The quality of the environments extend to all aspects of the game's graphics and
sound. The character models are excellent, with life-like movements and
textures. The script is also well-written and supported by top-notch voice
acting. This last point is a very good thing indeed when it comes to the
game's cutscenes, because you'll be watching a lot of them. Primal
features a deeper story than is usually found in a video game and so it must
convey the story's events through extensive use of cutscenes. While they
are all well done, they can feel excessive at times. Case in point is the
game's opening sequences. By the time you actually start playing the game
you'll have spent close to half an hour watching cutscenes, interspersed with
only a
few "move from Point A to Point B" moments that give you brief control while
moving to the spot that will trigger the next sequence. If you enjoy a
game with a great storyline and plenty of cutscenes you'll be in heaven, but if
you find such things to be a distraction from gameplay you may find Primal to be
slow-paced and even boring at times.
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| Jen fighting demons as a demon. |
The gameplay itself is a mixture of puzzle solving and fight sequences. A
lot of the puzzles involve overcoming obstacles to your path and are pretty
simple to solve. Send Scree up a wall or Jen through a gap or along a
ledge and you're on your way. Other puzzles can be more difficult, but not
necessarily because they are fiendishly clever. These puzzles fit into the
"I know what I need to do but how the heck am I supposed to do it?" mold and
tend to be more annoying than challenging. You almost have to wonder if
the developers realized this since a press of the Triangle button will cause
Scree to give you a suggestion for solving the current puzzle. These
aren't always helpful, though, and sometimes Scree has nothing to say, so be
prepared for a little frustration along the way.
Fighting in the game utilizes a target lock system that engages pretty much
automatically when you encounter an enemy. One of the shoulder triggers is
used to block blows, two for attacks, and the last for a spin attack designed to
clear enemies trying to surround you. While the power of your attacks are
supposed to be tied to the pressure used on the buttons, the attacks unleashed
and whether or not a combo is performed seem to be a random function more than
anything else. You can't control the location of
your attacks, nor whether or not you unleash punches or kicks, so combat is more
of a button mashing affair than a tactical exercise. Combat is further
simplified by the fact that your enemies don't work well together. Battles
in which you face three or four to one odds play out as a string of single duels
as the other enemies rarely give you any trouble while you are engaged with one
of their cohorts. When a second enemy does decide to get involved he can
easily be discouraged by a spin attack, and he'll usually stand down to wait his
turn.
Primal is not a bad game, it's just that it had the potential to be a great
game. If the fighting were more engaging, the puzzles more challenging,
and the environments less linear, Primal would be one of the best games ever to
appear on the PlayStation 2. As it stands its shortcomings will hurt its
appeal to many gamers.
In The End, This Game Hath Been Rated:
78%. Those with a taste for all
things gothic will probably love Primal, as will many other gamers
However, its high production values are hampered somewhat by its underdeveloped
fighting engine, simple puzzles, and slow pacing.
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