Clive Barker's Undying

I originally played this game many many years ago and the experience has always stuck with me ever since. CB:U has it all; guns, ghosts, evil cultists, creepy paintings, magic and an atmosphere that'll make you afraid of the dark all over again. Whether you're a Clive Barker fan or not, this is one horror FPS that doesn't disappoint on any counts and an experience that absolutely should not be missed by anyone who enjoys a good scare or great old games!

I like to keep my reviews simple: the game has a lot of atmosphere, pushing the Unreal engine, even to the degree of moving the character's eyebrows. The maps are huge, well designed with a color palette that sweats dreadful memories and unsetlling events. The sound is creepy, the music is oniric, and voice acting is pretty good. Gameplay... that's the issue. First, the control scheme is strange for and FPS: you have to keep pressed a key so that a magic or weapons ring appears on-screen, and then move the mouse to the weapon/spell you want, release the key and voilá, you have a weapon/spell selected. It's confusing at first, but when you've played enough, it may even result more quick than having a key for everything. Anyway, the game's flaw is its difficulty: don't try to be tough guy, and choose the easiest. Otherwise, you'll smash your computer to the wall, you'll kick it, you'll corrode it with acid and then sh** on it after loosing a boss fight a couple of times. A map wouldn't hurt either, and weapons could be more balanced, especially when you get certain weapon that renders the others practically useless. If you pass by these 'minor' issues, you'll sh** your pants in this expertly crafted game.

This is one of the best games ever made. It was an absolute gem when it was released back in the day and it still holds up even today. If you enjoy some really well done horror, please get this game, you will not regret it.

I purchased this game based on it's sterling reputation amongst dedicated gamers. It's a game with a great deal of promise and if a competant developer made a sequel I could see it really living up to it's potential. As of now... I don't find that it does. Pros: - Interesting plot (the notes you find in various locations are interesting, generally well-written and help flesh out the game.) - Some interesting weapon concepts (I love the Tibetan War Cannon. A living metal dragon gun? Sign me up.) - Using both spells and weapons simultaneously is a good idea. - They have a decent amount of different areas. Cons: - Interesting plot... dragged down by extreme campiness and terrible voice acting. The first boss frequently laughs like a saturday morning cartoon villain at the end of her generic threats. Hardly the stuff of great horror. - The combat is mediocre and unpolished at the best of times. There's very little punch to anything. Getting hit sends your camera spinning away from where you should be looking. - Spells and weapons feel weak and inconsitent in their performance. Even your basic revolver can be avoided by enemies when the bullet is in midflight (a lot of the enemies dance around the screen and teleport as well so it hitting them is, again, more frustrating then fun). The Tibetan War Cannon has an terribly implemented arcing feature, almost no range, and half the time I couldn't tell if it was an AOE weapon or not because of how spotty the AOE effect actually was (I've killed two howlers at once with it so I think it's AOE weapon? That never happened again despite similar situations). Shotguns don't feel powerful enough for their low ammo and load time. - The map design isn't good. It's mostly long halls, long mazes, and big empty fields. It doesn't create any interesting tactical situations and it only rarely enhances any kind of scare factor. This might be chocked up to technical limitations but it's still not good. Final verdict: Not good.

I've heard about this game back in the day and was sufficiently intrigued to finally give it a go, especially in light of the very positive reviews I've seen. What I discovered was a game that definitely seems to have an interesting story, if only I could bring myself to actually play it. Mechanically, the game has aged very poorly. While I can obviously forgive it for lacking modern FPS sensibilities, I cannot forgive the disparity between this and, say, the original Quake in terms of game-feel. Overall I would say that I found the game less frightening and more aggravating. What made me give up was when I jumped on a desk to pick up an item and died. What killed me? I did not know, nor did I care.