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God please, stop with the title jokes.

I found a little gem in the discount rack at the local EB games a few weeks ago. Clocking in at $9.99, Second Sight is the kind of game I like to buy because it’s guilt free enjoyment. Second Sight reminds me of frozen yogurt: it has the taste and deliciosity of ice cream but also has a few things that make you say, “okay, it’s not ice cream but it’s still pretty good.”

Yeah, that was a terrible metaphor. You don’t have to hide it from me, but you do have to read this review.

Second Sight is the product of Free Radical Games under the auspices of Codemasters. You may remember Codemasters as the producers of the Time Splitters franchise. In a nutshell, Second Sight is the story of a man who wakes up on a surgical table with no memory of who he is and how he got there. As he makes his escape, he begins to develop strange mental powers and begins to use them to uncover the details of a massacre that he may have caused. Always a bad way to start the day.

This is my “unspeakably evil” game face.

It’s tough to categorize Second Sight into a game class. First I should note that the game is non-linear, temporally speaking. As you begin to unravel your past, you return to the days leading up to the massacre, allowing you to experience those horrible events first hand. On one hand, there are a lot of stealth-action elements as you make your escape from the hospital. On the other, the days prior to the event find you raiding a top-secret Russian military base in a squad tactical shooter. There are even some puzzle elements in various areas of the game, which kept it fresh and entertaining throughout.

Just great. How did I get stuck with GI Joe’s rejects?

What’s really going to keep you in this game, though, is the plot. The plot is good. What makes it good is that it seems predictable but as the game progresses the story discrepancies begin to pile up. Those discrepancies will keep you playing until the final moments when all the pieces come together in a really nice final sequence. The ambiance is great, the levels are pretty well designed, and the need to solve the mystery will push you through the rough spots.

Nobody loves you as hard as a crazy girl.

Unfortunately, it’s pretty obvious why this game has languished in the bargain bin rather than
being a franchise-spawning hit. The controls are awkward, especially during fire-fights; it’s clear this game was not designed to be a shooter. There are some terrible camera angles, which are not compensated for by the switchable first-person/third-person cameras. While stealthy solutions are generally rewarded, a “lead-based” problem solving approach typically does the trick in every situation - even in places where it’s obvious they gave you the tools to sneak through. It’s not as nerve-wracking to escape when you know that if the orderly finds you, you can turn him and the rest of the security team into swiss cheese in prompt order.

Dance puppet! I command you!

All in all, this a game worth its salt. I played it from start to finish in prompt order, which is generally a good sign for a game. I also kept playing past some really ridiculous areas, which is another good sign. While the EMB editors debate the merits of various rating systems, I’ll let these two soldiers give you their opinion instead. Who thinks Second Sight is worth playing?

Enough said.