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Review:

2nd August 2005:
Pariah
Shooting stuff is the future - according to all these futuristic FPS games. Can Pariah prove that there is more to look forwards to in this crowded genre?
Posted by Chris Barnett - Xbox,PC - UK and Europe

Pariah is a game that feels so familiar due to the sheer number of futuristic games around at the moment. That's not to say that it is a rip off, just that it is similar in theme to a dozen other games.

The story itself involves you playing a doctor, who is escorting an important woman on a flying ship. The significance of the woman is that she has a virus that is passed onto you within a couple of minutes of the game. When the ship is shot down and she goes missing, it is your mission to find her and (possibly) the cure to your virus. This is quite a good take on an original story, but it is handled in a confusing way that causes you to question who are the real enemies and why are they attacking you?

The weapons in the game are fairly standard fair of assault rifle, plasma rifle, sniper rifle, shotgun, rocket launcher and grenade launcher. Apart from the latter two, the rest are fairly similar and offer little strategy to the firing. In fact, there is an annoying feature of the ammo being unaccounted for in your overall magazine when it is in a gun, so you must reload before collecting ammo, which is very annoying in the 'run and gun' dynamics that the game demands. All of the weapons can be upgraded through three levels, but only the heat seeking add on for the rocket launcher and remote detonator for the grenade launcher are worth mentioning (the others are no more inspired than faster firing rates or larger gun capacity). This is still a useful feature as it drives you to upgrade your guns at every opportunity (giving a sense that you are getting better).

The health system is similar to that of Halo in the sense that it can recover over time of rest. There are four slots, each of which can be lost is the charge is lowered. Once a slot is empty, a health tool is required to bring it back. This works well as it allows you to measure how much risk you can take in a battle (if you have all four you can run in with the risk of losing a slot or two) and how close you are to death. This system is needed though as the enemies are so unpredictable that risk is too often a factor.

All the bad guys (of which there are not many variations) seem to suffer from a bipolar disorder. They either run at you with all guns blazing or they run and hide somewhere, only to be found seconds later. When you find the hiding enemies, the bipolar nature kicks in again, so an enemy that ran scared 10 seconds ago suddenly transforms into the videogame equivalent to a bomb smothering hero (but a bad one). This is very annoying as it feels exactly like you are playing a game; these enemies are stock in a pre defined world.

The environments are split into two; the outdoor panoramas and the futuristic interiors. There is nothing too original and the architecture and design is uninspired, which is a shame given the potential of the setting (the future can be what the developers make it!). Comparisons to Halo must be made here as the settings appear so similar. Even vehicles are added for good measure, although they do work quite well in the game, so we will count them as a good point.

In addition to the single player mode (which is quite lengthy) there are multiplayer (Xbox Live) modes. These are standard capture the flag and death match (and a few other standards) modes that we have come to expect and work very well. These show how the game could have been if the AI was better, although the poor weapons still hinder enjoyment somewhat. Still, it is fun to play people at a game you know is hiding some good stuff in it. There is a level editor mode that deserves a mention, especially as you can take your custom maps online to play on. This is good as you can beat people 'on their own grounds' and show off your own level design skills.

The design mode gives a great lifespan as you will spend a long time developing the levels to dupe opponents into playing into your style! But there is nothing too great here that has not been seen before.

This is a missed opportunity, but it is enjoyable in short bursts (and multiplayer) and certainly deserves at least a play.

Chris Barnett

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Review Summary:

The nature of the futuristic shooting game is always going to be riddled with stereotypes, but Pariah attempts a few new things that almost work. The multiplayer and level editor modes really add to the game overall, and it is certainly worth checking out if you enjoy playing games on Xbox Live and showing off to others (you can show Americans what British architecture is!).

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Pariah
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