Cryostasis: The Sleep of Reason
Cryostasis was made in Russia and tends to be famed as the Russian Bioshock. However nothing of this title besides for the classic weaponry is similar to Bioshock in anyway. This game completely flew under the radar as it came out in USA months after its Russian release to be fully dubbed into English. This was done amazingly and each of the lead characters in the game do a spectacular job of convincing there reality.
Story: 8/10
The Story follows a young mechanic sent to repair a large vessel from the ice of the Arctic. Instead he finds himself among an even larger Wreck with no one on board. Dead bodies litter the wreck and monster humanoids pop out of every corner. The overall theme of the game is the concept and idea of Second Chances. What would you do if you had a second chance at something to make things right? The dead bodies that litter the wreck allow the player to possess them and redo there story to make it right. The story is brilliantly told but may have a few players scratching there heads until the very end.
Gameplay: 5/10
Unfortunately this is where Cryostasis hits a halt. The developers decided to switch from the standard recharging health system to a heat system. Every where around the wreck lays a heat source of some sort. Some may need to be turned on while others may have existed there for awhile. The problem with this system is that it gives the developers full control of your life and gives this feel like your having your hand held between each encounter. The encounters are varied and often far apart and you have to understand that this is a very narrative driven game. Yet the different types of monsters do keep it interesting along the way.
Functionality: 7/10
This game running on its highest settings which are from 2007, had a very hard time running on some high end hardware. The game was poorly optimized graphically but had no crashes or windows errors of any kind crop up. Gaining points for functionality in Windows.
Immersion: 9/10
This is very arbitrary section to my reviews but this is my personal feelings to how involved i was with the story and game. I found myself getting deeper involved as the story progressed but the beginning felt like i was being dragged along and continuously lost me. However it caught up ground very quickly early enough that brought the Immersion experience for me to a worthwhile experiance.
Overall Score: B- (Thats right, this is an overall score not judged by the average of the numbers but the experiance that all 3 gave)
In conclusion Cryostasis is a complex and well told story that is dragged down by the game play but if your looking for a game that will give you a memorable experience and something to discuss about what it means to have or not have a second chance at a situation.
No comments:
Post a Comment