Second Sight

I expected great results from Second Sight, I really did. I had read some of the “other” reviews for the game and thought that no matter what anyone said the game still had to be good. In fact, I was thinking the same thing I’m sure most of you have (or should have) when reading a review “That’s just one opinion of the game, it has to be better than that.” This sentiment is the essence of any review, a synopsis of one person’s opinion on a game. You never have to agree with reviews I type up or the reviews of other writers. Take our words with a grain of salt since you have never played the game. Just because a game gets an average/good score doesn’t make it a bad game. But with the case of Second Sight the bar wasn't raised high enough for an incredible game.

The story of Second Sight revolves around your character, John Vattic. He awakens inside of a medical facility without any memories as to why he’s there. However, Vattic has changed, he now posses the ability to control items with his mind. Soon Vattic discovers that controlling objects with his mind isn’t the only psi-power he posses. Vattic must use all of his psi-powers to escape from the medical facility and unlock the mysteries of who he is and why he’s at the facility.

The game starts off as you (Vattic) wake up in the medical facility. Vattic mumbles to himself that he doesn’t know who he is and where he is. Vattic is locked inside of a room that is locked from the outside. One of the first psi-powers you learn how to use is telekinesis, the ability to control items with your mind. The game offers on-screen instructions on how to use the psi-powers, which are controlled by pressing the right mouse button. With the psi-powers you hold the right mouse button while moving the mouse to select and item. The item will be highlighted with a circle around it once you’ve chosen an item to control. Then you press the left mouse button to pick up or move the object around, while controlling the movement with the mouse.

Sounds simple and easy enough but the game makes it “feel” much more difficult than it should be. The controls of the characters makes selecting an item and moving it around very difficult. For example, even though I was standing right in front of the first item I had to control I couldn’t select the item. I had to move my character around the screen until I reached an exact, precise location before I was able to select the item. If I see the item why shouldn’t I be able to pick it up and move it? Why do I have to move around the stage until I find the right spot to select the item, even though the item is right in front of me?

The other psi-powers available in the game are a healing option, psi-blast (a destructive blast of energy), charm (disappearance) and projection (leaving your body to become a ghost-like figure). Each of the different psi-powers have their own function within the game and most of the powers become available early in the game. I would say the healing function is probably the best psi-power in the game since it’s actual very helpful. Some of the other psi-powers are critical to the game but never seem useful past certain parts of the game. For example, you have a psi-blast where you can shoot forth a wave of energy at an enemy. But why wait to use the psi-blast when you can just punch someone (or better yet shoot them if you have a gun)?

The game is played out in a third-person perspective and Vattic is controlled by the classic mouse and keyboard combination. The camera angle is controlled by the mouse while Vattic's movements are controlled with the “W, S, D and A” keys. Vattic controls well and responds right away to the movements of the mouse and keyboard. But I found when trying to use the telekinesis psi-powers I never felt in control of the objects I was trying to pickup. Either I would have a hard time selecting an item (as I mentioned earlier) or after I selected an item it felt like I was trying to pick up the Titanic instead of a computer monitor.

The actual gameplay can be described as an action game with some touches of stealth thrown in. After waking up in the medical facility and discovering your powers, you will then run around the hospital beating up the security guards and doctors, or asking the doctors for information. You can use computers located throughout the different parts of the medical facility to uncover information about you and the facility. The action in the game is done by either hand-to-hand combat, psi-powers or guns. There are several different types of guns available in the game ranging from pistols, sniper rifles and machine guns.

The AI of the guards and doctors isn’t what I would call extraordinary. The guards would keep chasing after you when an alarm is sounded no matter how many guards you’ve taken out.  In fact in several missions I was standing right next to some of the computer controlled characters and the computer didn’t have a clue. The doctors in the game would always run away from me every time I would get near them. But for some reason they always went back to the same rooms, over and over again. The game allows you to talk to the doctors by pressing the space bar key, but it never seemed useful to the outcome of the levels.

The game is played out over several different levels with a strange and almost out-of-place pacing. The first mission starts off in the medical facility after Vattic wakes up but the next mission takes place six months earlier. To make matters even more unusual the second mission is actual the tutorial for the weapons in the game. I thought most games kept the tutorials at the early parts of the game, but the second mission was still early in the game. The second mission (from six months earlier) revolves around Vattic joining a Special Forces team getting ready to head out on a mission. Their mission is to uncover a scientist long thought dead and the secrets behind his experiments. All the military will say to Vattic is that the information on the scientist and most of the mission is classified. A nice twist to the game is the fact that the Vattic from six months ago doesn’t believe in psi-powers or that anyone can posses such powers. But then six months later Vattic has the ability to heal himself or hurt others by using his mind. Some of the missions will switch back and forth between the six months and the present time for Vattic. Along the way you will interact with several different NPC’s that will help you with your training or fight along your side in the game. In fact the gameplay seemed repetitive after a while. You have most of the psi-powers almost right away so there isn’t much to unlock and after a while it seems as if the game is repeating itself.

The graphics in the game are top notch and have the excellent Free Radical look. The characters look fantastic and were nicely detailed. The Free Radical look is what I would describe as realistic characters with an animation quality look to them. Once you see one of their games you will know the look. I was very impressed with the lip synching of the characters to the spoken dialogue. The animation of the character’s mouths matched the words almost perfectly. The graphics for the stages were good but didn’t have a huge variety of textures and looks for the stages. The stages were well done but nothing that gives off a “wow” factor.

The framerate was smooth and steady through most of the game except for one issue. It seemed every time I walked through a door the camera would get stuck in a spot and stutter until I moved out of the doorway. This happened frequently and was annoying. The sound effects, music and voice acting in the game were nicely done. I thought the voice acting was very top notch with no corny dialogue or moments of cringe because of the actors. Some of the characters sounded similar to each other and Vattic didn’t know how to shut up sometimes.

Second Sight is a good game, but not the type of game that everyone will enjoy. The great graphics, excellent voice acting and interesting psi-powers will satisfy some gamers. However the computer AI, occasional framerate problem and repetitive gameplay might be enough of a deterrent for gamers to look in another direction. The other issue revolves around the premise of the game; a character using psi-powers isn’t new to gaming. A couple of years ago it might have been a novel idea but now psi-powers have already been incorporated into other games. It’s still a fairly new genre of gaming but Second Sight doesn’t do anything unique enough to make it stand out from some of the other games.

Gameplay 7.4
Sure you have psi-powers but what use are they when the game doesn’t give you enough opportunity to use them. I didn’t want to use the psi-powers in the game because it took longer to use the powers than it did for me to either run away or punch someone. The psi-powers in the game seem limited compared to similar type of games. Changing the pacing of the game by going back in time to a Vattic without psi-powers helped keep the game interesting. 

Graphics 7.7
The character graphics all looked great. The characters had the same Free Radical look of their previous games (Time Splitters). The stages looked good but didn’t have a noticeable “wow” factor. The animation of the character voices to the dialogue was very impressive.

Sound 7.5
The sound effects and music in the game were well done. The voice acting was very impressive with great dialogue and excellent presentation by the actors. Vattic’s phrases did become repetitive after a while, as did the other phrases of some of the other NPCs during the game.

Difficulty Medium
You can select between two modes of difficulty in the game, normal and hard. I didn’t find the game that difficult but the repetitive gameplay will probably be a little frustrating to some players.

Concept 7.5
This isn’t the first psychic power game that’s been released. Still having the ability to blow something up with your mind is always fun. The way the game played out by flashing back six months was interesting, especially when you learn the back-story to Vattic. A few more psi-powers in the game would have been a nice treat, along with some more variety in the gameplay.

Overall 7.5
Second Sight will probably find its audience as time goes on. It’s not a perfect game but sometimes a few blemishes aren’t enough to keep gamers away. In fact, gamers looking for an another title to add to their collection can do much worse than Second Sight. Just don’t expect a revolutionary, mind-blowing title.