GAME
Psychotoxic

Format: PC
Whiptail Interactive
£24.99

8 435126 500059
Age Restrictions: 16+
Available
03 June 2005


The world has gone to hell in a hand basket, again, and Armageddon is knocking at the door (where do they get these plots). You play Angela Prophet (no give away there then) who is the chosen one to save the world, so take your gun girl and go kick some arse..

Ok, first off, I'm going to try and be understanding about this game. The first person shooter has become a very competitive market over the last couple of years with a plethora of World War II games and the much anticipated release of Doom 3, so it is a difficult market to crack. On top of this most of the companies involved in the FPS genre tend to be the larger, wealthier, companies such as EA Games and Lucas Arts, so it's very difficult for smaller companies to command the resources available to these games giants. So for these smaller companies it's vital that what their games lack in polish they makes up for in atmosphere and storyline. Unfortunately Psychotoxic fails on both counts.

Angela is able to engage in the usual dull collection of stronger and stronger weapons, as well as the usual power up and health restoration. As the game progresses she gains the ability to become invisible as well as some more interesting abilities, but nothing which really grabs the attention.

It's difficult to know where to start the litany of shame. The graphics are chunky and in places laughable, hands like bananas seem to wave around randomly for no reason. Movement seems less fluid than in other FPS games. The sound production values are not great and failed to give me the adrenaline willies which Doom 3 succeeded so well in doing. The dream sequences - Angela is able to enter people's dreams and nightmares - do not reach the level of surreal to be truly amazing.

On a more positive note, the game is good practice. Your enemies are quick, even on the lower setting, though the AI seems to lack any sense of self preservation as they rush at you headlong. But in this day of really great FPS, it's sad to see that you can still kill someone by continually blowing off their kneecaps.

This being a FPS, the main joy you get is interacting with you environment and even this is not consistent. Some stuff can be blown apart, whilst other objects can only have bullet holes riddled into them, but move your gun a little higher and you get nothing, nada. The world is constricted and the rules of interaction appear arbitrary.

Ok, so after that kicking, you've got to ask is it worth the money? The answer to that is no. There are a lot of great FPS out there and unfortunately this isn't one of them. In such a competitive market mediocre just doesn't cut it anymore.

Charles Packer

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£29.99 (Amazon.co.uk)

   
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All prices correct at time of going to press.