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Clive Barker's Undying

Clive Barker's Undying

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: 4 and 1/2 Stars. This game is really Good & Spooky
Review: First of all, I am biased. I love most of Clive Barker's work and I liked the movies based on his writings. But that doesn't mean I gave him a free pass while evaluating this game. Also, I never purchased Unreal Tournament (just didn't like the whole concept).

After playing the game for about two hours, I am completely lost in the big Irish mansion (well, actually, I just opened the wrong door and I am now lost in some lower dimension), running low on health and have "died" about 4 times already but I like this game. The game's engine is wonderful: The lighting effects, textures and character movement are great. The plot is also wonderful; it's the main reason why I don't get that sense of futility that comes with playing mediocre games.

This game does have the familiar "find the key" type puzzle but it does not have the standard "run - jump - shoot" action of most FPS games. Undying is more like a "walk - investigate - what happened to the lights? - duck! - that's not my reflection in the mirror! - NOW run" type of game. This game adds many Barkerish touches (the long gloomy hallway with the white curtains wafting gently across it - pure genius.) that add to Undying's quality.

Aside from the care taken by Undying's creators to provide the right atmosphere, the user interface is very easy to understand and configure. The dual weapon/spell control is a little daunting at first, but I am getting used to it.

One reviewer compared this game to "Resident Evil". That game is a mess that bored me to tears. Undying is a really engrossing, spooky adventure. Electronic Arts and Mr. Barker have created a superior gaming product that is well worth Amazon's price and my prediction is that it will be popular for many years.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Undying is easily the early leader for Game of the Year
Review: Undying has more to offer than any game in recent memory and is an absolute blast to play. I agree with what some game reviews have already said, calling it the scariest game ever made (Seeing how Clive Barker was involved, it's not too surprising!).

Graphics: Beautifully detailed and textured environments. Awesome creatures with uncanny realism. Cool special effects and plenty of blood!

Sound: Enemy and ambient sounds are among the best I've heard. The voiceover is tight, most notably being Aaron (the ghostly brother). I read that Clive Barker himself is the voice of Ambrose (one the main characters in the game) and he too, does an admirable job.

Gameplay: Most your basic FPS elements with an interesting twist on accessing your weapons & spells. The wheel-based selection system takes some getting used to, but is quite effective during battle (the game also allows you to use a more conventional system of hot keys if you prefer). Fighting creatures in Undying stands apart from the crowd when the player (you) gets hit. Blood splatters on the screen and your view is knocked in the direction from where the impact came. Very Cool! Most puzzles are rather easy except for a handful that will have you scratching your head and feeling silly once you figure it out.

Presentation: The game comes with the normal PC stuff (jewel case and manual = sigh). However, Undying does come with a big diary full of back story on the family and is extremely well written.

Pros: Just read anything I or nearly all the game reviewers are saying. Hands down the early pick for game of the year.

Cons: A little short for my liking, but that's a PC game issue in general. You'll get longer play with some console games, but few as fun as Undying.

You definitely won't be sorry if you get this game. Maybe scared.... But not sorry.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Keeper
Review: A great FPS game. Its in the same league as Half-Life, well actually, its in a league all its own. I thoroughly enjoyed HL, but I have to say I enjoyed this game more. The story is more 'entertaining' and the designers did a great job scarying the heck out of me.

Do yourself a favor, get this game, turn the lights out, the volume up and let yourself be entertained.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Action and Terror from the first person view-point!
Review: I have played many, many FPS games. Doom. Doom 2. Quake. Duke Nukem. Half Life. Aliens vs. Predator just to name a few. And none of them, not even Half-Life or AvP could have prepared anyone for this.

This game is terrifying beyond all belief. Not since Silent Hill has there been a game so utterly nerve wracking. I have played games that were designed to scare you, but this, from the mind of horror master Clive Barker, will have you trembling in your seat. Unexpected occurences, such as monsters bursting through walls, the ground suddenly falling out from under you, terrible shrieks that sound like they came from right behind you....you walk into a dark room and see nothing. The door slams shut, you turn around......the beast standing there will take your head off if you aren't fast enough!

Crisp, beautiful graphics that look great even on older video cards (such as Voodoo 3), and incredible sound effects make this game what it is. Very cool weapons, such as the Tibetan War Cannon which shoots a blast of ice at your enemies, and amazing looking spells, such as the ectoplasm, which fires bolts of pure energy at your enemies are just some of the weapons you will use. There is 'duel-weilding', where you hold your weapon in your right hand, and your left hand is free for spell casting. Spell power can be upgraded through 'Mana Wells' found throughout the game. Helpful items such as 'Ether Traps' can keep monsters at bay while you try to find your way out!

The story is rather good, but there are many events in the game that will get you sidetracked while you are trying to perform a task asked of you by one of the NPC's, and then all of a sudden you find yourself being led one way by something else when you are trying to go the other way.

There are some other annoying aspects, such as being unable to backtrack, so if you miss something, thats it, you've missed it. Doors will often shut behind you, and will be unable to be opened again. There are also many doors throughout the game that cannot be accessed until much later in the game, where you will find yourself scrambling around the many beautifully detailed areas in the game, trying to find them again. There are quite a few monster types in the game. However, at some parts, these monsters respawn at an overwhelming rate, and some of these creatures are VERY difficult to kill because of their unique skills.

The inventory system and weapon selection systems were rather annoying as well, with the '1' and '2' keys cycling forward and back through weapons respectively, and '3' and '4' to cycle through spells. There is a button that allows you to access a 'weapon wheel' where all weapon icons are displayed on screen, allowing you to pick which one you want. However, if you have to quickly switch weapons in a tense situation, both methods are rather difficult to pull off.

Despite those gripes, the game itself is very good. The monsters are scary, the ability to cast a spell that shows you things that are not normally there, such as ghosts and alterations in the scenery, which will help you understand the story, or just plain terrify you, add to the atmosphere and mood of the game. If you are a fan of horror and FPS games, this one is for you! Not for the weak of heart! Difficult controls, but all in all a good game!

Single Player First Person Shooter

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Clive Barker's Undying
Review: Clive Barker's Undying is an fps with a fantastic single player gameplay. It is a horror based fps and one of the most scary games i have ever played. Set in 1923 Ireland, you play Patrick Galloway an occult expert, he is asked by his war time buddy Jeremaiah Covent to find out the mystry of the curse which killed his family members and since Jeremaiah saved him some time ago he agrees. Gameplay is very good and has a great replay value. Patrick handles the weapons in his left hand and majic in his right, quite unique but does not affect gameplay, controls are very easy to learn. The level design is great and the art direction is perfect. The mansion look really haunted and like there were people living there one day. Levels are very scary and a lot of fun to play, the atmosphere is great and very creepy. Selection of weapons are very unique but good, best is the scythe a powerfull but close ranged weapon. Patrick knows a lot of majic spells, with the scrye spell he can hear voices and events which happened in the past at his current location and many others. Like when you look at the family picture on the wall with the scrye spell you will see what the charecters have become. Other spells are also great, skull storm fires skulls at enemies, shield protects you from damages, invoke spell brings dead enemies back to life but to help you, a spell makes you fly a short distance. Patrick writes down every event that has happened and scrolls he picked up in his book. Even though the journal entries are big, i would recommend you to read them all and also dont forget to use the scrye spell when the voice calls you, Gamers who play it without doing them will have a different experiance.

Undying is built on the unreal tournament engine but OpenGL is not here, only Direct3D and 3dFx are available, Software is here but it is unsupported. I played it on the Direct3D and it runs very smooth, load times though frequent were not long. The graphics are fantastic with lots of beautifull textures and great weather effects, the heavy rainfall and a lovely waterfall in the eternal autumn level look great and one can see the hard work that went into crafting this game. Humans look real and creatures look scary. The sound recording is great and they add up to the creepy atmosphere, it is even better than system shock 2, The sounds of water dropping when i was in the celler of the mansion fooled me that the noise was comming from my bathroom. The voice acting is also first rate and there are also lots of scary and very well done cutsences. Undying is a fantastic action game, i cannot belive the game bombed and the planned sequel was cancelled. Many gamers must have stayed away because it does not have a multiplayer, dont worry about that because it has a really great single player. Any gamer who played it would agree that it is one of the best games they have played. Undying is a must buy if you like fps.

Finally i went to the display setting in the advance option menu and set the "screen flashes" to False. The frequent loading screen did not bother me or slow down the pace of the game, The game looked realistic.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: aaaaaahhhhhhhh!
Review: Without a doubt, this is the most terrifying game I've ever played. Undying is a true FPS, with a feel similar to half-life or Soldier of Fortune. The plot and movements through the game are linear, yet still intriguing. Unlike Half-life, the game contains no tongue-in-cheek humor to lighten the atmosphere. What you do get, instead, is the ultimate haunted mansion and more. The architecture is disturbingly stunning with great attention to detail and captures the feel of an English manor with creepy room after room. The ambient sound is equally disturbing with incredible 3d effects of eerie children's laughter, the mournful wailing of the wind, and the cries of hungry beasts echoing from around the next corner. Just like a great horror flick, the game keeps the surprises coming with just enough irregularity between the "BOO'S!" to keep you off balance and on the edge of your seat - never knowing what to expect in the next room. I play the game at night with just one light on in the house and have jumped in fright more than once. The rest of the time, I spend looking over my shoulder. Unlike the original Resident Evil - what I also consider a scary game - the voice acting is top notch and very professional. The experience is also quite a bit more on the ghostly side as opposed to a mutant virus turning people into zombies. From time to time during the game, you will glimpse visions or hear sounds that can't hurt you, but they will freak you out. The 1st person perspective adds to the terror, since you feel like it's YOU trapped in this nightmare. I haven't gotten all the way through, yet, but so far Clive Barker and the programming team have created a truly bone chilling masterpiece, so suspenseful and intense that I can only play 30 minutes to an hour each night before I have to quit and go hide under the covers. Great stuff!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Puzzles better than the action
Review: Although I normally appreciate quite a bit of supernatural blood-letting in my gaming experience, I have to admit to using the God mode cheat on a lot of this game so I could explore some of the more interesting puzzles without getting slaughtered. This is a very fun, dark game and I would highly recommend it for anyone who has played American McGee's Alice or Half-Life or the like where you have a combination of puzzles to solve and enemies to kill. The medium and nightmare levels are seriously challenging, so be warned if you need some time to warm up with the 2-handed game controls - weapons on one side, spells and movement on the other. The visuals are stunning and the major enemies are suitably creepy and difficult to kill if you're not paying attention. I'm glad to see that there are some fan-authored levels available, as I'm not ready for this game to end.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Don't let the others fool you
Review: In a nutshell, this game is worth the price. Don't let other reviews that scream about bugs and difficulties. I've played through the entire game (without cheats, I might add) and found absolutely no bugs, no lagging, no delayed controls. If anything such rumors are probably more attributable to the users' systems, and not the game itself. This game is scary, atmospheric, creative, and fun to play. The ring menus provided a seamless interface, and I found myself using tactics that involved me changing weapons and spells in the midst of heated combat! Between blows of howlers and decayed skeletons, I'd flip-flop from shotgun to pistol, or from ectoplasm to invoke spells, and use those before the next blow landed on me. Smoooooooth. And the style is fantastic, as well. I haven't found myself jumping out of my chair since like that since I first played Half-Life. Buy this game. If you ever enjoyed gothic horror, or a 3D FPS game, or both, or neither, it's worth it. Even my girlfriend loved playing it, and she hates computers!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Crash
Review: I have many games but this is one of the worst, I have a new
PC with all the advanced bells and whistles. I was really getting into this game, great graphics, easy commands, and after
approx half hour of play [CRASH] got tech help, tried again
things are going great [CRASH] after several more attempts I gave this game to someone with perhaps more skills than I have.
too bad this game seemed so promising.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: xbox version?
Review: the question we all want to know, is this game going to come out on xbox any time soon?


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