Posted May 21, 2024
Project Eden (GOG)
I truly enjoyed this substantial action-adventure from the early noughties.
Setting and atmosphere are absolutely top-notch; the game really does a great job in depicting your progressive descent into the dark underbelly of a sprawling megalopolis from a dystopian future.
The level design is superb: vast, complex, and elegant, with cleverly devised puzzles. Often your team splits up, the individual paths crossing and interacting in different ways until they get reunited at the very end. It's sometimes challenging, but never confusing (well, maybe once...) - there is nothing abstruse, it all makes sense in the end.
Yes, the game can get a bit fiddly at times, especially with those puzzles that require you to constantly switch between characters, operate a number of switches at the same time, and the like; but your efforts are always rewarded.
AI isn't great though, both that of your teammates and of the enemies. Combat is not that hot, as a result: enemies just run around, and things can become quite hectic in crowded situations, especially when you inadvertently transfer control to another squad member by clicking on him/her while you're shooting at opponents. Sometimes I had better results simply choosing the cyborg and fighting alone, leaving the others behind, which doesn't make a lot of sense. Things get better along the way, however, as you get additional, interesting weapons and enemies become more varied. And this game is not a proper shooter anyway: the focus isn't on combat, but rather on exploration, observation and puzzle solving.
The "follow me" function is especially problematic, as your companions more often than not get stuck somewhere, behind a corner, or a step, so you have to manually guide them one by one anyway - navigating narrow passages is particularly painful in this regard. And sometimes it's exhausting having to repeatedly track back to health and charge stations, so this game definitely requires a degree of patience.
Graphically, it obviously shows its age, but I think it doesn't look half-bad for a game of its time, plus I'm nostalgic for this kind of graphics. The textures are especially effective in evoking the dismal, dilapidated environments.
Voice-acting is weak - I mean, it's OK for the main characters, I guess, but for some of the NPCs and enemies it sounded poor, and at times even a bit silly, like they were going for a comical effect.
The ending wasn't entirely satisfying to me, for a few reasons I won't go into so as not to spoil anything.
I don't want you to fixate too much on the above criticisms, however, as they didn't really detract from a memorable, engrossing experience. All in all, I think this is a great game from the past, that deserves not to be forgotten.
My rating: 4/5
--- the year so far
I truly enjoyed this substantial action-adventure from the early noughties.
Setting and atmosphere are absolutely top-notch; the game really does a great job in depicting your progressive descent into the dark underbelly of a sprawling megalopolis from a dystopian future.
The level design is superb: vast, complex, and elegant, with cleverly devised puzzles. Often your team splits up, the individual paths crossing and interacting in different ways until they get reunited at the very end. It's sometimes challenging, but never confusing (well, maybe once...) - there is nothing abstruse, it all makes sense in the end.
Yes, the game can get a bit fiddly at times, especially with those puzzles that require you to constantly switch between characters, operate a number of switches at the same time, and the like; but your efforts are always rewarded.
AI isn't great though, both that of your teammates and of the enemies. Combat is not that hot, as a result: enemies just run around, and things can become quite hectic in crowded situations, especially when you inadvertently transfer control to another squad member by clicking on him/her while you're shooting at opponents. Sometimes I had better results simply choosing the cyborg and fighting alone, leaving the others behind, which doesn't make a lot of sense. Things get better along the way, however, as you get additional, interesting weapons and enemies become more varied. And this game is not a proper shooter anyway: the focus isn't on combat, but rather on exploration, observation and puzzle solving.
The "follow me" function is especially problematic, as your companions more often than not get stuck somewhere, behind a corner, or a step, so you have to manually guide them one by one anyway - navigating narrow passages is particularly painful in this regard. And sometimes it's exhausting having to repeatedly track back to health and charge stations, so this game definitely requires a degree of patience.
Graphically, it obviously shows its age, but I think it doesn't look half-bad for a game of its time, plus I'm nostalgic for this kind of graphics. The textures are especially effective in evoking the dismal, dilapidated environments.
Voice-acting is weak - I mean, it's OK for the main characters, I guess, but for some of the NPCs and enemies it sounded poor, and at times even a bit silly, like they were going for a comical effect.
The ending wasn't entirely satisfying to me, for a few reasons I won't go into so as not to spoil anything.
I don't want you to fixate too much on the above criticisms, however, as they didn't really detract from a memorable, engrossing experience. All in all, I think this is a great game from the past, that deserves not to be forgotten.
My rating: 4/5
--- the year so far
Post edited May 23, 2024 by cosevecchie