Second Sight
Definitely worth a second look.
Published: September 23, 2004
Second Sight has the unlucky distinction of sharing more than a passing resemblance to Midway's fantastic Psi-Ops. Sure the lead characters both share the ability to do whiz-bang things with their minds -- some of them, like telekinesis and remote viewing, being nearly identical -- but the difference between the two games lies in the narrative.
Specifically how developer Free Radical, fresh off a fantastically successful foray into their own first-person shooter franchise (read: TimeSplitters) after a good portion of the founding staff took leave from Rare in the post-GoldenEye and Perfect Dark days, decided to present Second Sight's storyline. See, Dr. John Vattic has just woken up in a deserted (and very high-tech) medical ward with no memory of who he is or why he's here. Worse, he's plagued by splitting headaches and slowly reawakening abilities he never thought he had.
All this is ultimately the catalyst for John's biggest revelation, however: he can apparently alter history. What first seem like normal flashbacks reveal themselves to be a way for John to not only remember the events about six months prior that led up to his current state, but offers a way to change things in the past that directly affect the present. It's not a new concept (howdy, there, Quantum Leap), but the way things are delivered without actually cramming them down your face with "holy crap, he changed history" has everything to do with how well postured Free Radical is at delivering a compelling story.
We are treading on familiar ground, here -- a minefield of clichés and tired rehashes of the same basic idea -- but Second Sight largely manages to sidestep the big ones. There's some cringe-worthy dialogue bits here and there, and the climax of the game feels little too familiar, but it's still absolutely worth experiencing. And though the dialogue falls flat at times, the writing does find some particularly subtle ways of telling you that you've changed the past. It's fleeting, giving way later to some more obvious moments where those less perceptive players will get why John begins to intentionally flash back, but if you pick up on it early enough, it's fun to watch the reactions of characters before and after flashbacks.
The gameplay stretched over the storyline is equally impressive, though again not without some faults, mainly in the areas of stealth and camera work, both of which apparently were not suited for a game that can quickly go from don't-get-spotted creeping along to an endless shootout later in the game. Still, Vattic's arsenal of moves is delivered with fantastic precision, allowing you to get wrapped up in the pacing of the storyline while still offering enough opportunities to break in a new ability before you're forced to wrestle with the next.
There are a few instances when it's not exactly clear how you're supposed to proceed, resulting in some trial and error (and, coupled with the lack of specific save points, just level-starting ones and checkpoints placed throughout a level), but there are often a couple ways to tackle things, and it's in this kind of quasi-freeform environment that the game lets you feel like you're calling the shots -- even if it's not necessarily a lingering feeling.
There's another, more persistent feeling, however, that of a game that's impressively polished. I have my gripes with the physics system, which frankly can't hold a candle to Psi-Ops' brilliant implementation of the Havok psychics engine, since nothing feels like it has weight; boxes and chair skitter across the floor with no real friction or momentum, and bodies don't ragdoll as realistically as I'd like, but the rest of the game drips with attention to detail.
This comes largely in part from the superb graphics engine, which manages to cull some impressively effective recreations of sprawling and organic level design. None of the levels is really all that huge, per se, but Free Radical used the space at hand well, often wrapping paths back around or allowing multiple ways to get to the same place. Throughout the whole experience, the framerate nearly always hums along at a creamy 60fps, and the same slightly shaky, well directed camera movements, that were prominent in TimeSplitters 2 are present here, adding life to otherwise menial events.
The devil is in the details, however, and again it's this sweating of the small stuff that elicits the occasional "wow." Computer displays show PCs POSTing upon powering up, screensavers on computers and dragging and dropping in virtual desktops gives hints of a world that was there before you arrived. Early in the game, after accidentally offing a guard, it's possible to log into his computer and open up an internet chat window, where the poor fella's girlfriend sees him login (you can read the last bit of their conversation before he logged off too), and watch her plead for some sign that he's around when you don't type anything for a few seconds.
The audio is suitably complex and obviously high-budget; crates break, bullets richochet, soliders report alarm or curiosity without too much repetition, but it does have that same sense of almost flat, overbuffed silkiness that the TimeSplitters games had; everything seems to be on the same volume level, and passed through an odd filter to clip out the high or low ends. It's not bad, of course, and oddly adds to the feel of a more polished game, but it's still there. Most of the voice work is frankly on the amateurish-sounding side with cheesy accents and overly dramatic deliveries, but Vattic's deliveries are almost always quite good, even offering a handful of memorable lines (the "what's that guy's login again... aaahyeah" bit about 60% into the game had my girlfriend and I rolling every time).
Graeme Norgate's music is rather obvious almost from the get-go, with clips that sound almost lifted straight from some of TimeSplitters 2's early level tracks, but that's certainly not a complaint. Second Sight allowed the composer a bit more room to create moods and punctuate events where they weren't really appropriate in the pacing of a first-person shooter, and he does so quite well.
Forced stealth quibbles and slightly iffy physics aside, Second Sight's offering of a decently complex story (or as complex as you're going to get for an 8-10 hour action game) with a couple of twists and a silky smooth, high-budget presentation is one of the best Free Radical has pulled off to date. It's a promising start to something that doesn't have to be another first-person shooter, and if the UK-based developer can keep this up, we can't wait to see what they're working on next.
Specifically how developer Free Radical, fresh off a fantastically successful foray into their own first-person shooter franchise (read: TimeSplitters) after a good portion of the founding staff took leave from Rare in the post-GoldenEye and Perfect Dark days, decided to present Second Sight's storyline. See, Dr. John Vattic has just woken up in a deserted (and very high-tech) medical ward with no memory of who he is or why he's here. Worse, he's plagued by splitting headaches and slowly reawakening abilities he never thought he had.
All this is ultimately the catalyst for John's biggest revelation, however: he can apparently alter history. What first seem like normal flashbacks reveal themselves to be a way for John to not only remember the events about six months prior that led up to his current state, but offers a way to change things in the past that directly affect the present. It's not a new concept (howdy, there, Quantum Leap), but the way things are delivered without actually cramming them down your face with "holy crap, he changed history" has everything to do with how well postured Free Radical is at delivering a compelling story.
We are treading on familiar ground, here -- a minefield of clichés and tired rehashes of the same basic idea -- but Second Sight largely manages to sidestep the big ones. There's some cringe-worthy dialogue bits here and there, and the climax of the game feels little too familiar, but it's still absolutely worth experiencing. And though the dialogue falls flat at times, the writing does find some particularly subtle ways of telling you that you've changed the past. It's fleeting, giving way later to some more obvious moments where those less perceptive players will get why John begins to intentionally flash back, but if you pick up on it early enough, it's fun to watch the reactions of characters before and after flashbacks.
The gameplay stretched over the storyline is equally impressive, though again not without some faults, mainly in the areas of stealth and camera work, both of which apparently were not suited for a game that can quickly go from don't-get-spotted creeping along to an endless shootout later in the game. Still, Vattic's arsenal of moves is delivered with fantastic precision, allowing you to get wrapped up in the pacing of the storyline while still offering enough opportunities to break in a new ability before you're forced to wrestle with the next.
There are a few instances when it's not exactly clear how you're supposed to proceed, resulting in some trial and error (and, coupled with the lack of specific save points, just level-starting ones and checkpoints placed throughout a level), but there are often a couple ways to tackle things, and it's in this kind of quasi-freeform environment that the game lets you feel like you're calling the shots -- even if it's not necessarily a lingering feeling.
There's another, more persistent feeling, however, that of a game that's impressively polished. I have my gripes with the physics system, which frankly can't hold a candle to Psi-Ops' brilliant implementation of the Havok psychics engine, since nothing feels like it has weight; boxes and chair skitter across the floor with no real friction or momentum, and bodies don't ragdoll as realistically as I'd like, but the rest of the game drips with attention to detail.
This comes largely in part from the superb graphics engine, which manages to cull some impressively effective recreations of sprawling and organic level design. None of the levels is really all that huge, per se, but Free Radical used the space at hand well, often wrapping paths back around or allowing multiple ways to get to the same place. Throughout the whole experience, the framerate nearly always hums along at a creamy 60fps, and the same slightly shaky, well directed camera movements, that were prominent in TimeSplitters 2 are present here, adding life to otherwise menial events.
The devil is in the details, however, and again it's this sweating of the small stuff that elicits the occasional "wow." Computer displays show PCs POSTing upon powering up, screensavers on computers and dragging and dropping in virtual desktops gives hints of a world that was there before you arrived. Early in the game, after accidentally offing a guard, it's possible to log into his computer and open up an internet chat window, where the poor fella's girlfriend sees him login (you can read the last bit of their conversation before he logged off too), and watch her plead for some sign that he's around when you don't type anything for a few seconds.
The audio is suitably complex and obviously high-budget; crates break, bullets richochet, soliders report alarm or curiosity without too much repetition, but it does have that same sense of almost flat, overbuffed silkiness that the TimeSplitters games had; everything seems to be on the same volume level, and passed through an odd filter to clip out the high or low ends. It's not bad, of course, and oddly adds to the feel of a more polished game, but it's still there. Most of the voice work is frankly on the amateurish-sounding side with cheesy accents and overly dramatic deliveries, but Vattic's deliveries are almost always quite good, even offering a handful of memorable lines (the "what's that guy's login again... aaahyeah" bit about 60% into the game had my girlfriend and I rolling every time).
Graeme Norgate's music is rather obvious almost from the get-go, with clips that sound almost lifted straight from some of TimeSplitters 2's early level tracks, but that's certainly not a complaint. Second Sight allowed the composer a bit more room to create moods and punctuate events where they weren't really appropriate in the pacing of a first-person shooter, and he does so quite well.
Forced stealth quibbles and slightly iffy physics aside, Second Sight's offering of a decently complex story (or as complex as you're going to get for an 8-10 hour action game) with a couple of twists and a silky smooth, high-budget presentation is one of the best Free Radical has pulled off to date. It's a promising start to something that doesn't have to be another first-person shooter, and if the UK-based developer can keep this up, we can't wait to see what they're working on next.