Second Sight Review

Complimentary to the action segment, the game features a number of simple puzzles, such as obtaining a certain code to open doors, activating switches, disabling security cameras, and so on. The focus of the game is on the action, however, meaning the puzzles are fairly simple. They are incorporated well, and as the game's completely linear, it will always be pretty obvious where to go and what to do next. Vattic's very talkative (guess he owes it to just having woken from a long slumber (You must be very well rested then, Chatty Kathy -Ed.)), so he'll be talking to himself all the time, commenting on practically everything.

Before I shaved mu head and became a psychic, I was an angry young man.

What? There was nothing on the tube, and naturally, I got pissed.

In any case, the game offers quite a lot of solid material to chew on, giving a rather convincing and engaging render of the subject. There are, however, some elements that are quite unimpressive, such as the predictability of your enemies. Your opponents follow the same patterns closely, never managing to surprise you with their next move. You'll always know what their next reaction will be, and they'll sometimes also prove to be very inefficient in finding you. There were instances when I managed to hide under their very nose without raising any suspicion.

Your enemies definitely have their 'blind spots'. Once I got spotted, so I decided to wait around the corner until the alarm went off. Despite the fact the guards were standing a few steps away from me, they never bothered to look around the corner. They were probably respecting the boundaries of their zone, but this could not atone for the fact that it looked rather ridiculous. This makes the game sometimes confusing, as you won't be sure whether your enemies will spot you or not. Sometimes they'll spot you and shoot you on the spot, and other times they'll just ignore your presence.

It is impossible to save your progress at will - the game saves automatically at checkpoints (Bleh -Ed.). Although the game isn't particularly difficult on the challenging difficulty setting (the normal difficulty level is fairly easy), you may get spotted more often and then you may get surrounded and ultimately killed.

Visually, Second Sight isn't really a looker: it has some blurry and ugly textures, courtesy of its multi-platform nature, but it's not all that bad. The environments are designed rather well, with each location having a distinctive look (even when it comes to rooms in the same complex). Character models are somewhat clumsily rendered, with your enemies all looking similar.

The game also has some slight clipping issues, and the physics are a mixed bag of blessings. Although you're able to predict where an object is going to land most of the time, it may sometimes surprise you and end up in the wrong place. Objects sometimes do not move in the direction that seems obvious, and the way your enemies fall when you execute them is often hilarious. They fall off platforms realistically enough, but when it comes to slapping them, they have a tendency to collapse like a sack of potatoes.

Finally, the sound effects and the voiceovers are decent, and the occasional music sequences are quite atmospheric.

Second Sight is a surprisingly enjoyable action game. Even with all its drawbacks it managed to hold my attention and interest with its intriguing plot and versatile gameplay. Only thing is, the game lacks some orange-clad Buddhists with scary wooden poles and an evil glint in their eye. And spoons. Man, I'd love to see some spoons being bent.