Second Sight

Written by D'Marcus Beatty  on May 07, 2004

First Impressions: The Second Time around for some plot elementsЕ

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The game developer company Free Radical is well known for their acclaimed Timesplitters series. Based in Nottingham, the crew at Free Radical Design are a very respected group, as their Timesplitters titles are always well received and highly anticipated. Now, Free Radical is working on another title, and with their previous work, everyone is taking notice of this new title. Although there aren't many details as of yet, their current project, Second Sight, has many gamers taking a second look.

The story for Second Sight follows some familiar elements from recent games. The hero, John Vattic, is an amnesiac man, similar to the plot of the recently released Breakdown. Also, the hero has psychic abilities, much like the soon to be released Psi-Ops. Apparently, Vattic was part of a black ops mission that went wrong and was somehow responsible for him losing his memory. Throughout the course of the game, Vattic regains his memory and learns about his last mission and what exactly went wrong. More than likely, this mysterious mission has something to do with the current storyline of the game.

Although Free Radical is known for their first person shooters, this game appears to be a departure from that genre. Second Sight will be played from the third person perspective, and will apparently have elements of "stealthy exploration and intense shooter action". The press release for the game also claims that it Second Sight "redefines the standards for action-adventure narrative and gameplay", which is a lofty claim, although anyone who has played Timesplitters 2 will probably attest to the team's ability to meet that claim.

The graphics of the game are lovely, sporting a great amount of detail. The character models are obviously based in the same style as Timesplitters, with detailed models that sport a pleasing mixture of realistic and cartoonish design.

The screenshots are hopefully giving away some elements of the gameplay. One shot shows the hero holding a foe as a human shield against some other enemies, who all have their guns leveled at Vattic. Another shot shows the hero, sporting a serious side wound, apparently levitating a television/ security monitor, possibly to use as a weapon against a guard. The broken bars that were holding the monitor up can be seen behind the guard, which seems to indicate that the backgrounds will be interactive. Another very exciting screenshot shows a person, presumably the hero, levitating in the air with psychic energy crackling powerfully around him. A number of enemies can also be seen, firing seemingly futile firearms at him.

Codemasters just announced today that they will be publishing Second Sight, which goes against speculation that assumed Electronic Arts would be handling the deal, after recently winning the bidding fro Free Radical's other title in development, TimeSplitters: Future Perfect.