Pariah Review - Xbox

6.5

Gameplay: 5
Graphics: 8
Audio: 8
Multiplayer: 7
Innovation: 4

Pariah. If you haven’t heard of it before, you most definitely have been living under a rock; developer Digital Extremes’s first-person shooter has been the subject of hype and speculation since last year. ATV-like futuristic vehicles, plasma guns and space-age locales - it all sounds very Halo-esque, doesn’t it? And that, partially, is why Pariah is nothing special.

During the game you play Doctor Jack Mason, who despite being a quiet doctor is able to wield complicated weaponry and fight hordes of scavengers and other dangerous enemies with the speed and skill of a soldier after his transport crash lands in the futuristic prison wasteland that is Earth, spilling it's precious cargo - a female prisoner named Karina, infected with a mysterious virus, the nature of which unknown. As Karina runs irresponsibly into the depths of Earth in order to escape recapture, Mason takes chase alone, unknowingly caught up in a fight against a band of enemies who - like the doctor - are seeking desperately to retrieve Karina. There’s no doubt that Pariah’s unique and mysterious story has potential. Unfortunately, though, it’s quite frankly told terribly; cut scenes and the game’s limited dialogue are scarce, little to no action-packed events occurring in order to encourage interest and immersion.

Gameplay

Fortunately you’ll always have something nice to look at as you roam the areas in Pariah; the game’s environments, as you’ll know if you’ve been keeping up-to-date with the game, are often absolutely huge – bigger, even, than some of Halo 2’s most colossal. Complimenting this is the fact that they’re also well-designed, blending lush yet occasionally plain outdoor environments with often unique futuristic indoor locations packed with chasms, lift mazes and other architectural feats. In addition, the environments work into the gameplay, albeit in a slightly primitive manner; a few objects such as pillars and railings can be broken with gun fire - pillars, for example, will burst into shards of rock revealing the scaffolding beneath, creating some very cinematic gun fights.

What’s disappointing, though, is what takes place within these amazing environments. You see, Pariah has - despite the storyline – the backbone of an excellent first-person shooter. However, the gameplay itself consists of the repetitive shooting down of seemingly endless hordes of enemy soldiers sorted into retro-style and cliched ranks according to which type of weapon they carry, be that a standard Bulldog machine gun or flamethrower. Supporting - if you can call it that - this run-and-gun gameplay are superficial and boring objectives, all of which require you to reach a certain area, flick a switch somewhere or destroy an object, seeming to have little to do with the storyline.

The most innovative and interesting portion of Pariah’s offerings in the gameplay sector comes in the form of weapon upgrades. As you progress through the game and collect the various well-designed and partially futuristic weapons on offer - such as the standard Bulldog machine gun mentioned above, the Frag Rifle, the Plasma Gun and the Grenade (continued next page)