Origin of the Species seems to have
been in development for eternity. At E3 2004 a video preview of the game was on
display which I wrote about here
http://pc.gamezone.com/gzreviews/p24191.htm. After E3 2004 I never read
anything else about the game, but I recall seeing the game on a couple of
release schedules recently. This usually indicates the game is almost finished
but after playing the game we might be better off waiting.
The preview copies of games we get a
chance to play at GameZone are not always finished games and sometimes contain
bugs/glitches. The demo of Origin of the Species was no different, but the bugs
in the demo have me questioning just how soon the game will be released. Falling
through floors, slow down and wacky sound effects and music made it very
difficult to even finish part of the levels. One bug in the demo had the main
character, Dirt, falling through the floor only to a point where the character
would disappear. The only way to continue the game was to start over again.
The game itself is a
third-person-perspective action game that is supposed to have some RPG elements
included. The main character in the game, Dirt, is a sassy young girl that will
remind some gamers of a younger, hipper version of Laura Croft. I controlled
Dirt just the same as other third-person or first-person perspective games; the
mouse controlled the camera angle and weapon fire, while the W, S, A and D keys
controlled the movement of the character. Another glitch in the demo were the
weapons for Dirt. Every weapon looked exactly the same in the on-screen display,
while you changed weapons. It really didn’t seem to matter which weapon was
selected because the targeting always felt off and hard to aim. I always had to
be standing right next to a creature in order to hit them with any consistency.
The animation of the characters in
the game were choppy regardless of the action happening on screen. The creatures
would just crumble after being hit instead of reacting to the weapon fire. The
camera angle was adjustable but would stutter when trying to move the camera
around. The rest of the graphics in the demo reminded me of a game from the late
90’s instead of a game coming out in 2005. The textures were very bland, the
character models looked extremely old compared to other games being released
today. Really the only positive aspect of the graphics were the main character,
which looked better than the rest of the characters and graphics in the game.
One interesting aspect of the game
should be the special powers that Dirt possesses. There were several special
moves available to play in the game, which ranged from telekinesis powers to a
slow motion effect. The telekinesis powers seem to the new “hot weapon” to
include in games nowadays. One special power allowed Dirt to create an
flamethrower type of weapon out of her hands for some serious damage. The best
special power in the demo was the slow motion-effect, which will remind players
of the Max Payne and Matrix bullet-time effect. The slow motion allows Dirt to
unleash a barrage of weapon fire while she is jumping backwards in slow motion.
It was a great-looking effect though I never hit an enemy once with it.
From what I played of the demo I
didn’t find any RPG characteristics or elements. Maybe those elements weren’t
ready yet in the demo so I’m not sure how they will be implemented in the final
version. The music in the game would drowned out all of the voice acting in the
game, which made it almost impossible to tell what was happening in the
storyline. It’s sad that all of these bugs were in the game but even without the
bugs the game doesn’t appear to be the next great new gaming franchise. The
video on display at E3 2004 looked great but actually playing the game really
makes me wonder just how good the final version of the game will end up.
