C-12: Final Resistance

"From the creators of MediEvil comes C-12:Final Resistance"

In July 2002 Sony released a NEW PS1 GAME!!! It is called C-12:Final Resistance, or simply C-12. The team who developed MediEvil is responsible for it's creation. I am not overly familiar w/that series so I will not go into a side by side comparison. Instead let's just take the game at face value (which, apparently, is $7.99. Or so says EB).

Story
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The story in C-12 isn't, by any stretch of the imagination, anything terribly original. It is,however, a sci-fi shooter and those are not typically reliant on a riveting tale to keep you interested. No the gameplay is what they tend to focus the most attention on in this genre(not a bad thing IMO). The main character is Riley Vaughan. He is a man in the near future on Earth who has an implanted cybernetic left eye, called an Alien Imaging Unit. The installation of which has left(get it!) him w/a WICKED scar clear around his face. He is considered hard to look at by his peers as a result. The reason why this has happened is pretty cliche, invading alien forces are attempting to overrun Planet Earth and convert it's residents into cyborg warriors. Consequently we will be fighting plenty of cool mechs in this game, some of which are huge!!!

Graphics
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Not this game's strong suit. Backgrounds are heavily pixelated, and there is some pop-up. The environment is in full 3-d , you have complete control of the camera in 1st and 3rd person and this is only a PS1. I was fine w/the graphics, however, most are too jaded by the 128-bit era to appreciate stuff like this anymore. They do their job. They perfectly represent what the developers wanted you to experience, a tour of a War scarred city of the future. The cut scenes are not FMV or CG. They are simply in-game graphics, but since they tend to show a lot of people, mechs, and vehicles(the coolest parts of the graphics IMO) they are good. Full voice acting doesn't hurt either.

Sound
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Full voice acted cut scenes and in game dialog! On a PS1 game! Definitely a score raiser IMO. Sound effects are great, and what little music there is is good. Especially the title screen!

Gameplay
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Take Syphon Filter and add a little Silent Hill. Seriously. I love this part of the package. A mixture of shooter, stealth, puzzles to solve, and keys to grab. Trust me you've seen it all before. However, a few notables: the eye is capable of giving you 1st person perspective and can even snipe w/it. Boss battles are not a war of attrition, but require you to duck and cover, use the environment to your advantage. The bosses can be huge and all the enemies are cool looking and fun to shoot. A weird thing I noticed, you can perform one hit killsw/ headshots to ROBOTS!!! Tons of guns, most w/ a secondary fire feature such as grenades or flame unit, and a default weapon, a sword of sorts reminiscent of the Capcom game Strider. Press triangle to use a consumable shield as well.

Overall
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Buy it, it's cheap and fans of mechs will enjoy the enemy designs. Very innovative for a PS1 game. It feels familiar and new at the same time. You will also appreciate how the 128-bit era has changed not only graphics but also how games are designed as a whole. That influence is felt here as well. Give it a shot , what have you got to lose?

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 06/24/04