OUTCAST
While it starts of slow, Outcast is really entertaining game. You play as Cutter Slade, an ex-FBI agent who has been assigned on a mission to fix a wormhole that threatens to swallow the Earth. Unfortunantly the mission backfires and you are teleported to the land of Adelphia, which is inhabitated by the Talan. The Talan believe you to be their saviour and you must help them defeat the evil Fae Rahn, as well find your human friends and stop the Earth from being destroyed!
The gameplay is a mix of an adventure game and a 3rd person shooter. You are free to explore the world of Adelphia and the game is extremely open in this regard. You can complete the missions that you are assigned in the game in any order, and in any way. The very beginning of the game is quite slow however, as there is a lot of talking (this game uses it's own fantasy words and it can be quite hard to keep track in the beginning!) and you can only explore a tiny area. However after you leave the first part it really picks up. The story becomes really interesting, due to the well developed characters. While it may seem very samey at first, it soon becomes far more engrossing. The combat in the game is very well done but is slightly clunky. To fire a gun you must hold down an aim button which will decrease Slade's speed. This makes it hard to avoid bullets. Eventually though you will get the hang of it and it leads to some very tense and exiciting battles. The graphics in this game have not really aged that well. While the draw distance in the game is extremely impressive, as well as the sheer size of the maps you play on, the textures in this game are extremely pixelated. This is a shame as the art direction in the game is brilliant, it's a just a shame that characters and buildings look like a blocky mess at times. Due the game running only in software mode, it can only run at a resolution of 640x480 (which you need to download an extra patch for) or lower. This is dissapointing, as I'm sure it would have made a difference. The sound in this game however, is really awesome. The voiceovers for the characters are really well done. Each character (and you will encounter a LOT) has it's own voice which is extremely impressive. The soundtrack is incredible as well, being performed by Moscow Sympothy Orchestra.
Outcast is a lot of fun however it is not perfect. A lot of the missions are fetching items and bringing them back to a person. This is OK but it does get annoying after a while. The game is kinda gltichy at times as well. With Slade cutting stuck in objects and certain characters either not giving the player certain items or not taking them to a certain area. There are long periods of time with not much happening as well, which can get boring.
Overall Outcast is very fun game. It's probably not one of the best but it's definately one of the most memorable adventure games I have played.
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