this is a really odd game made by a obscure french studio based off an aparently in house developed board game, based on the source engine. is that already weird enough? well it gets worse
you awake from a strange dream, in a sudden haze of deja vu, as you head into the first portal, wondering what to make of it all...
eye is basically a really intense half life 2 mod. theres about a hundread things you have to learn when you first start the game. the skills system is incredibly obscure, the research, tech trees, hacking, interface, etc, is all very forign and strange. the game has tutorials but it really doesnt teach much. a lot of this is due to the really rough and loose french translation thats present in the game, which for better or worse is pretty entertianing at times.
so is any of this bad?
well not really, the weirdness of the overall experience, the wacky but sometimes really thought proviking translations really give the charm an incredibly unqiue and charming feel.
so its a first person shooter, with a ton of rpg mechanics shoehorned in. the general combat and controls are fair enough, you have a selection of weapons avalible from the very start (in the locker) and you just pick a load out and try to gun down some crazy looking AI. soon enough you arrive at your hub world, and shit gets real. all the character designs / world design is truly otherworldly and unlike anything you've seen before. just look at pictures of it, its not possible to explain.
you have a mentor and a captian that gives you advice and objectives, fortunately you always know where you need to know due to onscreen hints, which is very welcome. so playing through the levels and getting lost rarely happens.
it's on the source engine so of course the graphics are sort of dated, but the overall atmosphere/design of the enviorment makes up for it. it is a surreal experience to say the least. much of the writing and plot has a very strong philosphical overtone, almost asking "what am i doing here / is it for nothing?" which is very interesting, even if you never quite really know whats going on...
so the general gameplay cycle is pretty basic, talk to mentor/captain, get teleported to mission scenario, follow objectives, kill bad guys ...and then theres one problem.. the Hacking
the hacking is basically one big timesink. its a strategy time based game where you have 5 options to pick from and you have to outsmart the AI. its a numbers game. it can sometimes take 30 minutes straight to hack a required objective. until you realize theres a simple cycle you can repeat for almost every hack in the game and it works... i dont know, the hacking is just a total failure in my eyes. it does nothing but detract from the overall experience and cause frustration and it unnessesarily haults the progress of the game. so fuck that part.
other than that you can talk about EYE forever i feel. theres so much depth in the mechanics (learning new abilites, buying new weapons, unlocking levels and stats) it feels overwhelming, almost consuming. fortunately you can just sort of ignore all of that RPG stuff and kind of play it like a straight FPS, if you have the skills, you'll do fine.
its fast paced, with decent firearm mechanics and a general fun gameplay cycle. nothing ever looks quite samey, so exploring all the enviorments is always interesting. theres a section thats quite long, incredibly obscure, and flat out strange called Noctis Labyrnth. it kind of sucks, but its also really memorable. the helicoptors / enemy spawns are pretty annoying, and you do a LOT of running back and forth it gets pretty tedious...
theres one section where a 'King' tells you to kill '28 humans' and theres no way to track how many, or any idea where to kill these humans
so you basically go to a camp and literally spawn camp the AI as it spawns........pretty lame, goes to show how buggy and unrefined much of the game is. but still, it adds to the charm factor for me.
definately an unforgettable experience, game has many flaws and faults, bugs and oddities, but overall its certainly unique and fun
7/10
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