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Second Sight

Published By: Shaun Hunter On: 15/10/2004 12:00
Rating: M Difficulty: Medium Learning Curve: 15 Min

THE SCOREBOARD

7.9
Good

Gameplay	8.0	"A psychic thriller which will cause sweaty hands."
Graphics	7.0
Sound	8.0
Value	7.0

By Shaun Hunter

Second Sight is a great mix of stealth and paranormal, blending the two to get a psychic thriller which will take you on a journey of plot twists, addictive gameplay and sweaty hands. It's not a sequel to an overdone franchise, or a yearly iteration making the gaming experience in Second Sight fresh. Free Radical did a good job with this paranormal stealth shooter.

The story of the game is different to any other game you have played, and while games such as Psi-Ops may feature similar gameplay, the story of Second Sight really stands out, and is what will keep you coming back to this game day after day. You step into the shoes of John Vattic whom not much is known about at the beginning of the game, only that he was Civilian Adviser to WinterICE sent to aid their mission. Only he awakes in a Medical Research Facility, with no clue what happened. You've been labelled a 'psycho-killer' and it is up to you to find out what really happened and how the past can be changed. Along the way you will discover many powerful psychic abilities, which are what really makes this game so intriguing. By using these abilities, along with some nice weaponry, you are thrown back and forth between the current time and past events in order to find out the truth of your past. This story keeps you interested in the game, and gives a reason to keep playing level after level.

As mentioned earlier, psychic abilities play a huge role in this game, which you will 'acquire' as the story progresses. You have a life bar and a Psi power bar, and the latter of the two, the Psi bar will automatically regenerate over time. Each psychic ability you perform will use up a certain amount of this bar, so abilities won't last forever. One of these abilities is telekinesis, which is the ability to lift and interact with objects that may be just out of reach or that you normally wouldn't be able to do anything with. One example of the use of telekinesis is using your so-called powers to make fuse-boxes malfunction which can either scare close guards off, or catch their attention allowing you to sneak past. Another ability which plays a large role in the game, and the ability which I personally used most, charm. By using charm you will be able to become temporarily invisible to enemies on foot, although cameras will still spot you. I'll leave the rest of the abilities to find out for yourself, although it needs mentioning that the major psychic attacking ability, Psi-Blast, is not all that useful in the game, as guns and hand to hand combat can accomplish much the same thing easier. Speaking of guns, there are a handful of weapons you can take possession of, ranging from Sniper Rifles to Pistols, and while they are very helpful in the game, they can play what I feel is too much of a role in a psychic stealth game. Not to say they shouldn't be there, but a larger emphasis should have been put onto psychic attack abilities.

One aspect of the gameplay which is well integrated is the training in the second level of the game. During one of the 'flash-back' moments which occur frequently of the game, we learn that John Vattic has been placed into the WinterICE team and is expected to use weaponry. Of course this then leads to training by the various weapons specialists, where you learn how to handle your firearms, as well as vital stealth skills.

The A.I. in Second Sight is part of what lets this game down slightly, as in the A.I. isn't all that smart. You can be spotted by the enemy (guards or otherwise), and while they are watching you, you may choose to hide in a locker. A lot of the time they won't come after you even though they saw you enter it. You can also crawl into vents while guards are watching you, and after a few moments they will return to their normal positions and will stop the hunt. Targeting in this game is well implemented though, while guns� targets will automatically lock onto the enemy, you are then able to move the small targeting circle with the left analog stick to aim at more specific body parts such as their head, legs, etc.

Onto how the game looks now, this is neither a highlight nor low-point in the game. Cut-scenes are of good quality, and are enjoyable to watch. The characters aren't the most realistic looking objects in the game, but they never were meant to be. The character models are best described as the same graphical style as used on the timesplitters' characters (funny that considering it's the same company which made both games). On the subject of characters, there can sometimes be a small glitch while using telekinesis on guards where you are able to 'throw' the guards body into a wall, where it will possibly become stuck, giving the appearance that they are hanging from the middle of the wall. Not a very major problem though, and can quite often provide some amusing moments. The colour in Second Sight is well used; never does an area in the game look out of place, too bright or too dark. The offices you come across in the game are well lit, whereas the back-roads have a more gritty feeling to them.

The psychic abilities in Second Sight also look pretty good, a blue glow generally is used when dealing with psi-powers, and depending on the ability you are using, interaction with objects will be different. Small glowing circles will appear on objects or people which can be manipulated by your powers. This is used with charm, telekinesis and others. Healing will cause your body to seemingly float like a rag doll while surrounded by a pulsing ring of blue light. The projection ability will make a semi-transparent blue 'ghost' version of yourself appear, which looks decent. When your Psi bar is getting low orange pulses on the screen will warn you, until you completely run out of psychic power making the screen black-out and slowly refocusing. This creates a sense of urgency when using your abilities, and is an effective way of signalling you've run out of this 'psychic power'.

Sound is hard to judge in this game, most music is low-key and not normally all that noticeable. What you do notice though, is when you are spotted by the enemy or engaged in combat, the music amps-up and a much more frantic theme will play. This creates a nice sense of action, and makes you feel much safer when the music quiets down. Gunfire sounds fairly realistic and the occasional guard yelling "Hey! What was that?!" will send you running. Speaking of voice talent, the voices given to each character suits them. One minor issue I found with the sound was some of the blatant 'tips' given by the main character a lot of the time.