Pariah

Pariah is a fairly conventional console shooter, which is another way of saying it's a lot like Halo. I can assure you that this isn't just a lazy comparison. It's a checkpoint FPS that features a mixture of indoor and outdoor locations, has some semi-futuristic weapons, a distinctly low-gravity feel to the jumping and a smattering of technical vehicles. There is a story told through rendered cut-scenes about a virus and an alien threat. Split-screen co-op mode and online play are also present.

To be fair, the hitpoint system is different, being more-or-less identical to that of The Chronicles of Riddick, which is to say you initially have four health bars, expandable to six later. If you lose a health bar, you can recharge it with a portable nano-injector, but a partially depleted health bar will recharge itself over time. Pariah also has a fairly unusual weapons upgrade system, but more on that later.

The unfortunate fact of the matter is that in each and every respect that Pariah resembles Halo, it simply comes across as a poor imitation. With the exception of some of the later levels, it simply isn't that much fun. It's stylish and it looks pretty good, but the story is weak and the gameplay often fails to be engaging.

Enemy AI exhibits weaknesses right from the start, being especially prone to just standing still and waiting to be killed. On all but the hardest setting it's seldom even a threat unless it gets close, in which case you may find enemies strafing round you faster than you can turn to keep up with them. On a side note, I generally had no clue who I was actually fighting at any given time since most enemies look exactly the same, guys in black suits with gas masks and guys in black suits with helmets.

I can believe that Pariah's story is trying to be intelligent by not explaining everything that's going on, but it's taken to such an extreme that in fact the story just becomes unintelligible and eventually alienates you. Where I might have had revelations during the game that caused us to look back and say 'ahh, now I get it', the story instead takes such bizarre twists and turns that you can only wonder why the information was kept from you in the first place. The net result is that it becomes incredibly difficult to identify with the characters or the events, making it all the more difficult to enjoy the game.

Without a particularly good story, all we're left with is the gameplay. The gameplay isn't bad, but it's hardly extraordinary. There are plenty of weapons that you can carry around, including an assault rifle, plasma rifle, grenade launcher, sniper rifle and shotgun. It's clear that the designers have tried to put in different areas where each weapon comes into its own, and this helps keeps things a bit more interesting. You can also upgrade your weapons by acquiring so-called WECs (weapon energy cores). Applying a certain amount of WECs to a weapon will have a fixed result, for instance adding a manual detonator and increased damage to the grenade launcher's grenades.

Surprisingly the weapon I found least useful was the rocket launcher which is acquired about half-way through the game. It's so clumsy and underpowered that you'll probably only end up using it on the weakest of enemies just for a laugh. The grenade launcher on the other hand is slightly overpowered (and therefore fun), especially when you can kill multiple enemies in one shot by detonating a grenade over their heads. Fully upgraded, the shotgun-like weapon works great on later levels, especially as you can see the ragdoll physics in full effect.

As mentioned, Pariah has a good mixture of outdoor and indoor locations and these do tend to vary in theme quite a bit. They also vary in quality, and it appears as though some were simply rushed. Likewise, while the graphics are on the whole quite eye-pleasing, some glaring glitches are present.

The more you play Pariah, the more cracks start to appear, and some bits seem to be missing altogether, leading to the inescapable conclusion that the game just wasn't properly finished. For instance, some levels end abruptly and without much explanation. The biggest flaw of all though is the vehicular combat - it is simply appalling, you'll actually avoid it if at all possible.

In one obviously unfinished level you control a mobile mortar launcher that is completely mismatched with the vehicles attacking you - they are too fast for the mortars to be accurate and you are too slow to escape their fire.

So dreadful was the level that I only managed to finish it by completely exploiting the weak AI, which has a tendency to just stop moving if you leave it alone for a while. By finding some high ground I could attack with impunity with our mortars and the enemies just sitting there and taking it. As soon as one was destroyed, another respawned until the game decided I had killed enough. To make it all the more laughable, when I figured out the respawn point and set my targets on it, the enemy wouldn't spawn until I looked away and looked back again.

Such spawn triggers are evident throughout the game, sometimes even causing a brief framerate drop when they happen. At a later point there is some cross fighting between what I assume are the guards and mercenaries (or maybe scavengers, they all look alike), though the dramatic effect is lost when you realise that they can't actually kill each other. On a few occasions I even experienced dramatic drops in framerate due to the pitched battles going on.

You'll never have to worry about ammo in Pariah because it's everywhere, and WECs aren't exactly few and far between either if you keep a sharp eye out. Rather than using a few upgraded weapons throughout the game (potentially giving rise to replayability),I found myself upgrading and using all of the weapons. Well, almost all of the weapons. Bizarrely, the left trigger is reserved entirely for a melee weapon that you will NEVER use - it's supposed to be some kind of surgical tool, but you can basically think of it as Pariah's energy sword.

Pariah's multiplayer is reasonable, but simply doesn't distinguish itself enough. The absolute best thing going for it is the so-called MAP editor, which is pretty unique among console titles and very easy to use. You can create deathmatch or siege maps, and are able to set the contour of the terrain as well as chose from a number of props and objects to put on it. Making a really unique map is quite a lot of work though, and there's no guarantee that people will play it. Multiplayer maps can be played with bots, but as with the single player game, the AI is just too weak and is prone to strafing about and then just standing still.

When playing Pariah you may find yourself pausing to scratch your head either because the story doesn't make much sense, or because you're simply wondering why the game was so blatantly pushed out the door without even half of the polish it needed to live up to the hype. In the end all it boils down to is the fact that Pariah just isn't all that much fun to play.