Introduction
Over the last few years I have occasionally heard mention in the usual news sites (Bluesnews , Sharkyextreme etc... ) of a game called "Outcast". Being the avid gamer like yourselves I though "Ooh! I haven't heard of that game. I must find out more about it". I never did. Outcast was finally released over here in the UK on June 25th after 4 years of development by a new Belgium company going by the name of Appeal. I frantically searched our beloved internet in search of all the doubtless reviews and media hype only to fine that information on this game was sparse to say the least! (hence this review:). The little information I did find convinced me to buy the game though, and before long I held a copy in my grubby little hands waiting to be installed....
Installation
Outcast comes on two CDs. The first CD is used to install the game and the second CD is needed in the drive to run the game and play the in-game music (more on this later!). The accompanying manual is colorful, well presented and contains a lot of good info without revealing too much about the storyline. I personally had no trouble whatsoever during the installation. The first CD was detected and autoran as usual. Outcast only has one installation size of around 400mb which took a while but once finished it checked my Directx version, put an icon on my desktop and that was that. Easy.
There have been, however, some people who've had some trouble trying to get Outcast to instal or run. It seems there is a problem concerning Outcast and the new Windows'98 Second edition that results in no data being put on the hard drive after the installation has finished. The guys at Appeal were very quickly on the case and sorted out the problem with a quick patch for this and also another patch to help fix memory problems, looping sounds, flickering on some TNT cards and problems with DVD drives. I would presume that these patches will find themselves integrated into the US release candidate which I believe is penciled in for August 27th. (They have also produced a troubleshooting guide which is here should you care to view it.)
Outcast automatically detects what system you have and alters its settings accordingly to get the best speed possible. I have a Celeron 300A with 128mb RAM and a 16mb AGP TNT1 card. Outcast set itself up at a resolution of 320x240 with a variety of effects levels. I initially ran at this settings and everything was indeed a smooth as the proverbial babies bottom but not being satisfied with this I increased the resolution to 400 x 300 and put all the special effects on high and saw no difference in performance at all. The maximum resolution is 512 x 384 and you'll need a fast PIII and a bucket of RAM to run it satisfactually at this level with all the effects on high. Although it has to be said that the difference in quality between 400 x 300 and 512 x 384 is pretty negligible in my opinion.
Other options include setting all the sound volumes, adding subtitles, remaping keyboard controls and even a cinema scope setting?, and a "return to default" should you get lost :0) All this is dealt with in the initial main menu before the game loads so you can't change the resolution / effects whilst in-game.
The Game
The game opens with an intro movie (after the rather cool Appeal logo!) which is done in the game engine (as are all the "cutscene/movies") and is very cinematic setting up the atmosphere well. The basic premise of the game is this. You play a sarcastic ex-navy SEAL called Slade cutter, attached to a small band of scientists who have attempted to travel to a parallel dimension. The scientists first sent through a probe which was damaged and you and the others have been sent through to find the probe and fix it. However something goes wrong (OH NO! I hear you cry!) and you begin the game lying on a bed unconscious, being cared for by the local Talans (the alien inhabitants of this new world) with no sign of your scientist friends or much of your equipment. These nice caring Talons turn out to be part of a resistance movement who believe that you are their messiah (happens to me everyday:) and agree to help you on your mission if you agree to help them in their fight against the evil ruler of this world. Fair trade? They put you through some quick training and you are then free to go and explore the 6 worlds on offer. Each world has its own theme.....
Ranzaar - The White Earth/World of Snow
Shamazaar - World of Temples
Okasankaar - World of Marshes
Talanzaar (Okriana) - World of the City and Hub of Adelpha
Okaar - The Ancient Forest World
Motazaar - The World of Mountains
.. and can be accessed at any time through "portals" (or as we know them, "blatant stargate rip-offs" :0). Each world has a huge amount of tasks and sub quests available for you to tackle in any way you see fit, and a variety of guns and gadgets to help you reach your goals. I'm not going to write anything more about the story. You can find that out for yourselves :0) I should also point out that all Images in this review are of the first and second worlds only. There are many other delights to be found in the worlds of Outcast.!
Guns and Gadgets
Now Outcast has been labeled an "action/adventure" title, so it would not be complete without a selection of nice shiny toys for you to cause havoc with. On the weapons front you can get your hands on a laser sighted pistol, an automatic pistol, a dart gun (sniper rifle), a rocket launcher, a grenade/mortar launcher and a flame thrower! All of which (except the flame thrower) can be upgraded 3 times for even more destructive pleasure! Other gadgets at your disposal through out the game are explosives, detonators, binoculars, transporter devices, air tanks, medikits, trip wires, hologram devices, real-time map overlay, a cloaking device, and a handy pad that remembers words you hear and logs their meaning like a kind of mobile glossary.
I'm particularly impressed with the gadgets in this game. Take , for example, the binoculars. You can zoom in and out to long distances, switch to a X-ray mode that also displays how many and type of creatures are in the view finder and also lock onto a target of your choice and follow it. All this happens with some cool little displays around the outside. It looks cool and very cinematic. You can also collect all manner of different indigenous items (gems, metals, organic matter) that can be used or taken to friendly Talans for use as ingredient to make new items or ammo etc...
Interface
The interface of Outcast is smooth and well thought out, but then I suppose it should be after 4 years development! (although you can't use the ENTER key to select options in the menus, which annoyed takes a bit of getting used to). Slade can run, jump, swim, climb, enter combat, use items and speak, all just using a combination of the 2 mouse buttons. There are a number of hotkeys (which you can also define yourself in-game) and a good backpack display to help you sort out and use your hard earned trinkets!
The conversations are dealt with by presenting you with a variety of responses and questions and any quest related information you gather is automatically entered into you notepad for that world. This helps you keep track of the situation cleanly and quickly. Another handy snippet is the use of the Lexicon (or mobile glossary). This automatically updates when you learn a new word of the aliens language and helps you get to understand what the talans are saying when you eavesdrop on their conversations!.
Music and Sound
Well what can be said about the music? If you are not aware, Outcast won the "Best music award" at E3 and I can see or rather hear why. The second CD contains 60 minutes of music score performed by the Moscow Symphony Orchestra with a 24 singer choir and oh my what a treat! This music score is as good as the Star Wars sound track. It is beautiful and makes Outcast feel like a movie. The arrangements are excellent and it adds a level of atmosphere to the game that no other title has ever reached . It is quite simply a professional blockbuster movie soundtrack.
That's not to say the other sounds aren't good to. The voices that have been used for the dialogs in the game have been very well chosen. No cheesy accents or acting here I'm happy to say. There is also a lot of humor in this game that usually emanates from your sarcastic character Slade. Appeal should of tried to get Bruce Campbell to do Slades voice. He's that kind of character.! The actual sound effects themselves are as you would expect. Your footsteps sound different on different surfaces (crunching snow, creaking wooden roofs etc..), there's a variety of water sounds, animal noises, weapon sounds etc.... all able to be heard using 3D sound if your sound card supports it.
Appeal have developed their own artificial intelligence engine called GAIA (stands for Game's Artificial Intelligence with Agents.) and it is very good indeed. The "Agents" refers to reactants in each of the 600 NPCs' personalities such as natural instincts (self-preservation, hunger, exhaustion...), emotions (curiosity, fear...) and wishes (earn money, information, make friends...). I'm always a bit apprehensive when I hear buzz words like "Life-like AI" because I've always been disappointed in the past, but I have to say that the AI in Outcast does the job superbly. Within in minutes you have no problem believing that each character in the game is a real entity and this only serves to emerse you even more into the game world.
There are all sorts of types of characters in the Outcast worlds from farmers and fisherman, slaves, priests to hunters, soldiers, and merchants. Each go about their lives in that role and each will react to global events differently. To accompany this is a huge amount of video captured animation!! Tired farmers will stop picking crops and stand up and with hands on their hips and stretch their backs. Soldiers will scan the horizon when looking for you, sit down cross legged around camp fires until the latest patrol returns, and gather round in groups when being addressed by a higher ranking talan. There are all manner of things going on that I have found myself simply following people about to see what they are doing even if its only gathering fire wood.
The combat AI is also rather good. I have had many a movie like shoot-out with soldiers ducked behind barrels and rocks. They do seem to employ flanking tactics and fleeing when you are obliterating their buddies but and good Quake player will read the signs and counter them pretty quickly. The path finding is also very good. With all the characters wandering about and getting on with their lives, one character is never in the same place twice. So when one NPC has to lead you to meet another NPC he has to locate him and figure out the best way to get there without getting stuck on obstacles or the 3D terrain and pull it off in a way that makes the player think he knew we way all along. Outcast does this very well and I've not been lead astray or seen a wrong turn taken.
All these fine game elements do the job they where intended for, that is to create a totally alien world with a proper population, social structure, religion, and emerse the player in a fantastically rewarding adventure story. There are so many gaming elements to Outcast depending on how you want to play it. You can sneak about avoiding combat like Thief: Dark Project, or go head on ambushing soldier encampments and patrols like a blood crazed quake player (though I wouldn't recommend it).
Although there is a definite action element to Outcast, the main emphasis is on adventuring. Exploring the strange new worlds, interacting with the locals and helping out as best you can. Most of the puzzles involve the standard go and retrieve this, get some information here, kill this person, but its the way Outcast pulls it off that adds to the whole experience. Say for instance, you had to meet a certain talan who you knew had some information that you needed but you couldn't find him. You knew he lived up in the northern area but that's all. In Outcast you simply have to ask a local if he's seen him and if he has he'll even point him out to you. There's also a huge amount of sub quests available to get involved in and some are necessary in order to complete the larger task. All have to be thought about and can be tackled in any way you see fit and they also give you more and more understanding of the talons and their worlds. The whole physics engine the governs Outcast is just the icing on the cake.
Graphics
I've left this until last as its the one section of the game that has caused quite a debate!. As you have no doubt heard, Outcast uses a variety of techniques to display this game. Most controversially Appeal decided to use Voxel technology (also used in Delta Force and the Comanche series developed by Novalogic) to render the landscapes of Outcasts' 6 worlds. Any of you who have owned a game using this technology already know the pro's and con's, which are that Voxels allow you to create vast, beautiful terrain but at close range the graphics can become "blocky".
There is another point to make which maybe good or bad depending on your point of view. Voxels don't use any hardware acceleration. I can see this as a good thing if you don't own a 3D accelerator and annoying if you have an expensive Voodoo or TNT card sitting proudly in your machine. The market place has driven us all to believe that hardware acceleration is the future and dutifully we've all followed like sheep, handed over our cash for these shiny new cards, and seen the rewards. Now a small company comes along showing us that you don't need hardware acceleration to make a good 3D game and it seems to cut against the grain with a lot of people.
I personally love the graphics! I think they are absolutley stunning at making this new dimension come alive. You see so many views that make you blink again to see if they are real that it makes you forgive the occational situations of "blockiness". I'm not going to say any more on this matter as it all depends on your own point of view, but the debate is still raging on the Outcast Central message board and the Infogrames message board. I've included a screen shot of and incident of the close up problems that can occur, taken from a first person view point, and examples of what I think are good shots from the second world.
Outcast also uses a polygon engine to render the buildings and objects in the game. This coupled with some good rich textures works well with the voxel landscapes in creating temples, villages, and cities. The effects engine produces some cool stuff to from dynamic shadows, particle effects, lighting and layered fog etc.... to some really quite amazing water effects!. Water seems to have had a lot of work put into it by games companies of late. I loved the water in Unreal and the water dynamics in Aliens V's Predator is stunning. Now Outcast can put its name up with these big boys because the ripple effects and especially the reflections are a lovely sight to behold.
What a darn good game! A proper rewarding adventure. I'm very impressed with the atmosphere and the way it plays out like a movie. Outcast does have its problems but all in all these become mere after thoughts as you play long into the night. My friends and I have a developed a phrase over our years - its "Time sponge" rating. That is to say how long you play a game before looking at a clock and then going "Blimey! I've missed 3 meals!" as the dawn sun shines through the gap in the curtains (I know you've all been there too!). With Outcast you are in danger of saying good bye to sleep and food for quite a while!
Outcast is one jam-spankingly good (don't try that at home kids), well thought out title that is seriously worth you considering adding it to your collection. You can see all the care and attention this title has received over the 4 years its taken to develop it. I only hope we don't have to wait another 4 years for Appeals next title. If you are a total 2 x Voodoo3, 70 frames per second at 1600 x 1200, kind of person then I can see why the voxel / low res issue will effect you religiously, which is a shame because you really will be missing out on a new genre standard as well as one hell of a lot of fun!
But hey its your cash! You decide.
For more Outcast information take a ride over to OutcastCentral.com