Clive Barker's Undying

The Good
Oooh boy, what an atmosphere! Being that horror master Clive Barker (who penned the Hellraiser series, amongst many other scary novels/movies) is at the helm of this game, you know that you’re definitely in for a frightening experience. This game is reminiscent of the System Shock series in a few ways, mainly the fact that you seem to be the only living, sane human amongst a gamut of insanity, in addition to the game being an FPS and having a somewhat RPG-styled spell system. The cold, clammy environment of Ireland + decaying old mansion = one hell of a disturbing setting. Add to this the constant presence of mutilated/disfigured apparitions, black magic, demons, rotting corpses, otherworldly dimensions, grotesque monsters, veritable lakes of blood, and even Clive Barker’s infamous “hooks n’ chains” that seem to be in everything he does. And the graphical engine, which is the Unreal Tournament engine, conveys all of this horror in beautiful detail. If you like the sound of that, and/or you’re a fan of Barker’s work, then this is the game for you.

The Bad
In spite of the wonderful and terrible carnage I mentioned above, there are some issues that need to be addressed. The only problem I really had personally, was the AI of the monsters. For some reason, even though I was in plain sight, they would just stand there (or float in some cases) and not attack me whatsoever; I could even walk right up in their face and nothing happened (of course once you attack them it’s a whole new ballgame!). This didn’t happen constantly, but enough to get annoying after awhile. There’s also A LOT of load screens throughout the area, because the game was going to ported to the PS2, but this never happened. In turn, the interface tends to be a bit console-ish, with circular inventory menus which can get irritating.

The Bottom Line
Overall, this is wonderfully twisted, gory and fear-provoking game that could have only come from the mind of Clive Barker. Even scarier than the game itself is the fact that it tanked in the market, and was quickly reduced to the cutout bins within months of release. A sequel was even planned for it (as the ending showed), as well as the aforementioned console port, but there’s a 99% chance none of this will be happening. Sad, very sad. Regardless, don’t play this with the lights turned out during a thunderstorm!

PS-I also think it would make a fantastic film, with ‘Lord of the Rings’ director Peter Jackson’s CGI company WETA doing the monsters and other special effects, and Clive himself directing and producing. Granted, it wouldn’t be a mainstream hit, but it would definitely be cool for horror fans.

The Good
The most worth mentioning feature of the game was the stunning story line.As you play the game you feel that you are part of some great mystery which only you can unfold.In my view this game can be converted into a successful hollywood movie.The second most astounding feature is its great graphics & thus great graphics which is one feature every gamer looks forward to.There is no need to describe the sound effects of the game as it has won numerous awards for its marvellous sound effects which can produce shivers down the back of even the bravest of gamers sometimes.Overall you will find this game the most horror of all games released so far including the horror games released for other consoles.If you have not played this game yet then you have missed a great gaming experience in my view.Thanks.

The Bad
There are two features of the game which are not upto the mark of excellence in my view. Firstly, the surruondings are not quite interactable that is, I mean to say that you cannot braek a glass window or move a chair.Secondly , the end is not upto expectations.The final boss in the game looks kind of funny .You expect to see a horrible grand looking final boss after seeing through a number of creatures that can create your worst nightmare and in the end you get to meet something you cannot describe.

The Bottom Line
In my view this is an excellent game in almost all respects.The graphics ,the sound ,the story are all brilliant and I think every gamer who loves horror ,action ,adventure or fantasy games should give it a try.

The Good
The story line is fantastic, but who would expect anything less than something overseen by Clive Barker. From my understanding, the story was already worked out before Clive came on board, but I do know that he was responsible for redesigning the main character, Patrick, as well as providing the voice of one of the villains and designing some of the monsters.

The game starts off very strong, you are quickly pulled into the mystery of the Covenant family and their curse. The atmosphere is creepy and stifling - you feel like you can't escape the horrors that lurk in the Covenant mansion.

The game is powered by the Unreal Tournament engine, contrary to a previous review of this game which stated it was a quake 3 engine. It has been heavily modified to handle the shadows and characters and it really shows. The level design is, for the most part quite good and the monsters are unique and well designed.

I found the music and sound to be fantastic. No complaints here, I often listen to the soundtrack just to get into the mood!

The Bad
There was no cooperative multi player, something I always look for in a single player title. However I do think that Undying plays just fine alone, in fact it probably increases the fear and tension throughout the game.

I did not like the UT powered engine. The game struggles in many areas to perform, and brought my beefy machine to it's knees in many situations (single digit framerates). Also, the sound often popped/crackled, which for me destroyed a lot of the mood created.

I also was quite disappointed by the last 1/3 of the game, it moved away from the mansion setting and moved towards some bizarre areas, which I was not too impressed with. Lastly, the ending was vague and I found the story to be inadequately explained. I like open endings but this ending was so open the earth could have fallen through it.

Lastly I did not like the frustrating slowness of the save/load mechanism. It took too long and became a great hindrance to my enjoyment. I read that the game was being developed for a release on the PS2 (which was canned) - due to memory restrictions, the game has an increased amount of 'loading' screens, which gets quite annoying after a while and breaks the tempo. While I understand why they did this, it still is annoying and unrequired for the PC version.

The Bottom Line
A good title, worth your time and money and is guaranteed to scare your pants off in many parts. There are some great elements to this game, so don't let my negative comments discourage you!