Primal

"Good game hendered by the fighting"

Primal was a game that just didn't interest me from what I heard about it. A friend of mine bought it and told me I had to play it because it was so good. I declined but almost a year later I found the game used for super cheap and I need 1 more item for a buy 2 get 1 free deal and the game was dirt cheap and the store had nothing else. Frankly, the game is really good on one level but the next it's just rather lame. Read on for the reasons.

I love a good story and Primal has a great one going for it but by the end I felt that it just didn't give me that UMPH that I was wanting. Jen and her boyfriend get attacked one night outside a club. She's in a coma but this creature wakes her up and takes her to a different plane and tells her that she was chosen to save them from an evil force. Now, the problem is, it really doesn't advance from that. Yes, there are some GREAT moments here and there but I felt let down when plot twists were hinted at too heavily or never followed through with. The story is worth playing the game for though.

The graphics are very pleasing to the eyes. Not XBOX quality or Final fantasy X CGI but it looks good for the most part. Later levels look a bit generic but the character models look good and it just all looks and feels right.

The sound in the game is grand. While the music is limited, it does sound good when it is being used. Sound effects are nice. Enemies grunt, ect. The biggest draw in the sound area is the fact that the voice acting is superb. Jen and Scree just sound so right and it felt like I was watching a movie, but that might be due to the many many cut scenes. I don't think l I've ever laughed so hard at a game like I did in the ear scene. Pure classic and I had to show it to friends who loved it.

A problem I had with the game is the control. It's responsive but it felt like there just weren't enough buttons even though a lot of buttons aren't used. Changing forms was weird and recharging a forms energy still makes no sense to me and I've already beat the game. Fighting is also very clunky, and I just didn't care for it.

The game play is the weakest part of the game and it's a shame. The game started off good enough. The encounter rate of enemies was a bit slim but it was gentle enough. There wasn't a lot of backtracking but a little but it wasn't too bad. The second world was the most non-linear thing I have ever played. It was way too confusing. Of course I tend to suck at water levels so maybe it was just me. The later levels dwell on massive backtrack and hordes of enemies. Like I said earlier, the fighting is clunky. You use three of the shoulder buttons to attack and then one is for blocking. You need to hit the 2's together to do a finishing move which is required on way too many enemies and it makes no sense. I like how you get different forms but it really doesn't matter much except for puzzle solving. The puzzles are way too simplistic except maybe one or two and there are times where I had gotten stuck not because it was hard but because I wasn't able to do X thing at one time but then I am able to just for this puzzle. I also had trouble using the rope and tended to get stuck there. There is no prompt that you can use it anywhere so you tend to forget about and you never use it in the second world. There are four worlds, all with themes, actually they are the normal themes for most games. Enemies all pretty much look alike and aren't too swift but I guess in the end it all works fairly well but if it had been worked on just a bit longer the game could have be so much better. The game play just felt tacked on for a good story but at least the story was good, to an extent.

While I'm not inclined to play this again any time soon. There are a few things to collect like Tarot cards which I might look for on my second play through, a year or more from now because I honestly don't want to play through this one anytime soon but it will remain in my collection for the solid story. Plus you get a scene selector after beating each world and that darn ear scene can easily cheer me up.

Story – 8/10
Graphics – 8/10
Sound – 9/10
Control – 5/10
Game Play – 5/10
Replay Value – 5/10

Final Score – 7/10

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 05/01/05