Unfortunately, for all that I enjoyed about Undying, there were issues that occasionally dragged it down. It was really satisfying to come out of that encounter unscathed and more so, I believe, because I couldn’t just blast my way through it. By the time they were in striking range, my mana was depleted but my pistol was ready, allowing me to finish off the final few before they clawed me. The bullets in my pistol weren’t going to be enough to take them all down so I unloaded them into one of the baddies and started falling back, picking off a few more with my spells while I reloaded. In Undying however, I had to think things through a bit more. Fighting Trigens in Far Cry I could have just gunned them down neat and tidy with an assault rifle. There was one occasion, for instance, where I started down a corridor only to have a pack of monsters come charging around a corner. It also does a really nice job of coupling your standard weapons with spells in interesting and strategic ways. The controls are smooth, your enemies are diverse and it transports you to some pretty varied environments. Looking back on my time with it, there just isn’t much I can complain about. In fact, even if you weren’t interested in Undying‘s horror themes, I’d still very much recommend it on the merits of it being a really solid shooter. Which, of course, isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I still had fun after those feelings dwindled away, but it was the more typical sort of joy that a lot of shooters deliver. In turn, the best parts for me were the earliest hours where you have only your pistol, a few paltry spells and not nearly enough bullets. As Undying progresses you just gain too many assets to maintain that feeling of walking into a room and being unsure of whether or not you’ll make it out alive. The thing is, horror in video games very much hinges on feeling less than capable. Don’t get me wrong, the story is always interesting and it sustains a general creepiness that is to be admired. Sadly, this feeling of suspense becomes some less prevalent the further you advance in the game. Put shortly, there are times where you’ll find yourself feeling very much akin to a lone mouse in a house of hungry cats alone, outnumbered and feeling entirely inadequate. I’d be walking through the mansion and hear the distant scream of a butchered housekeeper or heading down a hall only to have all the lights die out and the music pick just in time for a pack of monsters to drop in and maul me. Even with the age of visuals working against it, there were moments in Undying that left me downright chilled. It also has a very firm grasp on its atmosphere. Undying has tons of this stuff and it all helps to flesh out the characters and plot in ways that make the whole experience deeper, more meaningful and, occasionally, even a bit creepier. I’ve beaten Resident Evil 2 at least a dozen times and each time I collected all the ancillary documents simply because I loved reading all the bits of back-story the game contained. Granted, I’m a bit of a sucker for that kind of content. The journal entries in particular were something I really loved. Told via cutscenes and collectible journal entries, it’s generally really well handled and was one of the driving forces that kept me pushing forward even when some of its more tedious elements were pushing back. Taking place in the early 1920s and written in cooperation with horror writer Clive Barker, it follows Patrick Galloway, a paranormal investigator who returns to his native Ireland to help an old friend uncover the truth behind a mysterious curse plaguing his family. The story, for instance, is easily one of the best that I’ve seen in an older shooter. And honestly it should be a big regret because Undying is a great game with a lot of exemplary qualities. But you still don’t and deep down you harbor the smallest regret for the game you never found time to play. Heck, maybe you even think about playing it. Maybe you remember it every now and then. You get caught up playing other games and it slides to the periphery of your memory. A friend (or an uncle in my case) recommends it to you and you swear that you’ll try it sometime but you don’t. I’ve adjusted the review to be more accurate and I apologize for any confusion this goof-up caused anyone.Ĭlive Barker’s Undying is one of those games. My mistake was looking through the key bindings and not realized that “Weapon Action” and “Reload” were the same thing. Updated: In the original article I claimed that you couldn’t reload your weapons “on the fly.” A helpful forum poster (thanks SupahGamuh!) corrected me. Written in cooperation with author Clive Barker it drops the player into a dark mystery where they’ll need to use brains, magic and bullets to solve the mysteries surrounding a family curse. First person shooter month comes to an end with 2001’s paranormal shooter Undying.
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