Outcast, a unique game... When the game first appeared it was too expensive for my budget. Later, I started hunting for it, because I was intrigued by good reviews. [Gameplay] -Adventure The adventure part is a bit bland to my taste, with a great emphasis of errand-boy type quests that typically direct you from one end to the other end of one map, or in later parts of the game, to an entirely different "world". There are some more original quests that have more story elements, with explanations on the society and the world(s). Sometimes they can be engrossing like reading a book. Similar to Fallout 3, the automap system is hardly usable, because there are no descriptions of key locations apart from the teleporting beacons. The worlds are vast, but some areas especially the Temple and city area suffer from repetion., making it hard to orientate yourself. The tree world is quite beautiful and a real joy to traverse. -fighting The fights are intense and I'm glad that using tactics pays off as the enemy AI is quite good. Placing dynamite would really benefit from a bit more precision. for annoyances on fighting, see visuals below. [Visuals] The distance fogging works great and gives a good sense of immersion in a world. The objects in the game are quite crudely rendered against a much more detailed background. Though this game allows you to switch from a third person and a first person perspective, it frequently forces third person view on the player, which often leads to the ego rendering obscuring the target in a firefight. Annoying. On top of that there are extreme zoom-ins where an overview of the battlefield is crucial for survival. [User Interaction] The user interface is mouse intensive and would be more comfortable if the menu system could use the keyboard as well. The frequent clicks that are required put quite a strain on your hands and fingers. [Maturity and stability] the game plays, but some frequently discussed bugs are still around in this version supposedly compatible with WinXP and modern machines. The most grating one is the stuttering, fast forwarding sound. fortunately this can be easily circumvented, with the price of making 3D sounds impossible. At least one bug prevents you from completing a quest, without resorting to drastic "cheat" measures. An example is jumping to the lighthouse and not being able to get to the top platform. I can understand that some of these issues can simply not be patched, but I would have appreciated it if Gog had mentioned this in the manual, rather then having to search for this in the forums and outside of Gog.com.
