Second Sight

"Highly underrated"

This game is made by the same development team that created the TimeSplitters series of games and the guy who voiced Cortez in Future Perfect voices a major character in this game. You are Doctor John Vattic, a Psychologist who happens to have Psionic abilities, though he spends much of the time acting like he doesn't. The game switches back-and-forth between two time eras and your job is to put the pieces together and unravel the whole story.

You have both firearms and Powers to help you proceed through the game. The powers vary from Telekinesis to Projection to Possession. As you progress, new powers are unlocked and new levels of power are unlocked as well. Telekinesis comes in handy when trying to grab dropped guns in places you can't physically access. Healing also comes in REAL handy at times. The range of weapons varies from chapter to chapter, but pistols are common in nearly all of them. In most of the Russia chapters, you have a Sniper's Rifle as well.

The game has three major camera angle settings, including a static first-person mode. There are times when a dynamic first-person mode would come in handy, but, it's not overly missed. The gameplay is fairly easy to get the hang of and the graphics are good, though not outstanding. Something between TimeSplitters 2 and TS: Future Perfect, but certainly not RE4-level. The lip-synching is quite a bit better than some games I could mention, though and the sound is quite good. I like the fact that the gunshots aren't excessively loud.

The controls are reasonably reactive, though not as smooth as I would prefer, especially in sniper mode; the aiming is way too twitchy. Precise aiming is very difficult to do, even in Normal mode. Sometimes, spray-and-pray works better.

Though you may be tempted to bypass them, the cut-scenes will help you understand what's going on in the game.

If there was ever a game that should be made into a movie, this is it. The storyline is coherent (moreso than many so-called 'blockbusters') and has many twists and it will keep you guessing up until the final battle. This game is not usually expensive (I got mine from Amazon for under $5, brand new), but it is well worth the effort. It is one of those games that just didn't get a lot of notice when released, but should have.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 03/23/09

Game Release: Second Sight (US, 09/21/04)