Friday 11 March 2011

Cryostasis

Gamespot score:8.0(great)

my score:7.5

(+)Pros:-Interesting and creepy story,- fun combat with frightening enemy pop-ups,-great atmosphere,- going back in time is a really innovative gameplay element,-ice visuals look great



(-)Cons:-starts off boring,-performance issues,- some of the flashbacks are ridiculously long and can be tedious



gameplay time:Less than 10 hours










With this gen being very short of good horror games, cryostasis comes off as a good surpise. Games like resident evil which use to be scary are now whimpy action games. Cryostasis stands out to be an ACTUAL horror game, like the geniuses that were dead space and alan wake, it features a creepy story, frigthening enemy encounters and an intense environment. While cryostasis may not be one of the most memoriable games out there, it sure does well in making a quick impression and hopefully will be able to convince many of the olden day players that horror games still do exist, even though many of the old horror franchises are dead.



Cryostasis takes you on a role as an unnamed explorer. You roam the areas of a forgotten ship full of dead people and zombie like freaks. The story goes as you are stranded in the ship after a freak avalanche wif your dogs barking, and you are forced to move into the ship. There, you find of what happened to the unlucky crew, and find a few photos and learn about some ancient beings of the past. So as the explorer, you are to find a way out the ship, saving the crew along the way, so it seems. Your character has a mysterious ability to go to the past of a dead fella and undo his mistakes, to make him "live longer", and he goes around the ship to save these people, hoping to change the entire fate of the ship itself.






Cryostasis is a FPS horror, as said before you take the role of an unnamed explorer and navigate around an abandoned shipped filled with nightmarish horrors. On the ship are many dead men, and many a time to move on in the game you have to find a dead person( they are marked with a shining light around them), go back in time with thier lives and do what they should have done in order to keep them living. Its common that a dead guy is blocking the way and you have to save him to get him out to move on....but its also common that a guy you saved will be dead later on and have to save him again, go figure. But still its a cool mechanic, you go from saving people to saving animals, even. Most of the time the flashback trips are a good experience, and provide some puzzle value.


With the tense atmosphere in cryostasis, the enemy encounters have to be just as horrifying. Like dead space or other horrror games, enemies in this game pop out of doors, sneak up behind you or simply just walk through walls and scare the shit ouit of you. The variety of enemies aint much, since they are simply just the previously crew members, they come off as just normal deformed humans that have gone simple mad. There are however, more deformed monsters like people that have a pair of insect wings stuck to them, or a guy with a ring of keys pierced to his mouth, these are pretty scary if you give yourself a moment to think about it. You also have to combat the cold. The ship is freezing cold, with ice cracks on the walls and frozen planks that may break if you just step on them. Even your vision gets screwed up real bad just cause of ice cracks around your goggles. You have to search for heat sources, light bulbs, fireplaces,kettles... anything that may help your combat for survival. No heat=constantly decreasing health, yep, its that bad. The in-game weapons however arent worth mentioning since they are your average everyday WW2 guns, rifles, lever actions...you know, the usual. The melee weapons too, you get something as stupid as a pad-lock chained onto your fist(seriously?) and something as awesome as a fire axe.

.
The game comes off as a great horror experience, but is sadly plagued by some issues. Since the game runs on the PC, it has some noticable lag. I tried this game on two computers (both fairly good), and there seems to be lag issues. I double checked gamespot' s review and it seemed they have stability issues too so it was safe to put that down. The start of the game is boring as well, and it takes awhile to become interesting. There are no monsters, nothing, and the first few flashbacks (of yourself) are rather annoying and just came off as "being there". Finally, there are times where you may fail at flashbacks, and have to do it again. But moreever so, everytime you fail and have to redo a flashback, you have to see all the scenes again. Yep, you cant skip them, its annoying especially cause some of the scenes are ridiculously long and tedious.
.
Cryostasis is a recommended game for those looking for creepiness. The enemy encounters may give you a jump or two, but the main thing is the creepy, dark and mysterious story, it doesnt fail to suck you in. Once you unravel the mysteries of all those wierd dialouge and speeches, you will go "ahhh, I gets it now", and will feel a slight shudder. Overall, a good horror games, those awaiting one should get this pronto.





Happy gaming.