Under the Skin

Written by Chris Reiter  on November 08, 2004

Full Review: Be tricked. Be treated. And I swear, you can even see people in their underwear.

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People pull pranks, and they like it. Maybe even love it at times. Yes, it's silly. Yes, it's embarrassing, even dangerously so. But this doesn't stop the evil portion of our conscious from appearing on our shoulder in the form of a miniature Satan and telling us to do it. Some people just have that habit of watching a friend or sibling's reaction to whipped cream smothering their face, or even more sneaky, no eyebrows. These examples of course are just common jokes, typically known to many as they're inherited throughout generations to unsuspecting culprits. Who's the one who came up with these freaky plays in the first place? Who knows. But one thing's for sure: there's one company who has a few ideas of their own in the nature of such mischievous ploys. Capcom is showing off their tricks of the trade in an all-out prank-pulling spree from behind the body of a human, acted out by an alien hidden Under the Skin.

He came from outer space! Why? For what? What is he? Who is he? Well, his name is Cosmi, and he's an alien. He's arrived here on Earth. Not for making friends though, I can tell you that right now. Instead, he's here to harvest us humans. And not in the traditional, scientific way either. Cosmi is a pint-sized prankster interested in only one thing: gold coins. Yep, you got that right. He's a sneaky little devil who's going to dupe the lot of us with or without us knowing he's there. Mostly not knowing. With the ability to borrow the actual form of any inhabitant he chooses, Cosmi has landed on the planet after crashing into a major TV satellite. Now that Earth's aware to an alien presence, it's up to the troublesome blue Cosmi to show Master Itazura back home what he's worth.

Just because it's better to be different sometimes, doesn't mean it always will be. That's how Capcom's Under the Skin is perceived. It's a different kind of game, a different kind of action game at that. In the situation of when an alien being is transported to Earth, you play the titular role of that alien named Cosmi. Your main goal throughout Under the Skin entails gathering coins...only you won't always be going about this task in the same manner. Where this game differs from your usual stage-after-stage action-oriented extravaganza is that Under the Skin is open-ended. Across eight stages, you have a choice in picking which level you want at any time (except for the very first entry point, which is made into a requisite for further proceedings). In this sense, Under the Skin is a lot like Mega Man. You can choose where to go and when to go, but the idea is to complete the specific task assigned to Cosmi when starting up in a new level.

Each area varies from one another in theme (but they share similar maps and certain goals), which is what's interesting about Under the Skin. Though, the diversity doesn't branch on for too long, as there are but eight stages and only a handful of assigned goals. Basically, levels exist in small sections of mostly outdoor surroundings. By roaming in each one of these places, there are several people and sometimes other things, that act as your providers for coins or for your means of loss. Let's pick the game's Western stage as an example. Your task here is to beat the computer controlled opponent by lapping up more coins than he can before the ten minutes timer runs out (in which case, every stage is fitted with a ten minute countdown to do whatever). Once that clock hits zero, and when you don't have enough coins, you'll lose. Within this particular surrounding, there are your regular people, law officers with guns, and horses that pace the enclosed setting. Where you can draw findings out of the pockets of the people, the horses you cannot, as these are primarily used to use to taunt with tricks, which in turn leads them to stampede throughout the course of the level (and can even trample over Cosmi).

Other types of stages and other ways to compete with individual computer challengers (which are actually aliens, like Cosmi, that will play the level stakes just like you do) range from a boulder stage -- where huge rocks roll down hills from time to time and must be avoided -- to a level literally based on the Resident Evil franchise, Nemesis and all. When Cosmi is hit up to two times in any spot (first he's stripped down to the human's undies, and then to his own natural good-looking self), his human shell will be no longer be visible, and he must then find a UFO device (or a changing station that takes any secreted human data and turns him into that person). The way it works is that with each human form Cosmi inherits (by blasting them with his ray gun), a prank collection in the bottom right-hand side of the screen will detail what types of gimmicks he can pull off. With six diversions in all from each new human (or other...like the living dead) you'll transform into, you'll always have six ways to collect coins, unless some of those items are used for something else. The prank list in total throughout the game consists of 40+ things Cosmi can get ahead with or fall behind. He can activate a rampaging dinosaur sequence, in which a giant T-Rex stomps through the crowds and leaves behind a litter of coins. He can roll a bowling ball, blast guns, throw electricity sparks that affect large parties. He can even rollerblade to quickly disperse from trouble, suck up coins near or far with a vacuum property, or make like the wind and go invisible in order to evade dangers like the game's neutral people who will angrily pursue Cosmi once teed off.

There are other hazards just as well that come in the form of things like viruses from Cosmi's prank list that can shed a layer of skin off him, or another being panic time. There's a panic time for every stage, which in some form or another a periodical event occurs that effects the entire perimeter of a level. Within the game's pirate stage for example, if you're not disguised as a pirate during panic time a ship will come and fire rounds of cannonballs upon Cosmi, which will both strip him of his disguise and his tokens. In a casino setting, the panic time adds in more robbers, who in turn are aliens dressed up like thieves whose purpose in the level is to steal your coins if they catch up to you. Elements like these, hurtful NPCs, and the extra computer opponents you'll need to vie against and run from (and even cooperate with in certain spots) make Under the Skin a regularly challenging game. Given the time constraints and the fact that you have to keep moving around a lot, collecting coins isn't as easy as it may seem. It may take several tries to beat certain levels too, provided the multiple hardships and an awkward camera system setup for Cosmi that's intact (if you press up or down on the right analog stick, it'll rise or sink too far or too low a lot, and gets to be annoying).

Under the Skin isn't just for single players either. There is actually a bit of unlockable content in the game too, like a host of Martian characters you can select in the game's multiplayer modes, including two-player co-op and a versus mode. Getting past any of the single player levels means you can unlock the alien other you've been against or with, and you and a friend (or a computer) can play as them within each of the game's stages, including Master Itazura's dojo training room. However, outside unlockables like these, there isn't a whole lot of reason to continue on with the game once you've beaten it. As, most of the levels and the total premise of the game is really just made up of a singular pattern. Accomplishing tasks gets to be difficult at times. Once you pass them though, a reward like playing as an alien that controls the same as Cosmi but only looks different isn't very redeeming. For an action game as irregular as Under the Skin, there isn't too much meat on it.

Aliens have been a guiding force for many throughout the years. Scientists deem these interplanetary species as superior in intelligence. Movie goers know them as hostile. And television viewers have seen them as cute and friendly. The Japanese on the other hand, paint them as a little something from each column. In focus of Sega's unique visual treatment used in its Jet Set Radio series for the Dreamcast and the Xbox, Capcom now takes this pencil-drawn and cartoony edge to the PlayStation 2 with Under the Skin. Over the skin, Cosmi can become just about any person or thing he sees in a level. Under the skin, Cosmi is just a little bug eyed hopping blue alien, with an oval shaped head, wrapped in a white diaper. Using the Jet Set Radio-like palette, Under the Skin is a very cartoonish game. Although, it's also not as sharp as the Jet Set series is. More subdued, the character models here appear on the dull side a little bit. So do the levels of the game, which even with a certain flashy purveyance, don't have much to offer on the whole. These places, sorted through teeny battlegrounds in a city setting with cars; a western setting with cowboys, horses, and dust storms; and even a Resident Evil setting with walking zombies, S.T.A.R.S. members, and a giant Nemesis; the paths you walk around are composed without elaborate decorations to add an intricate substance to the game. With a large assortment of tricks to play with however, Under the Skin manages to intrigue with many an action and reaction. Conjuring up a swirling whirlwind to knock people off their feet, exhaling puke-green gas out of your ass to smoke out your followers, dropping a giant hamburger on people's heads from above, or even placing a firework display to make the surrounding crowds explode into charred bodies is just a small fraction of some of the lovely attractions to set your sights on within.

Being the oddball game that Under the Skin is, it's a game with some strange noises you'd come to expect from a game like this. For every prank you pull, there's a different noise to hear. Toast those around Cosmi by breathing fire on them, and hear the roar of the flame. Set a school of sharks on others, and listen to the snap of their bones. Bust out a grenade launcher, and receive a loud burst effect. Even with some other distinct noises, like the ringing of coins when absorbing them into your collection, or the hopping of Cosmi when his skin has been drained, the only thing is you don't hear some stuff you'd expect -- such as the pacing of feet from each individual person. But stuff like this isn't a big issue anyway, as the sizable collection of audible high jinks you'll pull is decent enough as it is. Another element that's pretty much dissolved a lot of the time is the game's musical underscore. Listening to all the zany things happening in levels will not have you noticing the synthesized score running through the background. You will pay attention to the sayings of people though, as they'll yell in effective but average tones like, "I'll get you!" or, "It's an alien!" These dialogue pieces are reused throughout a lot of the game, and don't really add or subtract much to the game, but instead are just there.