, keeping that active, and for 2 seconds in the air to another 2 to ready it for another bout, meaning you can fall and "catch yourself" if it's far enough down, you... swim. In the air. So if you want, you can remain in place. You can go backwards. And while you can go forwards, you're not being propelled. And this is probably what it would be, if you or I woke up tomorrow with wings. Think of birds just learning how to use theirs. And you'll find it tremendously effective. You work for it, and it pays off.
I recommend this to any fan of the author, of survival horror, of having the crap scared out of you. Just beware the problems. 6/10
This has a *lot* of notes. And they are heavy, they aren't in the style that people actually talk, and they play a lot of stuff close to the chest. Much less so than the Penumbras. Of course, that does bring up that this isn't a pure action-adventure like those are. It would have worked as one. Some would have preferred it like that. And where those are all exploration and investigation, this is fast-paced, and this element bogs you down. Mostly, they're spaced out. It's the worst, with explaining what you've got on you, in the opening... where you move for 5 seconds before one cutscene gives way to the next. At least it's a third-person one, with cuts and angles, not you merely looking at a gardener, maid or groundskeeper, who is likely to be murdered soon, expositing, and maybe granting you passage. Of course, it's still a lot of talking. Lot of words in this one. And still no subtitles, and yet so few of them spoken. Too much is told, not shown, and we don't see firsthand what happened before... with one exception.
Other than what is here Kill Bill Vol. 1's respect for what you'll acquire to use in the fight, this, by and large, avoids the standard FPS clichés and traits. It does go back and forth between that genre, and, well, diving into the lore. You'll wanna approach this like one of those. One of the early ones, at that. Strafe, keep your distance, never stop moving, let the projectiles fill the air. Enemies can stagger you, especially if they're using melee. When they surround you, that gets ridiculous. Unless you follow that advice. And consider using the easiest of the three difficulty settings. Trust me, you will still be challenged. This doesn't have modern weapons. The ones it does have, are awesome and, like almost everything in this, varied whilst aiding and fitting the thick atmosphere.
Let's get the obvious out of the way. Revolver and shotgun. Oh, and they have alternate ammo of silver and phosphorous. You can use both barrels at the same time. Molotovs. Those, by the way, you light with your fingers, using pyrokinesis. Same for torches and candles. Admit it: if you could, you would, too. For everything. A speargun with zoom, which can be charged with your lightning. A Phoenix that you can guide. It's straight-up the Redeemer from Unreal Tournament '99. When you get it, you're in a level that has a lot of open areas where it's useful. The Tibetan War Cannon: Cold: freeze small patches of water, slow and harm enemies. It's really effective against a number of them. You can charge it up, by holding it down. It takes maybe a second between pressing the trigger and it firing. Arcs in flight, so it can't go more than maybe 20 meters ahead of you and/or up. It may seem too powerful, even for the delay. It'll one-hit-kill a bunch. And you cannot run out of munitions for it. Don't hit too close to yourself, it'll hurt you, too. It does splash damage. It's alive on my hand, like Half-Life! Only way creepier. And that says a lot. It's an actual dragon's head. And the Scythe of the Celt, which can separate a soul from a mortal shell. You do have to scroll through them. Well, that, or use the menu/ring. It doesn't pause for it. You have to keep it pressed, then point, then let go.
You dual-wield one of these, in your left hand, with one of the spells in your right. Like was later done in BioShock 2. Not 1, for some reason. And this, like System Shock 2, has you using the two options in tandem. Some are boosts, others are attacks, others defense. They use Mana, which regenerates over time. Haste: speeds you up, necessary for some of the occasional, and relatively seldom overly obnoxious, jumping puzzles. Those are also sometimes done with the, sparsely allowed, wisely leaving us wanting more, Flight. I've seen a lot of different takes on that. This one is one of my favorites, as well as a different take on it. You hop, keeping that active, and for 2 seconds in the air to another 2 to ready it for another bout, meaning you can fall and "catch yourself" if it's far enough down, you... swim. In the air. So if you want, you can remain in place. You can go backwards. And while you can go forwards, you're not being propelled. And this is probably what it would be, if you or I woke up tomorrow with wings. Think of birds just learning how to use theirs. And you'll find it tremendously effective. You work for it, and it pays off.
I recommend this to any fan of the author, of survival horror, of having the crap scared out of you. Just beware the problems. 6/10
