Second Sight

"We need more like this..."

Second Sight is the new game from Free Radical, the developers behind the TimeSplitters series. It is third person, unlike TS. The game revolves around John Vattic, a man with psychic powers. You control him from his imprisonment, through his journey to find out what happened to him. Along the way, you learn new psychic powers - Telekinesis, Healing, Psi Attack/Blast, Charm, Projection, and Possession. The game alternates between the present and 6 months ago, as John has flashbacks, remembering how he got to where he is.

There are 17 levels in Second Sight, and two difficulty levels. It starts with you, John, in an isolation chamber. You soon discover your power of telekinesis, letting you press the switch on the other side of the door with this psychic power. You can use telekinesis to throw items, even people. As you enter a lift, Vattic gets a flashback. The flashback brings you to a training base, cleverly showing you how to play the game.

Returning to the present, you are out of the lift, and on the ground floor. You are being shot at, but now, with your training, taking care of the enemies is no problem. Sneaking through the building, you find a computer. A profile of a woman named Jayne Wilde is on screen. John starts to remember something. In a meeting room, Jayne Wilde is across the table from you, along with the WinterICE team. You set off to Russia with the team. Jayne is almost killed, but is saved from a collapsing building. Back to the present - and she's not dead! Incarcerated, is what the computer shows.

The storyline is an integral part of the game, and it's nice to see how you can change the story yourself, instead of being so obviously linear. Your psychic powers are what the whole story is about, and without them, the game would be just another boring stealth game. You have a meter of psychic power, which regenerates over time, so you can't be using your abilities constantly. It's not all about you, either. You have to help the rest of the WinterICE team. If you don't cover them, they'll end up dead. Running ahead, trying to finish the level quickly isn't possible on the team levels.

Telekinesis is probably the most important psychic ability in the game. Using it, far away switches can be activated, weapons grabbed, items thrown, and people choked. Later in the game, the ability becomes more powerful, and enemies can be thrown like rag dolls. It's incredibly satisfying to use telekinesis to throw an enemy off a high ledge.

Healing lets you heal not only yourself, but your allies too. Psi Attack is a shot at one enemy. As you progress, you get Psi Blast, which lets you eliminate multiple enemies, using a ring of psychic power to knock them to the ground. Charm makes you invisible to enemies. It doesn't work when they're looking right at you, though. Projection lets you control an image of yourself. It is useful for scouting an area, but is mostly used to get through laser barriers. In the later levels, you get possession. Using projection, you can possess an enemy. This is useful for crowded areas. Start shooting at a soldier, and they'll retaliate. In the end, most of them are killed, letting you move on easily.

There are plenty of weapons, such as the tranquilliser, pistols, revolver, SMG, sniper rifle, soviet rifle, assault rifle, and shotgun. When you aim at an enemy using the Sniper Rifle, the view in the scope shows up in the corner, while you can still keep an eye on the rest of the action. Tranquillisers are the best silent weapons - they can't be heard at all.

There are two ways to face this game - stealthy or all guns blazing. Stealth is much like Splinter Cell and Metal Gear Solid. Crouching behind walls, jumping out and shooting before returning to cover, hiding in cabinets, sneaking up behind someone and grabbing them - the usual. Of course, Charm helps make the game a bit stealthier, but a bit easy as well, if you always take that approach. All guns blazing is more fun, but indefinitely harder. Once you set off an alarm, it's not going to stop unless you hide, turn it off yourself, or stay shooting the endless waves of enemies for half an hour. Option 1 is the easiest, and fastest.

There are computers in most indoor levels. They can be used to get maps of the building, or sometimes to electronically open doors. Reading the e-mails on the computers help to piece the story together. You don't need to read them all, but some have usernames or passwords. Cameras can be turned off from computers, making getting through a level easier, without alarms going off around you.

The graphics have that distinct Free Radical look to them. The faces look bulky, but the style is less cartoon looking than the TimeSplitters games. The areas look nice and detailed, and there are little touches, like snow melting when it hits the screen, that makes it more realistic. The psychic powers look impressive, especially Charm.

The sound and music in Second Sight really makes the game. The music tenses up, and gets faster when the alarms are going off. The music is generally eerie, giving a sense of isolation. The sounds effects are great - things like guns firing, using your psychic abilities, or the sound of someone's body thumping to the floor. The voicing sounds great, and all the people you talk to have different things to say. Enemies taunt you when you use your powers on them, but the sound of the screaming as you throw them off the ledge sounds better.

It's easy to control Vattic, and the GameCube controller seems perfect for the job. Using L, you can target and object/enemy, and press R to use your psychic powers on them. The C-Stick lets you select between different targets. Left and Right on the D-Pad scrolls through the psychic powers, while Up and Down goes through weapons. A switches between the two when locked on. B is to crouch, and Z to back up against a wall. Y changes viewpoints, and you can punch with X. Once locked on, the C-Stick allows for precision aiming. This is perfect for the Sniper Rifle, making it easy to get headshots.

Unfortunately, there isn't much Replay Value in the game. It took me 9 hours to finish the game, and it's not likely that you'd go back to play it again, unless you want to try the harder difficulty. There aren't any unlockables, or any mini-games. There's no multiplayer either, so the game is pretty short.

Second Sight brings some nice new ideas to the table. Possession is great fun once you get to use it. You'll enjoy the game whether you're a stealth fanatic or a "shoot all living things" kind of person. Impressive graphics, nice music, and smooth controls make Second Sight a great game from Free Radical. If the game was longer, I'd have no complaints.

Gameplay: 9.5
Graphics: 9.2
Sound: 9.1
Control: 9.4
Replay Value: 4.5

Overall: 9.1

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 10/26/04