Pariah Review

Vehicles provide a change in gameplay, but not quality

The AI in Halo has been applauded, setting standards for routines in FPS games. But in Pariah, it seems any attempt at providing smart enemies to dispatch has been eschewed in favour of a few commands that amount to shoot on sight, duck twitchingly or charge. This means the imaginative and expansive surroundings Pariah provides are ruined by the mundanely banal set pieces. In short, find cover, shoot. Not that these enemies are compelling in any way. Divided up into a few classes: scavengers, mercenaries, military etc, these grunts never vary or improve in technique until the game's latter stages. One is instantly reminded of the cannon fodder Captain Kirk would bring down to a hostile planet with his away team.

Vehicle use is also rudimentary, although offers relief to the general trudge of gameplay. All are ground based. The Bogie offers multilayer opportunities for a driver/shooter combo, but these sequences are too short, and they are not challenging or compelling enough to warrant a second chance. Compared to the dynamic air and ground vehicle combat of Halo 2, Pariah seems like a kid brother yet to reach puberty. When alternative modes crop up, for example fending off dropships with a twin mini-gun turret atop a speeding train, they are never anything more than repetitive and pointless rather than a refreshing change of pace.

Because Pariah is battling to be heard in perhaps the most competitive gaming genre there is, for it to be successful, it needs to push boundaries. Look at the leap Halo infused, and the dynamic physics Half Life 2 introduced. Of course, a little bit of marketing always helps, and publishers Hip Games have certainly pushed the boat out on that one, as anyone who makes use of London's tube network over the last couple of months will attest. But marketing isn't enough. Pariah just doesn't offer anything significantly new to the FPS family.

But enough of the bashing - Pariah has a few nice touches and redeeming features that would compliment any FPS on a Microsoft console. The weapon selection wheel is innovative and, after about ten minutes, quite pleasing to the thumb. Hitting Y on the Xbox controller brings up the wheel, and by moving the analogue you can select your weapon of choice.

The game soundtrack is impressively atmospheric, and bullets fly out of weapons with a shockingly good feel on your eardrums (reload the plasma gun for a nice animation and wonderful sound effect).

Split-screen is ok, but online is better - assuming you can find opponents

There are also some surprisingly refreshing multiplayer options too that add some longevity to the game. Playing with a friend, via system link or two-player co-op split screen, breathes life into the campaign mode, especially when vehicle combat lets one player drive and the other shoot, ala Halo. Log on to Xbox Live and the most fun you will have with Pariah presents itself. It's only a mini-thumbs up though, because the Live modes (deathmatch, team deathmatch, ctf, assault and siege) offer nothing Halo 2 doesn't. There aren't an awful lot of players online either, which makes it difficult to find a game.

One thing that Digital Extremes have implemented into Pariah's Live service that might catch the attention of Bungie's ideas people is the map editor. It's simple and slick: players can intuitively raise and lower terrain and generate buildings to their hearts content. But the best bit is being able to swap them online and use them on Live, supporting up to 12 players. Perhaps an additional feature for Halo 3?

Unfortunately, these isolated gems do not offset the overall dullness of Pariah's main hook - a futuristic FPS with a weapon selection twist. The game picks up towards its climactic end. The environments expand in richness and texture, and a new enemy class spices things up a bit, but it's too little too late.