[h1]TL:DR Deadspace 4 (out of ten)[/h1]
[b]PERSPECTIVE[/b]
Looking Glass Studios (LGS) must be shuddering. Callisto Protocol (CP) is a reminder that when we stand on the shoulders of giants and geniuses we need to innovate and improve. Otherwise we are shallow copies. Cheap knock offs.
However, in this case not even that considering the price of this game.
LGS developed games like System Shock, Ultima Underworld. Historical games, developing 3D worlds when Doom was still 2D.
The genre invented in 1994 also led to the Bioshock series and more recently Prey. Innovation, strange worlds (Under the sea city and flying cities) and environments. Memorable games. Exploring technology, AI, philosophy, race relations…
[b]Shodan. Would you kindly. Elizabeth in Bioshock Infinite…[/b]
CP is developed by some guys involved in Deadspace (Glen Schofield). A good game that reignited the genre. Some innovation there too. Horror. The weapons. Cut scenes. Some story telling. The monsters. Deadspace 2 is probably my favourite of these new kids on the block.
But CP was not developed to improve or equal its ancestry. It was developed to showcase the power of the consoles it would be played on. Hence the game is 70% visuals and 30% gameplay. We’ve become a shallow bunch.
In 1983 you could play a game called Dragon’s Lair in the arcade. Awesome cartoon graphics (see above about graphics) but the gameplay was shallow. Predetermined path. Quick time events that had to be memorised or certain death.
How far have we come in 40+ years?
Like Deadspace 3, CP has these story moments where you must move, press “X” at the right moment, or instant death. In one sequence I died 10 times because it was outside and the weather hid from me the safe spaces in the environment.
The ancestral games of the past had complex inventories, a lot of freedom to explore etc. CP gives you only six inventory slots for the first half of the game and many, many times blocks you from going back. A completely linear game.
This new homage to System Shock has a strange save system that where you reload after an exit and find yourself not in the place you left but a completely new area and unable to go back.
[b]The Review[/b]
The place: A prison
The monsters/ enemies: Robots and diseased biophaged zombies
The plot: Escape
The innovation: Beyond the awesome graphics, disgusting horror scenes blood and gore
Callisto Protocol follows the same genre like Deadspace and System Shock, but this time places you in a prison overrun by mutant zombie flesh eating creatures.
The graphics are gorgeous and if you have mates, invite them around to showcase your gaming rig.
The prison is dark, beautifully lit. Each step careful, monsters can jump out at any time to scare you into buying new pants. You will liaise with a few people to get out alive. The camera angle just above and to your right. Movement is steady.
You can jump over barriers but only some barriers. You can jump up to a ledge, but not all ledges. You will crawl through tunnels etc all in a linear fashion making your way through the story in a one step forward one step back pattern.
The developers bought in some real actors to represent the main characters and it’s done very well. And better than in Deadspace 1 you will engage more with other people, but for some reason those interactions won’t last long. Something always happens.
The game engine can’t handle a companion.
Until you find your flow, combat can be scary and if you fail, the developers blew vast amounts of resources on your kill screen. Pure evil and disgusting. Your best bet is to stay alive.
The game relies heavily on melee combat, movement left or right, BEFORE, the enemy whacks you works well. It’s not based on timing and you normally engage one at a time, the evil spawn of hell monsters like queuing (this was a post launch patch).
You can pick up data logs that are woefully short giving some backstory to what happened in the prison.
Unfortunately, since the game is set in a prison, rather than Citadel Station the various environments are gloomy, but sometimes you can walk through sewage for a change. You even go outside onto the planet surface for a while.
I am sure the developers went for a scary tense slow paced game and they almost got it. Whether you, the player, want 25 hours of that is another thing. Very rarely does the pace change.
Inventory management is diabolical making me think the game design forced it upon them. Later on you can find better guns and upgrade your single melee weapon. Stations to craft and buy items are well spaced but usually difficult to go back to since the game is 95% linear. Often locking you out of the room you just entered from.
The story is pretty good for games that ain’t that good. It makes sense.
I am 15 hours in and it feels like 50 hours. And I play real slow. Explore each corner. On the second last chapter. And I am done.
In comparison:
Prey, 90+ hours
Deadspace 1, 38 hours
Deadspace 2, 74 hours
Buy it if you’re rich, have friends, adore bad horror games, or on sale around £20
And if you really like the game you can buy the ending in a separate DLC.
I am disappointed. Look at my profile picture.
[b]For me, back to Prey or Deadspace 2. Or even System Shock remake.[/b]
