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| .............CONTENT
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Starting the actual game seemed to get it somewhat back on track. It began like the movie, going on a mission and returning to find yourself as the next assailant in the precogs' visions. Again, nothing is mentioned of the three people and how or why they're in water and can see the future. This is also when the game breaks with the movie as a character is completely absent and an officer takes the place of a quirky scientist. After this brief jaunt with similarity, Minority Report quickly spirals out of control into the depths of crappy licensed games. The levels tend to be fairly short, but some still managed to be confusing as the confined spaces are dull and extremely similar, and navigation becomes difficult once combat disorients the player. They are also poorly designed with no visual flair like that of the movies, although there are plenty of Lexus ads that are faithful to the movie and are the only stylish objects. With a mix of indoor and outdoor areas, none are very large, negating the free-for-all exciting escape sequences of the movie. Each level is filled to the brim with enemies who must have taken part in a cloning experiment because they look exactly, completely, totally alike. They will have a second class of enemy, but those tend to be only slightly different; a chef-fighter will have another like him, but with a rolling pin as a weapon, or a mall cop will have a fatter version. When fighting off the baddies, John will use money that is found in secret areas and on knocked-out enemies to purchase moves and weapons. As stated, the combo system doesn't work well, and there's only a handful that need to be done to survive, and one move in particular that can result in fairly quick victories. Combat does have some satisfying parts: the environments are destructible and tossing opponents as well as kicking them while they are done offer great moments of stomping on someone and tossing them through glass and over a ledge. However, the enemies tend to be packing and that makes hand-to-hand fighting a tedious affair. Oddly enough, weapons can be purchased in-game, like fighting moves, meaning that all it takes is a trip to the Black Market via the pause screen to purchase weapons that come from nowhere and magically appear in his hands. In a weird design decision, ammo can't be purchased, and only the amount that can be held can be increased, much as it is with health. Sick sticks make an appearance, as do vomit grenades, along with temporarily power-ups like a shield. The weapons provide limited entertainment as they never seem to last long enough to be fully appreciated. Navigation is made difficult with a poor camera that is about as helpful as someone shining a bright light in the player's eyes. While adjustable and thankfully speedy, it became extremely difficult and aggravating to have to swing the camera to the side because a pillar was in the way, leaving an enemy to appear and pummel away. Some objects go transparent when the camera is close, but they would also overlap on some segments, leaving it as a nice idea that wasn't fleshed out. Using the jetpack can also be a pain, but it tends to function well most of the time. What really kills Minority Report
is just how boring it is. With around 37cutscenes in the game, players
are forced to wait for a loading screen, then watch a sequence that
could last as little as a few seconds, then wait through another
loading screen to play through the level. The levels featured the
basic 'find the key' formula and the endless amounts of bad guys
- who knew a mall had so many cops? - made the extended amount of
combos nearly pointless as just the quick and powerful moves were
left as the only useful ones so they the enemies could be dealt
with before being beaten to a pulp. Getting killed isn't hard, even
with health upgrades, as weapon attacks took massive amount of damage
off and deaths resulted in some of the oddest animations I had ever
seen. This is just a disappointing release and made even more so
considering the pedigree of both the movie and the developer. Graphics: 3/10 Control: 3.5/10 Overall: 3.5/10 [ top ] |
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