"Geesh, is this guy a mess or what?" proclaims one of the many stationed guards.
"That's nothing. You should have seen him before," replies the hands dragging you along.
"I guess he won't be dating again."
"Like he's ever getting out, he's a psycho killer."
"Sweeeet! What'd he do?"
"That's classified."
You have time to catch someone say that you've been "wired up to a box all summer," and you're never escaping before a surgical mask fills your view, and chemicals course through your veins.
Not a pretty way for John Vattic to awake from a six month long coma. Without any concrete memory of how he arrived in his prison, Vattic is left with nothing but scar tissue and haunting dreams of ... something ...that transpired in Siberia.
This is your introduction to Free Radical's latest project, Second Sight. Famous for its TimeSplitters series, Free Radical is trying something drastically different. Second Sight is a third person action/stealth/shooter at its core, but Free Radical's ulterior motive is to present a game with a fully developed and compelling storyline.
While the plot tackles such age old questions as "What if psychic powers were real?" the story line plays an integral part in Second Sight. You play as two different John Vattics. One is the deranged, vengeance seeking, and psychic power wielding experiment you meet in the opening scene. The other is his geeky, mild-mannered, Peter Parker counterpart. A professional psychic debunker, Vattic was called in by the government to help with a special operation somewhere in Siberia, which eventually leads to his imprisonment.
What makes the plot so interesting is how it affects gameplay. When you start the game, you're the "after" model. You don't know what's going on and neither does Vattic -- he simply wants to escape. But, as you learn about who you are from your captors or see certain information in computers you've hacked (like learning that your friend Jane from the Siberia fiasco is deceased), you'll start having flashbacks. These just aren't cinematics...you'll actually "relive" the experience. The bizarre thing, which we hope is explained by the end of the game, is that what you do in your flashbacks affects the present. If you manage to save Jane's life, when you return to the present time you'll see that her file no longer says "deceased" -- she's now incarcerated in an asylum. Rescuing her becomes your new objective because she just might know what 's going on.
It's a very interesting system. There isn't a branching storyline, but the story does branch off on several different arcs -- it's your job to correct all these mishaps. Flashbacks are also a great way of advancing the actual game because they occur when Vattic doesn't know where to go or his path is blocked by some obstacle -- fixing the past allows him to progress forward. Also, as you learn more and more about Vattic, you get the impression that it is his fault that his friends are dead. So, if you fail to save someone you'll be treated to a special cut scene that shows the scientists "brainwashing" Vattic. You'll hear them say something like "You remember when you killed her, don't you." There are a dozen such cinematics that show off how Vattic was transformed into a "psycho killer" (as the scientists provoke his memories he begins to display his powers). Only through failure will you see the entire picture.
Free Radical hopes that this plot design will make players feel like they're a part of the story, especially since their actions have consequence and John never knows more than they do -- you uncover the plot together. But, there's more than a government conspiracy story at work in Second Sight. There's gameplay to back it up. Much like the story design, the gameplay is segmented into two different parts (although not incredibly drastic departures).
Nice Vattic The start of the game will have you playing as post-Siberia Vattic. Your main objective is to escape the government installation where you're being held. At the start, you'll only be privy to a few psychic powers (heal and telekinesis) and your gun toting abilities, but as Vattic progresses through the game and certain circumstances arise, he'll gain other powers. The opening level is mostly a playground for Vattic, allowing players time to get acquainted with the controls and learn how to manipulate objects via telekinesis (TK). While we weren't able to actually give Second Sight a test run, the controls appeared to be very solid -- everything from manipulating Vattic through hallways to stacking monitors on top one another with TK seemed quite easy.
Movement is relative to the camera, which is usually panned out enough to give players a good sense of their surroundings. The camera can be rotated with the right analog stick as long as TK isn't activated. There's also a static first person view in case you need to do any investigating. Weapons and psi powers are located on the d-pad. The vertical axis scrolls through your arsenal of firearms and the horizontal scrolls through abilities. Aiming uses a lock on system similar to Everything or Nothing. You'll lock onto an individual target, and then aim a small pip if you want to target the head or other body part. This standard works well because of the nature of TK -- you can quickly see all the items you can interact with instead of forcing trial and error upon you.
Vattic's repertoire of moves includes the use of anything from tranquilizers to machine guns. He can crouch and peer around walls. With his back to a wall, he can wrap around corners or targets enemies that are waiting around the bend, which allows Vattic to leap out from the wall and shoot in one motion. If you're able to sneak up on someone, Vattic can silently kill him with a snap of the neck or use him as a human shield.
Not So Nice Vattic But, these days you can find stealth kills and gunplay in any third-person action game. The interesting gameplay element is, of course, his psychic powers. Using any of them will drain Vattic's psi meter, which slowly refills over time. Half of his abilities serve rather basic functions. Heal regenerates Vattic's health meter, but leaves him open to attack. Psi Blast is simply a blast of psi energy that can harm/kill one enemy (or a group packed closely together). If Vattic is surrounded by enemies, he can unleash a Psi Attack that will knock them down with a radial blast of psi energy (they're merely stunned, not hurt).
The other powers are a bit more exciting -- and are what further distinguishes Second Sight from other titles. The aforementioned telekinesis is the most versatile of his abilities. Simply equip TK and lock onto any item to manipulate it. The object can be freely controlled with the right thumb stick, which allows Vattic to move around and actively use TK simultaneously. While you can only manipulate one object at a time, control is precise -- even allowing you to move an object out a window and in through a door. Depending on how rapidly you move the analog stick denotes how the object will move. Slow steady movements will simply move it around a room, but if you quickly move the thumb stick the object will be thrown in the appropriate direction.
This means you'll be able to pick up TVs to hurl at incoming guards. You can pick up a huge sign and use it as a shield while you cross an open room. Cameras that would alert guards to your presence can be broken. Or, objects could be lifted to scare or distract your captors. One of the neater tricks is picking up a guard and holding him helpless in front of you while you fill him with lead (of course you could also throw him or drop him from a high height.)
Charm works like an invisibility cloak. While wearing it, you'll only see an outline of Vattic and he'll be invisible to anyone he encounters. However, if you make a lot of noise by bumping into objects or walking near NPCs, they'll be aware that someone or something is near. Watching them squirm at their posts is quite satisfying. The other trick with Charm is that you can't just turn it on whenever you want. It won't work if you're in the line of sight of an adversary or operational camera. It'll immediately fail if you bump into someone or if you were to walk through blood and someone spots your footprints. These measures create the illusion that the A.I. is alive. and also keeps Charm from being a far too powerful tool.
Charm has another use, which was only demonstrated briefly. In a later level you'll have to break Jane out of the asylum. During your escape, you'll have to lead her along the rooftop to safety. This section of the game was inspired by Ico, and Charm is how you persuade Jane to follow you. If she happens to get freaked by gunfire, she'll run away. Once you've dealt with the problem, you'll have to use charm to calm her.
The last ability is projection. This allows Vattic to leave his physical body (which leaves him vulnerable to attack). His projected self is completely undetectable, so he might have to use it to turn off laser grids or sneak into a room full of guards to unlock a door. Other puzzles might require Vattic to stand on an elevator and use his projected self to trigger a switch across the room. The coolest use of this power is that with projection, Vattic can possess his enemies. He might take control of one guard and force him to shoot his buddy. Since no one enjoys being shot at, the two will start fighting, which allows John to sneak past. The psi abilities are well implemented, and create puzzles different from those found in your typical action game.
Flashback levels involving the pre-psycho killer Vattic incorporate an entirely different set of mechanics. You're on a special military op in Siberia, so you're placed into a squad setting. You don't actually control any of your squad members, but they'll move in formation -- and so should you. Generally, if you don't follow the commands they shout out, you or the person you're trying to protect will wind up dead. Vattic's weapon of choice for these missions is a sniper rifle, which has rather interesting mechanics. For sniping, the view remains in the third person. To account for the scope, your view finder pops up in the lower right hand corner of the screen. It'll automatically lock onto enemies, but you'll still have to aim the sight in the lower right to actually kill them. We aren't sure if there will be any stealth intensive flashback levels, but we do know that they build off what is happening in the future. For instance, at one point Vattic will have to chase after Jane who's run after an apparition. During the pursuit, he'll see someone's projection run into a building. When the event originally happened, he wasn't able to see the ghost-like image. But, by the time he reaches this flashback he knows what projection is and can recognize it.
Other neat functions in the game include a computer hacking mini-game. It's nothing like hacking the matrix, but if you take the time to investigate the computers scattered throughout Second Sight you'll find a bevy of information. Some files will simply tell you more about John and the experiments that were done to him. Others will allow you access to cameras so you can scope out what lies in wait for you or simply shut them off. Other computers control door locks. You'll be able to read people's email and use that information to bluff your way through security. Vattic can even take a break from solving this conspiracy for some retro gaming.
In terms of art design, Second Sight looks very similar to TimeSplitters -- primarily because it shares the same art team. For cartoony character models, they display a lot of emotion. The game just looks good. Slight touches, like particle effects and soft reflections on floors enhance the game's visual appeal. The cut scenes all use the in game engine, but due to the range of animation and character design FMV isn't missed. Second Sight also makes great use of the Havok physics engine. Objects (especially when using TK) react as they should. You can stack monitors on top of each other until they topple. When you lift up a guard he'll flail and go limp. Toss him against a wall and you'll see his body crumble. It's all rather impressive and helps to extend Free Radical's illusion.
Second Sight will appear on all three consoles. There won't be any major differences between versions -- except that the PlayStation 2 title will run at 30 frames per second while the GameCube and Xbox versions have targets of 60. The game currently has about 16 levels. Roughly 50% of it is flashbacks -- which occur more frequently at the end of the game. Target release date is September 2004.
Outlook
There's no denying it, we're excited for Second Sight. Not only is the premise intriguing, but from what we've seen it will be a very unique experience. The storyline's dynamic is our biggest draw, we were ready to steal the demo from David Doak just so we could explore its many secrets. The whole concept of playing through present and past timelines to affect one story in some ways feels similar to Eternal Darkness, but the main difference and draw is that it allows you to see all sides of Vattic's character -- and how the various experiments have warped him.
On the gameplay side of things, the controls seem very fluid and the A.I. responds accurately to various situations. The psi powers refrain from feeling gimmicky, partly because of how fluidly they work and partly because of how they're integrated into puzzle solving. We're also excited about the fact that there are so many different ways to maneuver through levels. You could concentrate on all out action, stealth, extensive use of psi powers, or a combination of the three.
Definitely keep this game in your sights. IGN will have hands-on impressions from the fast approaching E3. Until then, take a gander at footage and screens from Second Sight in our media pages.