Farscape: The Game (demo)

I'm not always a big fan of merchandizing. While it's nice to show support for a favorite TV show with objects promoting that obsession, and I'm all for a nice Farscape T-shirt, I don't see the need to surround myself with Farscape The Mug, Farscape the Mouse pad, Farscape the Decals, Farscape the Flamethrower, ect...

I'm more enthusiastic about merchandize that's a bit more interactive like books, games, special editions DVD's and the like. They offer more then a pretty picture or logo to look at, but more of the actual essence of the show I love. However I'm more wary since it's easier to skew the characters in such a way as to kill the intent and dampen my enthusiasm quickly.  I'd love to read a Farscape novel, but if its a poor quality and the characters feel wrong I'll drop it faster then flaming dren.

So I was both anxious and nervous over the idea of a Farscape computer game.  On one hand it could be fun to get the chance to pretend to be Crichton...on the other it could just be DOOM with PK's.  What pushed me to try the demo was the fact that the actual actors and actresses from the show lent their voices for their own characters.  I figured if Ben Browder is the one playing Crichton then there can't be much mischaracterization.

And so I downloaded the demo and here's what I think:

Overall:

• The demo offers a training exercise to get the basic hang of the controls and then a tiny part of the main game to preview. It sets up the story and gives enough of a taste to see what you're getting into. The plot is compelling...in the first minutes Moya is attacked by the Peacekeepers and everyone but Crichton and Chiana are captured.  They crash-land on a planet, and you're first task is to direct the pair to recapture and repair the damaged Prowler so they can go off and rescue the others.

• Eventually there will be townspeople to talk to, puzzles to figure out, and loads of other characters to interact with and direct. However the demo is primarily a shoot 'em up type mission. Hopefully with the whole game to enjoy there'll be more depth in the action.

Overall I did enjoy the demo, and do look forward to the actual game.

The Good:

• Nothing could replace the actual actors supplying the voices for their characters, so it was wonderful to really hear Crichton speaking, or Chiana saying "Look out!", and ads a wonderful authentic feel to the game.

• The graphics, while not picture perfect, are clear and crisp and detailed enough to make characters recognizable.  The visuals of the landscapes are very well done, and the movie animations include CGI as good as on the show.

• The basic controls are intuitive enough to make immediate game play easy. Unlike other more complicated games you can move, shoot and talk quite easily.  Plus the info bars that let you know who you control and give you stats on each character are fairly easy to understand, although the tutorial simply describes them instead of actually doing a show and tell that would be more helpful.

The Bad:

• The training exercises didn't actually have a lot of training.  It was mostly walking around checking out readout screens with information on how to play the game and control everything.  The info from those screens could be better enjoyed in a small players manual, and the training spent actually practicing those skills.  With the exception of one easily killed drone, there's not much to actually DO, and once you kill the drone you can't get another unless you re-load the training.

• While the basic game controls are easy, more advanced yet necessary maneuvers are much more difficult to master. One critical skill is to lock onto a target so you can continue to shoot at it even as you move in different directions. However I found trying to do this quite difficult, and often my character simply ended up running towards the critter I was trying to shoot.

• Simple camera angle controls let you rotate around to all angles, and that's nice. However you can't lock the camera in one position to make moving and fighting easier. I wanted to always be "looking" over Crichton's shoulder, but if Crichton turned to the left or right the camera wouldn't follow.

The Nitpicky:

• When controlling Crichton, Chiana tended to be smart enough to stick with me, find nearby cover, or keep moving when we were attacked. However when controlling Chiana, Crichton had this awful tendency to run right up to a bad guy and start blasting away like Rambo. I'm not sure if I did something wrong, if the characters were programmed wrong, or if that's actually rather accurate for Crichton. :-)

Thanks!
Lauren (OboeCrazy)