Project Eden – PC – Review

The Earth, burgeoning under the strain
of increased population, has grown in diameter. The physical size of the surface
is the same, but man, to accommodate the vast numbers of people has continued to
build upward.

Those who live on the surface are
content, beautiful people who have adapted to this new way of life. But miles
below, down in the shadowed recesses of the decrepit buildings that serve as the
foundation for the upper world, life is very much different. Mutated forms,
maniacal felons, the very dregs of society ensconced in a madness born of life
in the darkness thrives and waits for its day of vengeance.

Project Eden, from Eidos Interactive
for the PC, is an unusual mixture of puzzles, mindless shooting and mystery.
Mindless shooting? Yep, this is not strategic battle, such as that presented in
Half-Life or Unreal – though some of the monsters on the lower levels of this
game could have existed in either of those games. The battle portions are often
showdowns, where you simply fire until the opposing force falls. If your
character is killed, no problem, you take over another team member, then after
the battle find a regeneration point and have the dead party member rejoin the
group.

Ok, let’s backtrack just a bit. While
this game is primarily a single-player game, gamers will have to take control of
a party of four, each a specialized member of the Urban Protection Agency – the
police force. There has been trouble at the Real Meat Factory with machines
acting up. (The name of the factory immediately draws up flashbacks to the
Charlton Heston film, “Soylent Green” and any moment you expect someone to yell
“it’s people!”) The maintenance crew sent to find and fix the problem has
disappeared. It’s up to Carter, the team leader, Amber, Andre and Minoko to find
out what happened. As they enter the Real Meat Factory, a bridge that would have
provided easy access to the levels below, blows up. The team must split into two
groups, figure out how to gain egress to the lower levels, reunite, explore and
uncover the sinister plot and eradicate the menace.

Each level gets progressively harder
as you move downward, not only in terms of action, but with the puzzles. Therein
lies the key to the time it will take to complete this game. There are 11 levels
in all, and the game boards for each level seem huge.

The control elements are fairly
straightforward. This game can be reconfigured for a joystick, but the
mouse-keyboard combination works very nicely. Some hot keys are stock to games
in this genre, and those that may be a bit different, don’t take long to figure
out.

Visually, this game is quite nice. The
environmental graphics are very well done, as are the special effects. The torch
(a.k.a. flashlight) is one of the first effects you will run into, and it is
rendered very realistically. The sound of the game is also well done. Some of
the effects are rather stock, but the sound track pulsates. The voice acting
could have been better. It sometimes seems a little too understated.

While Project Eden does supply its
share of shooter action, the game fits into the genre of action/adventure. As a
shooter it is lacking, as an adventure it has intrigue and numerous challenges.

This game does support multiplayer
gaming, but it is more or less limited to the deathmatch scenario common to a
lot of games who merely want to advertise multiplayer capabilities without
providing real substance and sustained gameplay.

This program is rated Teen for blood,
gore and violence

Install: Easy
This program can take up to 600 megs of
hard-drive space, but goes on quickly.

Gameplay: 7.5

You will have to check the version of the
game you have, and if less than v1.01, then you need to patch the game in order
to correct a minor save bug. Aside from that, this game has a relatively nice
flow to it. Yes, there are a lot of puzzles that need to be worked through, and
that can take time. But you had better be on your toes when you start moving
down through the levels.

Graphics: 8
The environments are well rendered, and
the action sequences are a lot of fun.

Sound: 7.5

The musical score is quite nice, and the
game has an array of effects that will have a surround system rumbling. The
vocal characterizations could have been better.

Difficulty: 8.5

This game is a solid mental exercise. The
fact that dying doesn’t have much of an impact of your game (because of the
regeneration of the deceased), allows gamers to continue in the game without
having to regroup, rethink or restart. If there is a drawback, it lies in the
fact that the game is very linear in design. Figure it out once, and replay
value is out the window.

Concept:
7

The storyline isn’t a brain-tickler, but
the adventure elements do a very nice job of supporting the concept, and moving
the game along.

Multiplayer: 7
This game is supported by the GameSpy
network, but the program – in its mission mode – is really a one-person game
while the multiplayer options also include the typical deathmatch scenario.

Overall: 7.8

This game could have used better (or any)
squad-based tactics, but the actual adventure of the game is not diminished
because of this aspect. The game sports well-done graphics and sound, and will
appeal to fans that want to exercise their minds within the confines of the
action/adventure format.