#2652
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I guess I am missing something.
Got reminded of the game due to the recent news about Sega pulling the game off Steam. I was not able to play it properly back in 2005 or something because it was extremely laggy for me, even though F.E.A.R. was fine. I remembered that the game received generally good reviews (and is still "Very Positive" on Steam, too), even got a sequel, so thought that maybe I missed out. I don't think I did.
One of the things that stands out about the game is that it's focused on melee combat. You can get some guns (even automatic ones), but even with them you can switch to melee combat to conserve bullets. There is, technically, an achievement for completing the game with using just melee, too. To me it felt boring. Yes, you can block, yes, you can just move around, yes, you can use various types of weapons "from the environment", and they will have slightly different stats... But it still felt like clicking NPCs to death. I think it felt "brutal" at the time, because I was young, and because the game has a certain... "gritty" style, but overall it's not that inventive, if at all.
I did like that some melee weapons were also used as quest items, that you needed to progress. This did force you to throw away potentially better weapons at times, but that also did add some realism, in a sense that tools were multipurpose. Although some cases were quite stupid. For example, there was a section, where I had a sledgehammer, and then I needed to change it for fire axe in order to "open" a door. Pretty sure, sledgehammer would have worked just as well. But perhaps at the time it was too costly to add another set of animations. Considering that the game still looks quite good, albeit obviously dated, that could explain things. Besides why the MC's legs (or rather feet) look like stumps.
Ok, maybe this combat is just not my style. I started playing it because people said it was also a good detective story. Well, not really. The premise itself is kind of stupid already: a suspect kills 2 cops using FBI agent's gun, but Thomas (the FBI agent) flees the scene, instead of reporting things properly. The game also presents things as if the lab-girl is the only person at the precinct who believes he is innocent. This just does not make any sense, since the guy is presented as a well-established agent, so the bureau should have at least some level of trust in his character and his word.
But maybe that's because he is actually stupid? In order to analyze evidence, we need to use various tools, and send the data back to lab. This sounds fine with fingerprints and liquids analysis, but... Why is it required to know that a photo in a trash bin has a photo of Thomas? Or to read a metro train schedule? Should not Thomas the field agent be able to read and analyze stuff himself? This is partially the fault of this gameplay mechanic with the tools, but it still does not look good. If you pair it the fact that some narrative things are shown as (missable) tips at the top of the screen instead of being voiced-over as inner thoughts, it just breaks any semblance of the immersion. Let alone the fact the guy ask the lab girl about MO of a serial killer whom Thomas himself was investigating, and thus should know himself.
Overall, just not my game, and I honestly had to finish it through YouTube after 4 chapters, just to save time. If you enjoy the combat here - go ahead, but do not expect the story to be that good. Although, I think Bloober Team probably could have polished it into a good remaster.
