Second Sight

"Free Radical have done it again!"

Intro

You wake up drugged but able to hear. Overhearing the guards conversation about you. They sedate you and you wake up locked to a table. You are John Vattic, captured and experimented on for unknown reasons. As you awaken the manacles holding you to the table are unlocked by a blue aura. You get up and sart your quest to find your identity and past.

Second Sight is the 3rd game from Free Radical, part of which created Goldeneye. You play as John Vattic a man who has been locked up in a medical facility. As John you go on a journey to find out why you were locked up, why you can't remember anything and why you have strange powers. The game is set in 3rd person and there a wide varity of levels, weapons and powers which all add the this unique game.

Story

As John Vattic you have been locked up and are trying to put the pieces back together of why he got there in the first place. The story is pretty good and offers quite a few twists. It is a very unique story so is pretty hard to guess what is going to happen. The characters are pretty realistic and have their distinct personalties which help to make plot developements interesting. You also feel as if the characters are worth saving(as you often have too). All in all it's pretty good
8/10

Graphics

If you've played Timesplitters you'll regonize the graphical style immediatley. Everything is very smooth and there are no textures that seem out of place. John and the characters look very nice and the only complaint is the eyes. This type of character and enviroment design makes nothing look bad.
8/10

Gameplay

Obviously the most important part of this game is gameplay and it doesn't dissapoint. This takes place between the past and present. The past offering more shooting elements while the present offering more stealth. Of course the great thing about gameplay is that there is tonnes of ways to tackle to levels. All out shooting, psyhic powers or stealth. It is very distinctive as through the course of the game you will earn new 'powers' which each add an element of gameplay to it. These 'powers' are something John discovers on the way and vary and add a new way of tackling a level. For instance in the 2nd level you pick up 2 abilities, Charm and Psy Attack. Charm offers the chance for John to become 'invisible' to enemies. Try it on a camera though and you'll be spotted. Brush against an enemy and they may fire. Of course if it was that easy it would ruin the game. So Free Radical has implemented a Psy Bar. Different psyhic powers drain it at different rates but this system is well done and it stops the game from being too hard o too easy. Usualy that is. The only problem is that in harder areas you may well try to find a spot the heal or to abuse your powers instead of taking the riskier path of an all out battle. One of my favourite powers is telekinis. This power lets you lift enemies and hurl them around the room, hilarity ensued.Overall it's vary well done and the varity of powers will amuse you for ages. The camera is also done well with 3 angles to chose from. First person, free, and a fixed angle. These mostly work well but occasionly when in a corner the free camera can jitter or get stuck. For the most part it works very well.
9/10

Music

The music varies in this games. Some of it is really good while some of it is downright rubbish.
7/10

Overall

This a great game. The powers add a new way of playing adventure/shooter games, the musics good, graphics are nice and so are the levels.

Pros
+Many ways to tackling the levels
+Very smooth graphics
+Ragdoll pshyics add realism to it
+The powers are so fun to use
+Great weapons
+Nice variety in weapons
+A unique story

Cons
-Powers can be abused
-The controls can very occasionally be annoying
-The free camera in corners can be very annoying(this is the one a used most)
-NO UNLOCKABLES
-Only took me 12 hours to complete
-Too short too buy yet too long to rent

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 09/13/04