A look at the E.Y.E., the Divine Cybermancy, a partial review
(From guest poster, SteveH)
What can I say? I'm something of a sucker for different looking games, the kind that aren't the usual "Oh no, nazi's! Shoot 'em!" or "Oh no, a guy that's a fascist much like a nazi but isn't since we're clearly in the future (look at my cool future gun for reference)! Shoot 'em!" So when I saw the screenshots for E.Y.E., the Divine Cybermancy, I couldn't help myself. Steam got more of my money off of my love for new games and things that look an awful lot like Space Marine (Warhammer 40k Space Marines) power armor.
I'm no where near beating it right now, probably only a few hours in, so this isn't a full review, but I feel like I should say a few things about it while its on my mind.
The real draw for me to this game is its atmosphere, I really love the sort of shadow war that I'm getting hints to by my Mentor (with a capitol M since I'm guessing that's his name?) and the Leader of my group. It has something to do with an evil Federation that we're trying to undermine.
Here's the kick, though, we're not the only ones trying to destroy the system! We are only one group (which I call the cool helmet club since we wear cool helmets and I'm not sure if the name of my group has been revealed to me yet), there's also the no helmet club, and the oriental helmet club (not oriental in the cool masks that Hollywood shows donned by samurais, more along the lines of what is stereotypically worn by people in the fields in those movies). Clearly, since my helmet is way cooler, I'm on the right side, right?
And this is where my biggest complaint comes in. I feel like the game wants to take me on this really awesome ride in the story, it's right there, right behind this thin veil...
But it never takes me with. I yell and scream "Please, I'm right here, take me with!" but it always turns its back on me and leaves me in the dark. I'm not asking the game to take me by the hand and lead me like a child, but an explanation of what's going on would really help.
I do get the feeling like maybe that explanation is there somewhere but its glaringly obvious that the developers were not native English speakers, so I feel a lot has been lost in translation. So maybe its all there and just needs a patch or two to fix it up?
Whatever the case, a little more info wouldn't be bad, right?
In E.Y.E. you play as.. umm... I'm not sure if I was ever given a name, so you play as Cool Helmet Dude (hereafter referred to as CHD, read SH-ud) and your mission is to, well, not die I guess. It seems like you're a bit of an errand boy, the Mentor and Leader send you on missions they don't want to do themselves (I'm sure its because they don't want to scratch their awesome helmets.
So, anyway, its a FPS/RPG game, a bit like Borderland but with more depth to the RPG part. There are stats you can increase upon leveling up, stuff like Strength, Endurance, Agility, and a few others, along with Psi and Hacking. This I like, I really appreciate leveling up, messing with stats, and seeing an improvement.
The guy I'm playing now is heavy on Psi (think psychic powers) and hacking. Since just about everyone seems to have a "cyber-brain", you can actually hack into them, take control of their body, and use them to clear out areas of bad guys. Its sort of odd how that works though, not the hacking (which is something I'll touch on shortly), but the part about taking control of someone. Instead of doing something like, oh, I don't know, giving me mouse and keyboard control over them, five buttons appear in the field of view you now occupy, which is the hacked enemies eyes. These controls operate movement (forward, left, and right), attack enemies in front of you, and an exit button. These controls are really hard to use as the enemy you want your new puppet to attack needs to be directly in front of them before the attack button will work.
The hacking itself is actually pretty cool. You are presented with a few hacking options, a straight up hack, a destroy option (which will damage most human-ish opponents or straight up destroy turrets), and a few others I haven't yet used. When you choose your hacking target and method, you then begin a hack attack. You are presented with a few options here, attack, scan (which decreases your targets defense), shield (which increases your defense against their counter-hack), and a few others. It becomes a game of strategy as they can hack you back and take over your view just as easily as you can of theirs.
The shooting is fine, just like any Source powered game you've played (as E.Y.E. is made off the Source engine) but there's almost no stealth. There is a cloaking device which I haven't gotten yet, but if you were planning on taking a silenced sniper rifle and silently taking out a few targets, forget about it. You shoot one guy and it seems like everyone on the map knows where you are.
It sounds like I'm being hard on the game, and maybe I am, but there are parts I truly like. I'll have more on the game and screenshots/movies as I figure out how to do all that and as I get further in the game!
What can I say? I'm something of a sucker for different looking games, the kind that aren't the usual "Oh no, nazi's! Shoot 'em!" or "Oh no, a guy that's a fascist much like a nazi but isn't since we're clearly in the future (look at my cool future gun for reference)! Shoot 'em!" So when I saw the screenshots for E.Y.E., the Divine Cybermancy, I couldn't help myself. Steam got more of my money off of my love for new games and things that look an awful lot like Space Marine (Warhammer 40k Space Marines) power armor.
I'm no where near beating it right now, probably only a few hours in, so this isn't a full review, but I feel like I should say a few things about it while its on my mind.
The real draw for me to this game is its atmosphere, I really love the sort of shadow war that I'm getting hints to by my Mentor (with a capitol M since I'm guessing that's his name?) and the Leader of my group. It has something to do with an evil Federation that we're trying to undermine.
Here's the kick, though, we're not the only ones trying to destroy the system! We are only one group (which I call the cool helmet club since we wear cool helmets and I'm not sure if the name of my group has been revealed to me yet), there's also the no helmet club, and the oriental helmet club (not oriental in the cool masks that Hollywood shows donned by samurais, more along the lines of what is stereotypically worn by people in the fields in those movies). Clearly, since my helmet is way cooler, I'm on the right side, right?
And this is where my biggest complaint comes in. I feel like the game wants to take me on this really awesome ride in the story, it's right there, right behind this thin veil...
But it never takes me with. I yell and scream "Please, I'm right here, take me with!" but it always turns its back on me and leaves me in the dark. I'm not asking the game to take me by the hand and lead me like a child, but an explanation of what's going on would really help.
I do get the feeling like maybe that explanation is there somewhere but its glaringly obvious that the developers were not native English speakers, so I feel a lot has been lost in translation. So maybe its all there and just needs a patch or two to fix it up?
Whatever the case, a little more info wouldn't be bad, right?
In E.Y.E. you play as.. umm... I'm not sure if I was ever given a name, so you play as Cool Helmet Dude (hereafter referred to as CHD, read SH-ud) and your mission is to, well, not die I guess. It seems like you're a bit of an errand boy, the Mentor and Leader send you on missions they don't want to do themselves (I'm sure its because they don't want to scratch their awesome helmets.
So, anyway, its a FPS/RPG game, a bit like Borderland but with more depth to the RPG part. There are stats you can increase upon leveling up, stuff like Strength, Endurance, Agility, and a few others, along with Psi and Hacking. This I like, I really appreciate leveling up, messing with stats, and seeing an improvement.
The guy I'm playing now is heavy on Psi (think psychic powers) and hacking. Since just about everyone seems to have a "cyber-brain", you can actually hack into them, take control of their body, and use them to clear out areas of bad guys. Its sort of odd how that works though, not the hacking (which is something I'll touch on shortly), but the part about taking control of someone. Instead of doing something like, oh, I don't know, giving me mouse and keyboard control over them, five buttons appear in the field of view you now occupy, which is the hacked enemies eyes. These controls operate movement (forward, left, and right), attack enemies in front of you, and an exit button. These controls are really hard to use as the enemy you want your new puppet to attack needs to be directly in front of them before the attack button will work.
The hacking itself is actually pretty cool. You are presented with a few hacking options, a straight up hack, a destroy option (which will damage most human-ish opponents or straight up destroy turrets), and a few others I haven't yet used. When you choose your hacking target and method, you then begin a hack attack. You are presented with a few options here, attack, scan (which decreases your targets defense), shield (which increases your defense against their counter-hack), and a few others. It becomes a game of strategy as they can hack you back and take over your view just as easily as you can of theirs.
The shooting is fine, just like any Source powered game you've played (as E.Y.E. is made off the Source engine) but there's almost no stealth. There is a cloaking device which I haven't gotten yet, but if you were planning on taking a silenced sniper rifle and silently taking out a few targets, forget about it. You shoot one guy and it seems like everyone on the map knows where you are.
It sounds like I'm being hard on the game, and maybe I am, but there are parts I truly like. I'll have more on the game and screenshots/movies as I figure out how to do all that and as I get further in the game!
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