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Vol.
2, Issue 1
November 10, 1999
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Jumping
from the “weakest” feature of the game to the “strongest”
(in my personal opinion), the music and sounds for the game are
the best I have ever heard in a game, bar none. The Moscow
Symphony Orchestra and Choir did an amazing job of performing
the musical pieces that were composed for the game. You can take
Disc 2 of the game and pop it into a normal CD Player, listen to
the music (which I’m doing while I write this), close your
eyes (which I’m not doing as I write this), and literally
imagine yourself back in Adelpha. The music is also dynamic, switching
between mysterious or awe-inspiring tunes and blood-pumping battle
rhythms as the situation demands. Add in ambient sounds and superb
special effects (though weapons can be a bit loud at times),
and you couldn’t ask any more from a game as far as aural experiences
go.
Control is a separate issue. Like all third person games, camera
movement can occasionally be a pain; but on the whole I believe that
they pretty much stay close to industry-standard quality. The interface
is a bit of an adjustment, since your primary and secondary actions
are context-sensitive (meaning that a button that dives you into a
lake one minute, may be the same one you press to ride on a creature
the next minute); but it is simple enough to learn and get used to
quickly. Keys are fully customizable as well, and the auto-aim in
the third person mode is adequate for most people who aren’t
sharpshooters (or don’t want to bother becoming one). You can
enter a first person mode (which enables a “free-aim” firing
mode); but it’s a bit jerky, and the field of view seems “wrong”
if you have Cinemascope turned on (which effectively “letterboxes”
the game). The view is graphically correct – but this option
makes the screen so wide that your brain has trouble reconciling it,
especially if you’re used to playing first-person-shooters. All
in all, the controls take a little getting used to, but are good enough
to keep you enjoying the game quite happily.
As with all games today,
there are also a few minor bugs here and there (clipping and bounding-box
related for the most part). However, considering the poor state
that many of the industry’s recent “hit” games have
had upon release – this game is remarkably bug free. The few
that exist are minor annoyances, and do not interfere with the game-play.
Taken in total, Outcast
is one game that you should definitely try out. No game is for everyone
– but the developers did a darn good job of trying to put a
little something for everyone in the game. It can excite you, whisk
your imagination away to far-off places, and even make you a bit
introspective at times. Give Outcast enough of a chance to get past
your initial reaction to the graphics; and you will be rewarded
with a rich, dynamic, musical, grand epic that immerses you for
hours – no, days on-end.
- Noel
"HB" Wade is a regular contributor to loonygames. Basically,
he
just wants attention.
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