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Pariah (PC) review

"Pariah should have been a contender. It could have done something special, because it was developed by the creators of Unreal Tournament 2003 and features a tight graphics engine and some cool customization options. But it isn’t special, because ultimately, it’s a generic and bland first person shooter that does absolutely nothing to capture the player's imagination. Pariah’s star, the boring Doctor Jack Mason (who secretly wishes he was as cool as Half-Life's Gordon Freeman), trudges through va..."

Pariah should have been a contender. It could have done something special, because it was developed by the creators of Unreal Tournament 2003 and features a tight graphics engine and some cool customization options. But it isn’t special, because ultimately, it’s a generic and bland first person shooter that does absolutely nothing to capture the player's imagination. Pariah’s star, the boring Doctor Jack Mason (who secretly wishes he was as cool as Half-Life's Gordon Freeman), trudges through vast environments littered with little to interact with and only braindead, repetitive soldiers to attack (who constantly repeat the same one liner, "I'm going to get you, DOC!"). The Doctor will have to utilize an impressive array of weapons (wielding them with the skills of a well-trained soldier) in the hopes of rescuing an infected patient that’s running around and risking the health of everyone she comes into contact with.

Pariah’s box boldly asks “CAN YOU SURVIVE?” The question will lead you to imagine that Pariah delivers a gripping, intense journey when you pick up the box in the store and look at the awesome artwork splattered all over it, but the question it's really asking is if you have the fortitude to withstand the sheer amount of boredom that this title will inevitably induce. The game isn’t really challenging at all thanks to some absolutely braindead AI and incredibly linear environments. Enemy goons will run right at you, avoiding nearby cover in favor of just shooting at you in the open. And while linearity isn’t always a bad thing, the linearity in Pariah is so blatantly obvious that it ruins the experience.

Pariah isn’t an awful game, just very average. There are a lot of cool ideas hidden somewhere inside this package of boredom. For starters, the graphics engine is absolutely killer, and the game includes an incredible easy to use map editor that even I could use, and I’m pretty retarded with map editors. Pariah also features an on-the-fly health system that allows the Doctor to heal himself when he’s in trouble, which is really fitting for the character. Every weapon is upgradeable with custom modules that turn basic weapons into incredibly powerful ones (nuclear rocket launcher?). This cool feature saves this game from complete mediocrity, but it still just barely squeaks by into the realm of a passable experience.

Even still, the few redeemable qualities hardly demand that you run out and purchase Pariah immediately. It’s definitely a game that’s worth picking up from a bargain bin if you should happen across it for a low, low price, but you aren't going to like it much even then. It comes down to this: Pariah is just a very boring experience. It promised an action-packed adventure, and it failed. There just isn’t enough going on in this game. It has some great ideas, sure, but this isn’t the right game for those great ideas.

Rating: 5/10

Community review by asherdeus (December 23, 2005)

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