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Platform Filters:   All Platforms  Xbox   GameCube   PlayStation 2   PC   Game Boy Advance   Site Sections:   Updates  News   Games   Publishers   Developers   Reviews   Previews   Release Dates   Editorials   Glossary   Contact Us		Review:       10th June 2004: X-Files: Resist or Serve  Trust No One as you dig into the mystery surrounding yet another conspiracy. Posted by Chris Snook - PlayStation 2 - UK and Europe I think I'll come out here at the beginning. I am not an X-Files fan, I have watched maybe a dozen episodes spread across all the seasons, it just never grabbed me. Which is why I can say quite cheerfully that the latest exploits of the FBI duo on the PS2 is pretty damn good, X-Files: Resist or Serve may be just the thing that all those X-Philes will need since the series has finished. Mulder and Scully get called in by the sheriff of the sleepy town of Red Falls, where there have been three murders recently and the town's two suspects are sister - who are considered to be witches by the townsfolk. On the way there Scully delivers her normal reaction to the suggestion of witchcraft and the possibility that the girls have managed to successfully raise the prime suspect (who died a day before the murders took place) from the dead to do their bidding. She cries 'STOP!' and you take over as you try to find a working telephone to call an ambulance for the injured deputy lying in the road. From here on it is action adventure time with either Mulder or Scully as the main character. Play is very much in the mould of Resident Evil, search for clues, kill the enemies - or outwit them, search for the next clue and then race off to where you need to go next. What makes this different is that the storyline unfolds along parallel paths, one each for the agents, crossing over at times but they do reference each others visits to locations. Which for each one happens in a different order, whilst Mulder is building up an idea where the girls may be by running around town, Scully is doing likewise but at the doctors office or the motel. This follows on through for the majority of the levels, only breaking when Mulder and Scully are quite some distance apart. Which quite cheerfully avoids the usual problems of repeating the same missions over with a second character or even setting up new missions entirely. One neat touch is that when together, whoever is under AI control will assist the main character with gunfire. Graphics wise things are dark, rain lashes down and the inside of buildings are unlit. Animation is smooth and it is nice to see the black humour touches - bloodied footprints if you step through a body, the X marks on places to inform you that a save point has been reached. Lighting effects are also effective and there is a real difference between using the torch and not doing so, even if no light means you are using an AK-47 or shotgun to blast your foes with, hasta la 12 bore, Scully. The only real let down is the spot explosions which appear weak and wanting, certainly in the face of the nice fire effects and some clipping errors as objects pass through walls. As a major plus the inventory screen is a dream, it is here your condition monitor is, no health bar on the HUD, showing how much injury you have taken and whether there are other effects in progress. On the sound front things are for the most part excellent. From the initial rendition of the theme at the title screen to the in game music, everything is crisp and clear, with counterpoints where the music seeps into one another to indicate things such as attacks or as appropriate random events, just to make you wonder. The voice acting is superb, it should be as all the cast it there, Duchovney, Anderson and others including the Lone Gunmen and two of Mulders greatest nemeses. This is only slightly let down by puny spot effects, nothing is really meaty sounding, the Ak-47 sounds distant as does the shotgun. Just a small bit of oomph would have made all the difference. Although the timing of the spot effects is right on, footsteps on ladder rungs, through water or when leaving bloody foot prints, this is the one grace for the effects. Control is at times tricky, with a combination of buttons required to shoot targets, awkward camera angles that can at times seriously frustrate you as you walk one way, a camera transition happens and you are walking the other way, back through the transition, so in the space of a second or so you are back where you started. This can cost you time and cause injury as opponents pile on in. Also I am certain that the recoil of a gun should not push you through a segment boundary. Otherwise control is smooth and consistent through the levels, just at times disorientating as a camera angle alters at an unexpected moment. There is bucket loads to this game, even rushing through the levels they all took three or more hours minimum to complete. They are also quite hard, certainly later on when you move beyong the Red Falls area and back to DC, also there are so many things to be looked for on a second run through, all the more to unlock things. Of which there are a fair few, ranging from various movie scenes, a teaser trailer, a 'b-reel' and various bits of artwork, storyboards and dossiers on various people in the X-verse. There is likely to be more for everyone to comeback to. Which is the only real major problem. The game is so immersed in the series lore that unless you are a baseball cap-wearing encyclopaedia of the series most of the in-jokes and references will not make any coherent sense. This does extend to the plot and I presume that the game assumes a more basic understanding of events than I have, as they have been wound tightly into the fabric of the game. This makes those dossiers invaluable. On the whole this is not enough to really undermine the experience and indeed may even convince someone to rent the series or borrow it off a friend. Still it does leave you with a gaping sense of 'I am missing something here, I am sure of it.' Considering its roots and the following it has, this X-Files title will please a large chunk of people, from the dedicated series fan, to those going Resident Evil cold turkey until RE4 comes on out. X-Files: Resist or Serve will fill that gap. Chris Snook             Latest Images:		Review Scores:    Graphics:   Sound:   Gameplay:   Length:   Overall: Click here for our Review Score Guidelines.  Review Summary:  Slickly done game based off of the massively popular TV series from Fox. Despite a few flaws and a story line that does rely on having seen a decent number of episodes, this is a fine addition to the action adventure genre. Of course that could just be a conspiracy theory.  Related Games:  X-Files: Resist or Serve for PlayStation 2  36  Screenshots  1  Review Click here for All Game Information.
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