Pariah review

The hype from Pariah has been growing in my mind for quite some time, since I first spoke with members of the development team about their all new project, before it was even publicly revealed.

Digital Extremes has put the Unreal engine to good use here, giving you control of Doctor Jack Mason, as he tries to uncover the truth behind a mysterious prisoner called Karina who is host to some kind of strange virus.

Conspiracy, murder, and treacherous companions fill the plot which while stronger than many first-person shooters around does delve into the realm of predictability and cheap plot devices, all presented with between level cinematics that do little more than break up the gameplay. The real question on everybody’s lips however, is whether or not the rest of the game makes up for it.

That wibbly effect

Visually, Pariah remains quite impressive for most of the game. Each level retains its distinctive style well, and various set pieces show off the engine rather well. Characters and enemies look detailed, though not to the same kind of level as Half-Life 2 has set, and there is even a nice warping heat wave effect that is (over?)used throughout the game in a variety of different places.

Overall, the graphics seem to have taken a slight blow by the fact that the game was designed to be released for the Xbox at the same time, playing a little more on the limitations of the console, with very little work seemingly done to improve them for the PC.

There's an involving atmoshphere, mainly due to the well used sound and general ambience that compliments other aspects of the game well. Music captures the tone of sequences and general exploring dramatically and the voice acting is performed admirably.

Aimed for the Xbox?

It seems obvious from the start of play that the game was heavily tweaked to fit in with a console gaming style. Halo's established style of recharging health is used, with a small tweak that helps the game remain unique; health packs that once picked up must be used, taking your hands away from your weapon for a few seconds.

With a series of health bars, each will recharge while there is any health left in it, but if it is completely wiped out (a surprisingly quick and easy feat) then the health packs must be used to bring it back.

Other weapons seem to follow the standard FPS fare, but scattered around the levels are energy cores that can be used to upgrade each of your weapons to make them more powerful, or give them extra features.

Each weapon has three levels of upgrade, for example the sniper rifle that offers a Thermal-Vision upgrade, a larger clip size before requiring a reload, and armour piercing bullets that cause more damage per hit. While a fun addition, they are by no means necessary, and I had already played through the game once before I realised what they were for (cleverly rushing straight into the game without reading the manual).

What are weapons for?

The enemies in the game are quite a challenge from the start, though they change very little throughout the game. With few exceptions, you are left facing very similar looking humans throughout the whole experience, which leaves the player feeling like it is very repetitive. A couple of bosses (humanoid of course) at certain major plot moments are somewhat clever, yet remarkably easily dispatched once the simple task of stopping them recharging their health is accomplished.

While the enemies remain consistent, the levels themselves look very varied and unique, so your surroundings will keep you entertained, despite some flaws. When transitioning between levels, a disappointment seems to be that they do not flow well into one another. Leaving one level of a certain style drops you into an entirely new location, with nothing to link the levels together; Like teleporting from one place to another, it destroys the illusion of a consistent world that most other games manage easily.

Some levels do put you into interesting situations, flying along, trying to board an enemy vehicle, and others give you vehicles to drive and explore with. The physics engine is shown off quite well in these scenarios, yet they do become dull quickly too.

More checkpoints than a racing game

The save system has certainly been ripped out of the necessity of being released for consoles, with an inability to save anywhere being replaced with invisible checkpoints around the levels that you can continue from should you die.

They are placed well, though can become frustrating when you succeed at a very tricky section, only to be thrown right back to before it because of a stray grenade or an enemy you have missed that can quickly decimate you if he catches you unawares; especially when it takes you back to a checkpoint that begins with a 3 minute unskippable cinematic.

Infected

Perhaps this was a method of extending the game, because overall I felt it was a rather short experience. At the ending, I was half expecting the real plot to be revealed, so that I could get going with the rest of the game.

Fortunately, a multi-player mode extends the life greatly, throwing in everything from vehicular combat to upgrading weapons and a host of game modes that aren’t unique to the game, but are borrowed and extended successfully.

Overall, I would say that Pariah never lived up to the potential it clearly showed from the start. There are lots of great elements to the game, but nothing that stands out as being worthy of a purchase alone. A FPS fan will get something out of the game, but perhaps having to fit the game onto the Xbox made it suffer too much to enjoy it fully on the PC.