Pariah
Written by Mole, 23 March 2006
Let me start off by saying this. I liked playing Pariah. I really did. But as time went on in to the game, I realised that I was very glad I did not pay shelf price for it. I digress.

I'll start with the controls, because as a rule of thumb, if a great game has poor controls, the game is poor. Much like any other PC based first person shooter, the controls were pretty standard, but they worked well overall. Mostly because nothing in the game required any real thinking, no breath taking manoeuvres or split-second reactions. I did find that I had to change the mouse sensitivity though, but that's personal preference.

The game itself looks great. Sure, there're no outstanding lighting effects but the game just doesn't need them. It's got nice character design, enough detail and very nice explosions to more than make up for that. It's no splinter cell, but it's not a fish out of water. Lush environments to dark and dank hallways or military buildings. You get a nice mix of open space and cramped corners, to mix things up a little.



The story, without giving things away, is fairly simple. You are escorting a living sample of a deadly virus which has infected a young female, Katrina. She's been in stasis for a while, and as such, is lost for time, thinking things that happened a long time ago were yesterday, because for her, it was. Your job throughout the game is not to lose her. The virus is transmitted through blood, and sure as day, Katrina gets herself shot and the blood splatters all over your nice clean face.

Before you know it, Katrina shoots off, and you're placed in to the action. The usual in-game tutorial level occurs, with the usual HUD popups telling you to press this button and that. Before long, you find yourself being shot at. To me the next part is where the game shines. As you fight and frag your way through the levels, those who are inquisitive enough will surely find strange floating items known as weapon energy cores or WEC's.