Outcast is a really imaginative game that plays like a cross between Myst and a third-person shooter. The art style may remind you of Armed & Dangerous or Giants: Citizen Kabuto--either way, it's a great compliment. The action is a little slow, but the adventure side makes up for it. The main problem with Outcast comes from its save system. The developers incorporated it into the story somewhat by giving you a device called a Gamsaav, which you hold in your hand for a moment and it stores your "essence." It also emits a light that will attract any nearby enemies to you, so you need to be in a safe place before saving. Sounds find in theory, but in practice it makes saving an arduous process. Where most PC games give you a quicksave/quickload option to save yourself the trouble of repeating long sections if you fail, saving in Outcast takes so much time that you'll probably neglect to do it often. But as long as you're careful you won't need to reload, right? Wrong. Outcast isn't the most stable game. Three times so far I've had to reload a far back save because the game has frozen or crashed on me. It's really made me appreciate the checkpoint systems in modern games. As much as I like this game, I can't give it more than two stars because of the frustration it's caused me. Since it just froze on me again, I have about fifteen minutes of catching up to do when I reload it.
