There`s something lurking around. I mean it. Something watching you. Something un-easy, and ghastly, something out of this planet. Something…. from outer space.
Albedo: Eyes from Outer-space is a new independent game brought to us by single-man developer Z4G0, and inspired by 60s pulp Sci-Fi movies, is a first-person adventure game. The story focuses on a night-watchman at an abandoned scientific research facility. An explosion knocks you out, and you awake in the complex`s basement, with a gaping hole in the roof. From then on, you have to escape the building, but behind every door lays a mystery, and behind every darkness, lies something from out of this world.
Now, as soon as you boot the game up and select a new game, you are thrown into a cut-scene where we see John T Langy, the night watch-man with his feet up, saying goodbye to the scientist, who is leaving for the night. Boom. Explosion. John falls through the floor (And this time it is intentional, and not a glitch in the game) and the game`s emphasis on puzzles begins. You are tasked with getting out of the room, and to discover what is making the banging on the door. Something wants to get in the room with you, and it`s not a human. Bang. Bang. Bang. It won`t stop. You are tasked with creating a trap, that will enable you to catch the beast (or one eye creature) and then advance you into the next room.
Now, to start off, some of the puzzling in this game is pretty good. I do love a good puzzle game, where the mind is challenged and thoughts questioned, into how one can simple advance to the next stage. You have to pick up objects, as well as look around the room mechanics, and see if there`s any way you can direct something to work in your favour. Is this a leak in the piping system that you can use to your advantage? Any gas valves you can un-screw and use for a later challenge? I found myself after every challenge looking in my mirror with a smile, and a sense of pride of undergoing and beating the challenges, some at times incredibly frustrating.
For a game that has been developed by 1 person, it doesn’t look bad graphically. It`s a lot darker than I first thought, but when you are down in the deep, wet, cold basements of a partially-abandoned scientist complex, you want to feel scared, coldness, as you don’t know what`s a lurking in the corner of every wet and damp room you are confined to.
Now, one of the down-lines for me straight away and is noticeable as soon as you start the game, is the acting of the lead-character. Being someone who loves Drama and loves Acting, I can`t help but feel but pick up on the story and voicing in the game when needed be. But, my god. It`s so plain, I can`t even begin to tell you the lack of conviction and characterization I got from the character. It`s one of my killer things. I cannot stand when there is no passion or anything in the voice of the characters. And especially in this case of the lead protagonist! Throughout the game we can hear the character making comments after interacting with an item or moving through to a next stage, but without real conviction, I found myself really struggling with the story, which perhaps as the game goes on, drops the Sci-Fi genre in more favour of the Survival Horror, and the survival against these creatures.
The gameplay movement in the game will also take some getting used to. You will use your D-pad an awful lot in the game, especially when it comes to picking things up and either to put into your inventory or to use an object to initiate a trap or task etc. You`ll use your left analogue stick to move, and your right analogue stick to see around your surroundings, and see what you can take in for your pick-ups, and to use later on. The right trigger becomes that all important shoot and hit button, but at times, I felt that the combat system can become a little bit un-responsive, and there is nothing more than the controls not working when you`ve got a 1 eye creature running at you trying to kill you, and the controls are not doing what you want them to do.
Albedo: Eyes from Outer-space is a game that will make you puzzle, and make you really think through and challenge your mind in certain aspects. Once you take away the awful acting and the plainish storyline, you have a game that looks good for a 1 man developer, but with a few things, really lack-lustres it into a really good game.
A huge thank you to XCN for supplying us with a Review copy of Albedo: Eyes from Outer Space
