![]() ![]() But much like the score system, the consequences are totally hidden and for the player to find out through trial and error. You can adjust many aspects of the station, including the light, oxygen, and engine settings, truly making it feel like you’re actually on a space station. It seems very overdone at first, but does really let you fully interact with the world. Which looks like this: Tell that the has the status of. This extends as far as instructing one character to get an item or bring a message to another character. Once you’ve identified a machine, by checking it, or introduced yourself to a character, it/they get added to your list. This gives a wonderful sense of possibility for interacting, not only with your fellow crew members, but also with the huge amount of machines, panels and objects in the station’s many rooms. It even uses the old score system from the classic Sierra adventure games, though it’s hidden from the player. And with a keyword system thrown in the mix. Sentient‘s interaction system is very reminiscent of the old text-parser adventures, or more specifically, the “use _ on _” type sentence building style. As frustrating as this is, it really fleshes Sentient‘s world out even further, making it seem grander in scope and way more complex than it actually is. To add to the frustration, there are many unused items and half-finished plotlines to be found, often functioning as red herrings. Often times the AI of the characters will wander between several key locations, making running into them or their plot events differ on every playthrough. You probably can’t even do it in ten sittings. Due to these intertwining plots, with their key events often happening simultaneously, under the constant time constraints, there is absolutely no way to experience the whole of Sentient in one sitting. There are 12 different endings to see, some with extremely varying events. The compulsion for many adventure and RPG players (those being the most OCD-ish of genres) to find and see everything the game has to offer, will prove deadly in this game. The PC version, with the aid of Visual Sciences, suffered a similar fate due to very limited graphic card support, leaving most players with low resolution VGA graphics – a badly rendered, washed out, glimpse of what it could’ve been.įor completionists, this game is a real nightmare. The few previews and reviews Sentient received heralded its astonishing AI and gripping plotlines, but it flew under the radar nonetheless. But they never seemed to get the attention they deserved (apart from mildly successful titles like Wipeout and G-Police). ![]() Formed in 1984, the Liverpool based company was acquired by Sony during the 1995 PlayStation boom, and they continued along as they always did. ![]() Gamers of old remember the name Psygnosis, of course, but more as a developer of quirky and stylish, yet awkward, platformers like Shadow of the Beast in the Amiga era (all very much in the same style as their famous Roger Dean designed logo), or as the original publishers of DMA’s Lemmings. It was the result of two years of hard labor by the folks at Psygnosis’ external Chester Studio, thrown unto an unsuspecting populace with little to no warning whatsoever. Sentient is a much overlooked ambitious adventure simulation that first came to PlayStation owners in 1997. A futuristic, high-tech gem, trapped in the body of an old-fashioned text adventure. A complex space station simulation, made unmanageable by restricting you to a single corporeal form. A free roaming non-linear sandbox that prohibits exploration. It’s a story-driven adventure, where there is no time to let yourself get swept away by the narrative. The result is an enticing, yet unforgiving game, whose striking innovation plays a huge part in its downfall. This game nearly breaks its back under the heavy load of ambition, put upon its shoulders by the development team. The best of these experiences required little effort, to forgive some gaming conventions or control issues, to really get immersed and make their world our home for a while. We’ve saved the world, or a variation thereof, countless times, all from the comfort of our living rooms. We’ve suffered the loss of our wives as James Sunderland in Silent Hill 2. Some games have the ability to transcend the bounds of entertainment and become virtual experiences, ones that lodge themselves in our brain next to the formative events of our lives. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |