As we pull into the final two months of the year, the
number of software releases will dramatically increase to a few key titles each week.
After a summer and early fall practically void of any major releases worth their salt,
this past week brought the release of two major 3D games and a demo of another 3D game due
out later this month. With one game based on the Unreal engine, one on Quake 2, and one
using its own proprietary technology, how do the engines stack up? But more importantly,
how do these games stack up? In truth, there’s one sure-fire hit, one total dud, and
one noble attempt. Which is which? Read on.
The Wrath of Klingons
First off, let’s get the worst one out of the way: Klingon Honor Guard. This is the
kind of game you install and promptly uninstall after playing it once. Things usually
aren’t good when the introduction movie plays through the install program, but
there’s still hope when the main game loads up with a slick menu interface and the
stunning visuals from the Unreal engine. As the first Unreal-engine licensed game on the
market, Microprose has used this fact along with the Star Trek license to really market
the game as being a triple-A blockbuster title for the holidays. It’s anything but.
The basic problem with the game is poor level design coupled with the innumerable Klingons
running around the levels like little Lemmings. Sure, some of the weapons are interesting,
and the CD-Audio music is momentous, but the game feels like there isn’t much to it.
The designers tried to spice up the levels by throwing Klingons in every nook and cranny,
but dozens of Klingons can’t make up for poor level design. In Unreal you’d walk
through an environment with no enemies and just gaze at the visual splendor; KHG has no
such visuals. It’s truly a shame that the Star Trek license and the Unreal engine
can’t coalesce into a solid game experience. Klingon Honor Guard is a huge
disappointment.
Trespasser
Dreamwork’s Tresspasser title finally shipped last week too. This game has been in
development for over two years and has been subject to a lot of praise, including one game
magazine naming it as Game of the Show at E3 this year. I’ve always been puzzled by
Trespasser. I’ve been given demos of it at the past two E3 shows, and it never really
seemed to have a focus – Sure, they were trying some innovative physics in the
engine, but it never seemed that visually impressive. I remember asking the producer about
3D acceleration for the game at E3 in 1997, and he said that the game was far too advanced
for 3D acceleration, and because of all the physics in the game engine, they weren’t
going to support 3D cards. They reconsidered that decision this year and the game does now
support 3D cards. However, the visuals still don’t quite work – The game uses
some strange rendering technique where objects in the background are very pixelized and
slowly grow more detailed as you get closer, but the result is a very inconsistent look to
the graphics. Additionally, even on a P2-400 with dual Voodoo 2s, the game runs incredibly
slowly; I’ve heard that on slower machines Trespasser just crawls along at a
snail’s pace and is virtually unplayable.
However, there are some redeemable elements of the game, and you can tell the designers
tried to break the mold of 3D action shooters. First is the innovative "hand"
interface, which allows you to gesture with your mouse and actually move the right hand of
the protagonist, Annie, voiced by Minnie Driver. You can twist your wrist, pick up
objects, and even pet the Dinosaurs on John Hammond’s Site B island. The hand
interface is innovative, but it is buggy (I often lose objects I pick up, or the hand goes
missing for a few seconds). Speaking of the dinosaurs, they are large and stunning to see
in the landscape, but they lack much animation and don’t seem to move fluidly.
Trespasser is perhaps more of an adventure game than an action title, but even after
playing it for a few hours, it seems like a bad R&D project that was just pushed out
the door because it didn’t quite work out. There are some truly innovative elements
to the engine, namely the water that ripples when you drop objects in it (i.e. concentric
circles actually animate outward), and all physics of the objects are real-life (i.e.
throw one box at the other and they will act and react on each other). However, there is
no synergy to the elements. The visuals are poor, and the game really seems like more of
an experiment than a solid blockbuster product. I admire some of the innovation in the
game, but it has some serious faults that keep it out of competition for blockbuster
status, namely the slow engine and confusing interface.
The Next Heretic
Finally, Activision and Raven Software released the Heretic 2 demo this weekend, and I
think it’s Raven’s best product to date. The demo is a tight and exciting 3D 3rd-person
adventure with incredible visuals (the weapon and spell effects are out of this world),
and some memorable gameplay touches such as ropes you can swing on and amazing acrobatic
flips and moves such as pole vaulting with your staff weapon. The third person perspective
works quite well in the game, despite the fact that enemies can sometimes box you into a
corner. However, Raven has used the perspective to add some cute elements to the game,
such as the lead character Corvus turning around to the camera after he kills an enemy to
make a "more applause" gesture with his right hand. The multiplayer also works
flawlessly, although the levels included with the demo are a bit too large if you have any
less than 8 players.
Although it’s too early to pass judgment on the full game, Heretic 2 looks to also
blend in some exciting story elements and cut scenes. It’s a shame that it has been
marketed so much as a "sequel" rather than a separate product because the game
has no real relationship to the first Heretic. It’s certainly not a prerequisite you
play the first one to enjoy this 3rd person romp. My only concern is that the
levels in the demo seem somewhat sparse in terms of gameplay – there aren’t a
lot of interactive elements to the environment (although the swinging ropes are a nice
touch). I hope the full game has some surprises in store. Nevertheless, Heretic 2 is
definitely a game you should download and play; it makes Lara Croft and Tomb Raider look
like a feeble and frail old grandmother in comparison.
That’s it for this week. Catch me on the Daily
Dementia RealAudio show tomorrow talking about these games and more. Talk to you next
week when we’ll be announcing my latest feature article that will launch on November
6th! I’m really proud of it and I can’t wait to have everyone read
it.
Until then,
Geoff Keighley
Editor-in-Chief
GameSlice
