Pariah

"Too Quickly Dismissed - it's a GORGEOUS game with decent action."

I'm not sure why this game has earned so much derision. In fact, I've always been puzzled by people who will rate a game based on how much better or worse it is than another game (usually Halo, in this case). Why not just judge a game on its own merit?

Graphics: This game simply looks fantastic. And even while looking fantastic, it runs at a GREAT framerate. Granted, I have a pretty fast computer, but even where FEAR and HALF-LIFE 2 give me problems, this game never once slowed down or left me sitting for two-minute Quickloads. The UNREAL 2 engine is one of the best for giving you that marriage of fantastic visuals with reasonable frame rate (with DOOM 3 a close second). The sci-fi settings are lush and the draw distance is vast. Squads of enemies rush at you with no choppiness whatsoever. In short, there were many times I just had to stop moving and pan around to take in the lush splendor of each and every environment.

Sound: Sound doesn't usually concern me too much - so I'll just say that there is nothing negative in the sound department. Weapon fire sounds average, the music is non-invasive, and the voice acting accomplishes what it needs to (more on the "story" later).

Gameplay: It's a run-and-gunner. What more needs to be said? Is it fun? I thought so. There are ZERO puzzles here - it is a simple linear run from Point A to Point B. If that's what you are looking for, then you won't mind. Enemies are generally easy and won't have you constantly reloading the game. Occasionally there might be enough attacking you at a time to present a challenge - but generally, if you pace yourself and use cover effectively, you won't have any problem beating this game in a few sittings (most people will easily finish the relatively short single-player game in a single weekend). Weapon modding is a highly-touted aspect of the game. Scattered throughout each level are weapon upgrade kits - collect enough and you can upgrade any of your five or six weapons. The upgrades give you higher ammo capacity, different firing functions, and so forth. This adds a little bit of customability to the experience, and something to look forward to as you progress.

I suppose a little variety in the objectives might have been a bonus - but again, the focus seems to be running-and-gunning in a beautiful environment. To that extent, the game succeeds.

Ok, so is it all good? Of course not - there are two aspects to the game that really take serious points away from it, and are likely the two main reasons why people dismiss it as an inferior Halo-clone:

1) The "story" is very WTF. It makes NO sense - almost as if they ran out of time to finish out the various cinematics and scriptwriting. To the best I could follow, you are transporting a woman carrying a virus when your ship is shot down over a wasteland of the future earth where mercenaries and criminals abound. The woman escapes (after infecting you) and you spend each level either trying to find her, or having found her, trying to work with her to get to the next area. (Don't worry, there aren't any escort missions!) From that point on, I had NO idea what was happening. It seemed like there might have been an alien race that was using the virus to control humans or something - honestly, I could not even REMOTELY follow the story. So, if you want good story in your games, you will HATE Pariah.

2) Vehicle control SUCKS! In trying to compete with Halo (I guess) the developers included a handful of vehicle-based missions. Maybe these handled better on console, but on PC they are SO poorly controlled, I actually proceeded on foot on this levels! You are supposed to steer by turning the mouse, but the vehicle either responds too slow, too fast, or so fast as to not respond at all (i.e., you will be doing A LOT of 360s)!

I suppose even the programmers knew the vehicles were not working out, because I think you only HAD to use them on two levels. Even so, they stick out like a sore thumb, and would have been better being excised altogether.

All told, Pariah was a decent enough Sci-Fi shooter for people who like simple run-and-gun action that won't take a month to complete. I wouldn't spend more than $10 on it, maybe $15.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 01/18/07