Second Sight (2004) is a third person action game by Free Radical Design, makers of the TimeSplitters series, and the upcoming Haze. Second Sight is the story of Dr. John Vattic, paranormal debunker, who wakes in a hospital to discover he has psychic powers. The story is far more convoluted than that, but no spoilers.
Gameplay
Second Sight's gameplay is pretty straightforward. You've got guns and psychic powers (and a melee attack that's pretty much useless). The shooting is mediocre. I've never been a fan of the "auto target then fine tune" mechanic that Free Radical's founders seem so attached to. The PC version didn't need it in the first place.
The psychic powers are okay. I wouldn't go so far as to describe any of them as fun, though.
The enemy AI is very inconsistent, sometimes seeming largely brain dead as it fails to notice its comrades keeling over three feet away and sometimes being able to run directly to your location from across the level when you are psychically cloaked.
You can duck and bind yourself to cover. This generally serves no purpose as you can sneak up to corners manually. This implementation is also poor. Most of the time, pressing away from cover will disengage you, but sometimes it won't. And some pieces of cover will automatically scooch you around corners you weren't trying to scooch around, alerting enemies or exposing you to incoming fire.
The game is often stealth based. All the usual baggage of bad stealth is here. Guards spawn in from impossible locations when alerts sound. Occasionally alarms seem to occur randomly. Some I assume were bodies I left behind being discovered, but some were obviously level triggers, and some had no ready explanation.
The camera is also crap, which further degrades the stealth segments. The shift key will give you a second angle on the action, but it's usually more useless than the normal one. You can't move in first person, which is sad. The game might have worked better that way.
The game uses a checkpoint save system which is mostly fine. Some of the checkpoints were too far apart. But when you've got this many gameplay annoyances, repeating sections of any length is often unpleasant.
Theatrics
This is the reason I put up with Second Sight. The acting is good. The directing is good. The writing good. The plot is good. That sounds like faint praise, on paper. But when you put it together, it's more than that.
The acting makes the characters worth something (not to the level of the Vances in Half-Life 2, but something). The directing gives the context and sets the tone that helps the performances (usually recorded separately) feel continuous and well paced. The writing gives the characters in the game their own points of view and avoids most of the easy stereotypes that make so many games (and movies) embarrassments to the art form. The plot keeps the action moving and gives you a purpose. The game's only difficulty levels are normal and challenging. If there was an easy mode, I'd highly recommend it, just to experience the story. Maybe cheat your way through. If I play it again, that's how I'll be doing it.
Aesthetics
Second Sight looks like TimeSplitters. I knew who made it just by looking at it. While the look suits TimeSplitters, I don't think it's as good for Second Sight. It's cartoony and doesn't really fit the story. The music could also be beefed up a bit. The same "stealth blown" music is used from beginning to end, and I got thoroughly sick of it. There were also some technical issues with the sound that sometimes made it hard to hear dialog.
Final Score
3 out of 5
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