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| Even the virtual world has a gambling vice | Character models vary from acceptable to just plain wrong |
Graphically this game is deceptive, with certain models looking quite attractive such as the tutorial program gal, but other than her you’ll be hard pressed to see anything worth note. Now you’re supposed to be trapped inside a virtual world so you can forgive a degree of repetition and bland styling but even an evil AI would know the limits.
One thing that did both intrigue and scare me was the character you play. I caught glimpse in a mirror and just froze, thinking how bold of a developer to cast the lead to a seemingly butch female only to discover you are in fact supposed to be a bloke! I moved on rather quickly trying to put out the 70’s style girly big hair and questionable body frame and structure out of my mind.
Your role as man-beast cross breed (otherwise known as this games player character) is to confront and destroy Mastermind, that cheeky evil AI construct who has decided to lure and imprison us humans in the virtual world to slowly wipe us out in the physical. The government decides to form an Anti-Utopian affairs department which just typical of those red tape bureaucrats, instead of just flicking a few switches they go and start a committee.
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| Teleport Control is where you choose your next level | You may wish to sort out energy allocations yourself |
So the task/choir/torture/game begins and you’re immediately treated to one of the most awful CGI sequences anyone has probably seen in a game for a long time. Why they didn’t just use the game engine to open things up for us I don’t know, but the voice over was even worse – either a robot or someone covering up a heavy accent was enlisted here and it makes it suffer horrifically. I can honestly say the audio wasn’t a joy here, but luckily that seemed to be an extreme anomaly as other sounds throughout managed to put a brave face on things.
Perhaps the only element that draws attention is the use of 'energy' in gameplay; you can allocate it yourself or let the game do so automatically. Your health, armour and ammo are replenished through this energy which depletes through use but automatically recharges. This means that through percentage sliders you can decide how much energy is allocated to replenish your health specifically or armour etc. When you collect enough 'infodiscs' which are retrieved from virtual deaths of NPCs then you advance to the next stage of bonuses which reward the player with new weaponry and such.
Artefacts though usually associated with items of historic origin are popping up too. These can be collected by the player and grant certain additional abilities which can add a unique twist to the game. The first to be collected allows the player to teleport to Teleport Control from anywhere which can be a handy escape tactic if things get tough. These too rely on energy to recharge and are worth the investment as one can grant a protective shield, or freeze time.
A remote follows you around and informs you of Utopias current state towards you. This means if you run around flashing your big guns then security will intercept you and attempt to kill you. There are three states, green meaning everything’s a-okay, amber shows you better take care and red is full engagement. Beyond that the remote has no purpose and I see as nothing more than a novelty item which periodically can break the laws of physics and magically appear.
AI is certainly not governed by intelligence much as your foes will act unrealistically to a hostile situation. Many also just happen to know where you are, but perhaps that can be excused as Mastermind is feeding them your location? No, as why then can we easily just become the everyday saint again a few seconds later, casually gifting high-fives to security that you were drilling just moments ago.
Sadly the storyline isn’t a great lure into the game world. While first person shooters of old didn’t exactly require much of a Hollywood spin to feed addiction, times have changed dramatically (excuse the pun). Many gamers might see this as some cheap budget line Matrix attempt but I think that might be unfair to try and draw such a contrast.
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| It’s the handy tutorial gal about town | Yes, that’s right! This is the player character |
While Utopia City does have some unique qualities in the form of rewarding artefacts and its energy based gameplay mechanic, other areas only make it adequate for budget line expectations and out of reach for anything beyond that.
Top Game Moment:
TOP GAME MOMENT
I didn’t come across anything worth a ‘moment’ other than seeing the player character for the first time …and getting creped out a little.
