Friday, August 30, 2002

Review of Hidden Invasion for PS2     Publisher: Conspiracy Entertainment     Developer: Toka     Genre: Action     # Of Players: 1-2     As you probably guessed, Hidden Invasion is another run of the mill game about aliens.  Mean nasty aliens intent on invading the world and you are the only person who can stop them.  Hidden Invasion tries to mix it up a bit by giving you varied objectives, both a male & female agent with different abilities to choose from, mixing some martial arts in with the gunplay, and making it two-player, but all these nice little touches don’t save it from god-awful gameplay and some of the stupidest enemy A.I. I have ever seen. Graphics: Absolutely horrible.  Enemies look alike for the most part, animation is so bad I can barely tell what a person is doing, or if a gun is even actually firing.  And the levels are all poorly textured and blurry.  And there are no environment effects that have pretty much become a staple of games in this genre.   Sound: Well, music is fine, and I like the voices for the main characters, but the actual delivery is pretty bad, and sound effects in the game are extremely lacking, as enemies fail to respond in good ways to being hit or dying, no in-game talking, and no area sound effects (I’m in a city, where’s the sounds of traffic, people, etc.). Gameplay: Ok, let’s start off with the ridiculously stupid A.I.  In most games like this, the A.I. is fairly dumb, running at you with reckless abandon even if you have a shotgun and blow them down in a straight line, so I’m fairly forgiving, but in this game guys pretty much stand still most of the time just waiting to be annihilated, they stand in one spot firing their gun very badly.  The objectives are incredibly stupidly organized, and the first level exemplifies this.  I have to diffuse three bombs, but if I don’t do it in the right order, they all start up again, and I lose a minute for penalty.  Stupid aiming system where first you absolutely have to lock on before you can fire, and so-called martial arts are extremely limited. Features: Well, the ability to play with another person is nice, but that’s about all there is. Funfactor: This game is an embarrassment to the gaming industry.  It screams of being slapped together in a week as a blatantly desperate attempt for some quick cash and a possible tie-in to MIB II since it was released within a week of the movie.  This is just a truly bad game all around with much more value as a coaster than anything else. --Final Scores— Graphics: 2.0-Some of the worst graphics I’ve seen this year (but sadly not the worst). Sound: 3.0-Voices fit, but bad delivery and horrible sound effects (or lack thereof). Gameplay: 2.0-Bad controls, limited maneuvers, idiotic handling of mission systems and possibly the stupidest A.I. I’ve ever seen. Features: 5.5-Two-player is a nice addition, but nothing else extra. Funfactor: 2.5-Misery loves company, so drag along some unwitting friend to share in your misery if you are unlucky enough to suffer through this crap. 8:47:15 AM    comment []