Outcast 1.1

I was deeply impressed by Outcast when it came out in 1999. Even though the height map based (falsely called "voxel") engine was a bit out of time even back then (Drakan was released the same year with Direct3D support), it was groundbreaking in so many ways. It's still hard to name any other action adventure in a colorful and fantastic alien world that would come close. At its time though, the organic levels, the freedom of movement (swimming, diving, climbing, riding Twon-has), the size of the levels and the semi-open world design were unique. It even featured some kind of software bump mapping for the characters. Admittedly, not everything aged so well. The characters look pretty much terrible (low poly, lores textures), the "voxel" landscape is a blur as are the textures. The dialogs try too hard to be funny, some of the Talan voice acting is pretty bad. All the animations and cut scenes are very basic and wooden, some even look totally silly (running animation). Also the game design is pretty outdated. Like there are no quest markers, you need to repeatedly find tiny objects or specific persons while there are only a few different character models etc. The version "1.1" is mainly intended to run on modern PCs and e.g. offers higher resolutions which however lead to barely readable text and a map that is hard to see. I also didn't like what they did with the water: in the original, it was opaque and shiny, now it's nearly fully transparent. As a result, the water animation that struck me with awe in 1999 is nearly invisible. Navigating menus and dialogs with the keyboard or even saving a game feels clumsy. This version also crashed on me a few times, most annoyingly in the cutscene after the collapsing palace, so I needed to skip it to continue. Also the cutscene after the prison camp seems to be missing. Still, if you want to relive your memories on a modern PC/OS without the changes from "Second Contact", there is more or less no way around v1.1.

The original outcast is a game that has many merits. It would be difficult to review each aspect of this title that stands out: be it the amazing orchestrated soundtrack, the interesting story and exotic scenarios, the game mechanics or even the voxel landscapes (true voxel, not some minecraft-ish crap), Outcast makes it clear that the team behind it really loved what they were creating. The only problem is that it took quite a while for the game to be completed/released, so by the time it hit the shelves, early 3D accelerated games were all the rage. The voxel graphics seemed dated when judged by the eyes of inexperienced gamers, so Outcast never got the appreciation it deserved. Funny enough, I think this game's graphics aged better than most of its the 3D accelerated contemporaries. Do yourself a favor and enjoy this gem. The art direction of Oucast is solid, something we seldom see nowadays. Every piece fits together beautifully.

It was surprising to discover a game from 1999 that had such good and lively AI to it! The game is a joy to play, especially for those who can appreciate low resolutions.

I always loved stories taking place in another worls, which I could be discovering. And because of that, Outcast charmed me right from the beginning. And the charm was, and still is, in case of this game stronger then almost none before. The story may not extra path-breaking, but thanks to its execution, amazing charaters and, whats most important, really unique and interesting enviroment, this game is a jewel like non other. Main protagonist, "Cutter Slade alias Ulukai" is nice and easy to get familiarized with and other characters are really interesting and believable. That is mostly thanks to the outstanding voice acting, that is giving the soul to the characters, that would be fast forgotten for they look somewhat alike. There is lot of informations about gaming world you can discover and lot of unique weapons and items. Only problem is that you actually need to reed the manual, for additional informations about characters and powers of various items (or you will never know what they are for unless you try to use them). Gameplay is really smooch and easy to control, though you can encounter some problems while riding Thon-wa (an animal). Voxel graphics are nice to watch and thanks to the expressions and moves characters make during conversations it all feels real and somewhat "movie-like"! There are some little problems such as design of the inventory and questlog, but I think, that can be easily be overlooked. I consider Outcast to be one of the best games I had ever pleasure of playing and recommend it to anyone, who wants to experience a immersing story in the unique world.

While it starts of slow, Outcast is really entertaining game. You play as Cutter Slade, an ex-FBI agent who has been assigned on a mission to fix a wormhole that threatens to swallow the Earth. Unfortunantly the mission backfires and you are teleported to the land of Adelphia, which is inhabitated by the Talan. The Talan believe you to be their saviour and you must help them defeat the evil Fae Rahn, as well find your human friends and stop the Earth from being destroyed! The gameplay is a mix of an adventure game and a 3rd person shooter. You are free to explore the world of Adelphia and the game is extremely open in this regard. You can complete the missions that you are assigned in the game in any order, and in any way. The very beginning of the game is quite slow however, as there is a lot of talking (this game uses it's own fantasy words and it can be quite hard to keep track in the beginning!) and you can only explore a tiny area. However after you leave the first part it really picks up. The story becomes really interesting, due to the well developed characters. While it may seem very samey at first, it soon becomes far more engrossing. The combat in the game is very well done but is slightly clunky. To fire a gun you must hold down an aim button which will decrease Slade's speed. This makes it hard to avoid bullets. Eventually though you will get the hang of it and it leads to some very tense and exiciting battles. The graphics in this game have not really aged that well. While the draw distance in the game is extremely impressive, as well as the sheer size of the maps you play on, the textures in this game are extremely pixelated. This is a shame as the art direction in the game is brilliant, it's a just a shame that characters and buildings look like a blocky mess at times. Due the game running only in software mode, it can only run at a resolution of 640x480 (which you need to download an extra patch for) or lower. This is dissapointing, as I'm sure it would have made a difference. The sound in this game however, is really awesome. The voiceovers for the characters are really well done. Each character (and you will encounter a LOT) has it's own voice which is extremely impressive. The soundtrack is incredible as well, being performed by Moscow Sympothy Orchestra. Outcast is a lot of fun however it is not perfect. A lot of the missions are fetching items and bringing them back to a person. This is OK but it does get annoying after a while. The game is kinda gltichy at times as well. With Slade cutting stuck in objects and certain characters either not giving the player certain items or not taking them to a certain area. There are long periods of time with not much happening as well, which can get boring. Overall Outcast is very fun game. It's probably not one of the best but it's definately one of the most memorable adventure games I have played.