Summary
Take a look at the low ratings for another definition of unfairness
The Good
"Pathologic" is a great game.
Let it be the opening sentence of this short review (I'm trying to be more concise, but that's not always easy), so that there will be no doubts about that.
For a further effect, I'll type this phrase again between two paragraphs:
"Pathologic" is a great game.
"So why the low ratings?" - would be the next logical question.
I honestly don't know why. Maybe all those people who reviewed "Pathologic" are fans of games where the only dialogue takes place between guns. Then again, why didn't those same review sites let someone who likes artistic, original, text-heavy games review
Half-Life 2 and see what happens?
This game is about content and atmosphere, with original gameplay ideas thrown in. Yes, the gameplay requires patience. The game is hard. It has realistic features: you'll have to eat or you'll die of starvation. You'll have to wear protective clothes or you might get infected. Prices for food will change depending on the situation in the city. People on the street will react differently if you carry a gun or walk around unarmed. There is a fine item management, trading system, and quests than can be solved in various ways. This is not a FPS, nor it is a puzzle-solving adventure. It has its own original gameplay system. Call me names, but I think it is a good thing.
The graphics are ugly on purpose. The game is set in a city whose inhabitants are slowly dying from a terrible disease.
Oblivion-like graphics wouldn't have worked here. If "Oblivion" drew you in with its physical beauty, "Pathologic" draws you in with its chilling ugliness. There was a need to achieve the opposite effect.The game requires crudeness and edginess of lines. There is an amazing contrast between the lush interiors and the drab outside world. There is also some truly scary sounds accompanying the whole thing. "Pathologic" is atmospheric to the extreme. Play it at night with the lights off, at your own risk.
It looks weird, it sounds weird, it plays weird, and it speaks weird. That's what this game is about. It has its own style, and there is no other game like it. I played both English and Russian versions; as a native Russian speaker, let me testify that the game's dialogues rank up there with the best of the best. Sometimes the dialogues are so deep, so poignant, so thought-provoking, with so many unexpected twists of the mind, with so much variety and expression, with so much style, that I'm tempted to call them the best dialogues in any video game ever. The English translation is bad. The English version loses the charm and the natural, fluid pace of the original, but the thoughts are still there. What is left is enough to make the game stand out.
Just think about this idea. A real-time adventure with so many realistic features, fine gameplay elements, overwhelming atmosphere - all to portray the decay in a mysterious, half-mythical city. There is so much fantasy here, yet so few supernatural elements. Are there any at all? Everything is made up, yet everything is real. That's "Pathologic".
The Bad
The whole thing is quite weird, and the weirdness is only emphasized by the very sophisticated dialogue. I put a big question mark there, because I tried playing this game in English and then switched to the original Russian version; there is no comparison. The English dialogue is weird in a bad way, and requires too much patience and tolerance to appreciate. The Russian dialogue is nearly impeccable, although the choice of words is sometimes really too extravagant. It is as if the writers wanted to demonstrate their knowledge of the Russian language and got a bit carried away.
What bothered me most in the game were the interminable walks. The city is very big, and you'll have to visit many people to complete a day. You'll be going back and forth through the same streets. Sure, you can (and should) explore, search, and trade with people on the way, but I'd appreciate some sort of quicker transportation when you really want to get things done. This always turned into a patience test.
I didn't care for the combat at all and avoided it whenever possible. It's clumsy, too hard for the most part, and is just a minor addition to what is essentially an adventure with RPG elements. Although shooting thieves and taking their money was fun...
The Bottom Line
This is my first attempt at a personal rating system; I try to rate a game according to four categories. Each category is equally important to me. Needless to say that all this stuff is totally subjective. What is fun to me might be torture to you, and vice versa.
Content: very high
The core of the game are the sophisticated dialogues that range from simple chatting to complex philosophical and psychological problems, some of which were never touched in any other game before. "Pathologic" is a game with a meaning, so if that's what you're looking for in games, this is the right address.
Fun: solid
The rather weird gameplay system is certainly not everyone's taste. The constant need to take care of your characters can get tiring, and the long trips test your patience. But there are some interesting realistic gameplay elements to spice things up, just be sure to make breaks between playing sessions.
Originality: very high
How many games you know are set in a dying city populated by amateur philosophers and symbolic characters wearing bird masks, with an internal clock, hunger meter, fatigue meter, disease meter, all served as adventure-RPG-FPS mixture? Right, that's just what I thought too.
Sensual Appeal: very high
That's right. Say all you want about the "ugly" graphics: they are ugly the same way Picasso's pictures are ugly. There is an immense appeal and artistic beauty in the ugliness of the game's graphics. The eerie soundtrack is there to provide one of the most intensely atmospheric game experiences in recent memory.
"Pathologic" might not be perfect, and I understand that the outrageously low ratings might have been affected by the bizarre English translation; with that in mind, it is still disgraceful that this creative, atmospheric, highly original game was treated in such a way. Are you looking for artistic value in a game? Then give "Pathologic" the chance it deserves.
