Primal

"Unleash the Primal side in you!"

If you haven't seen the Primal commercial yet ( and some of you haven't ) then you wouldn't know the theme to this game right off the bat. The theme of this came clearly is '' Civilization is only skin deep ''. The game seems to use this theme all throughout the journey. This game has kind of a gothic theme to it. You'll here lots of rock music playing in the background as you fight against whatever creature fits into the surrounding. But this ain't you Devil May Cry 2 ( thank god ), this game is more adventure based than action. You WILL get lost a lot of times but when you finally find out where to go then the game goes smoothly from there. Now, onto the review.

Graphics - ( 9 ) - The graphics in this game are sweet! The character designs were made flawlessly and the shadowing effects are also great. The enemy designs are done a bit sloppily because they're not really important. The shadow of your character when your partner is holding the torch is also great. The games background look gorgeous as well. Each realm has its own different area, whether it be eternal fire, eternal night, or whatever. The only thing that keeps the graphics from getting a perfect score is the slowdown you'll go through when you're fighting or when you're doing anything for that matter! Sometimes the game will lag when you're trying to do something.

Sound - ( 6 ) - The sound in this game is .. well, not great. In fact, there's barely any music! You'll walk around with no music in the background. The only time you'll hear music is when you're fighting an enemy. And even then.. it's just some poorly played rock music. There isn't much music in the cutscenes either. The game relies on sound effects which sound kinda pushed. This game could've really used some music seeing as you'll take a LONG time wandering around. Not too happy in this department.

Control - ( 7 ) - This game faces some problems in this department as well. The game's camera is usually always locked in the same position no matter how many times you push it around with the right analog stick. The camera can sometimes cause some problems when you're fighting enemies as well. Other than that, it's basic stuff. Move around with the left analog stick, move camera with the right. The attack buttons are L2 for left attack, R2 for right attack, L1 for spin attack, and R1 for blocking. I really wouldn't recommend this battle system for any game. It doesn't have enough depth as sometimes you'll find yourself button mashing to kill the enemy. I prefer it use the square, triangle, circle, and x buttons to attack ( seeing as they don't really do anything anyways. )

Fun Factor - ( 8 ) - Overall, I'd say this game is pretty fun. However, two things bring down the score. First of all, like I said earlier, you'll get LOST a lot. Your pal Scree doesn't help much either as he's just there to point out the obvious. it's usually up to the player to find out where to go next because the darn gargoyle can't tell you anything you already knew. I wish you could change the characters names, then I'd call scree ' captain obvious '. Another thing that brings down the score is the average to annoying battle system. When you're fighting, the game tends to lag and brings down the action. Also, you can never tell if an enemy is coming from behind or the side because there's not hint or warning.

Story - ( 10 ) - I really liked the story in this game. it revolves around a girl named Jen who is actually supposed to be one of two babies that was supposed to save the world or something. the other baby is unknown, but when jen gets to the hospital she finds out that some little gargoyle has taken away her soul from her mortal body. and from there, the little buy basically takes you to Nexus. Nexus is like the center realm for 4 seperate realms. each realm is basically facing a problem and you have to solve it. however, the overall basis is that you must stop one side from obtaining all the power of the nexus or the entire world will become distorted and unhabitable. this is some deep stuff in this game. It kinda reminds me of the gothic tone that Blood Omen 2 had. so if you liked Blood Omen 2 ( all nine of you! ) then you'll dig this game.

Overall - ( 8 ) - This game will be really fun if you like the whole gothic scene and if you're into action/adventure games. If you don't want a random hack and slash affair, and want a decent story behind your game then I suggest picking this game up. What brings this game down is the slowdown during battle, lack of music, and poor mapping system. These problems don't really bring the game down a lot, so just play with what you got and go Primal!

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/30/03, Updated 03/30/03