n Outcast, players take on the role of Cutter Slade, a former Navy Seal
charged with saving the Earth from a black hole. To do this, he must first
liberate Adelpha, an extra-dimensional world whose alien citizens are under
the rule of Fae Rahn. A fanatical priest who has taken over Adelpha's
military, Fae Rahn has unbalanced the Adelpha's four spiritual elements,
subjugating the castes which serve them. Cutter must defeat the tyrant, find
the missing members of his team and locate a lost scientific probe. If he
can't, Earth and Adelpha are both doomed.
The story of Outcast riffs on many of the themes that are staples
of science fiction. The core message is an environmental one, showing the
consequences of careless scientific research and unbalanced development.
This theme is wedded to a tried-and-true plot--the lone, outnumbered soldier
fighting to emancipate a society of primitive, good-hearted farmers.
In practical terms, Adelpha is broken up into six drastically different
regions, and Cutter has to acquire a sacred relic in each one. The screen
consists of a Tomb Raider-like 3-D environment--rooms, snowfields, farmland, lakes--with
Cutter in the middle. A contextual icon in the top left corner defines a
primary action, letting players know whether a button click will start a
conversation, cause Cutter to dive into water, or fire weapons. An
ultra-friendly map is accessible at the touch of a key, and other commands give
quick access to items and weaponry.
Unlike many games of this type, Outcast stays firmly in the realm
of science fiction and does not veer halfway into sword and sorcery. Cutter
is a gunman of the Doom variety, and there are no swordfights or
magic spells. Mysticism is confined solely to the religion of the
Adelphans.
Slick and enjoyable
Adelpha is a great place to play, in no small part because Outcast
is amazingly easy to learn. The combat system is simple to master, and
battles have a nice range of difficulty. Fights are easy to find or
to avoid, allowing players to control the level of violence they experience. Because
soldiers are realistically attracted--in droves--to the sound of gunfire,
an especially useful tactic for less bloodthirsty players is to kill a
couple of soldiers and then run as far away as possible.
Outcast also has high production values, including thousands of
dialog clips and an original soundtrack composed by Lennie Moore and performed by the Moscow
Symphony Orchestra. The scenes are gorgeously rendered, and everything is
organized to provide a smooth gaming experience. Players can access notes
that help keep them on task, ensuring that time isn't wasted relearning
clues. Great attention has been paid to detail with this game: everything in
the story happens for a reason, and the program--though it loads up somewhat
slowly--runs without glitches and rarely crashes.
Like the lion's share of adventure games, Outcast is hopelessly
boy-centered and politically regressive. Cutter is an extremely buff hero,
and there is no option for playing a female character--in fact, it is many
hours of playtime before players even encounter one! And while it is
well-rounded, the backwards Adelphan culture is a mishmash of elements
derived from various Third World traditions. Essentially this is a game
where a macho Yankee kills people with funny accents: far from
enlightened.
If players can get past this political incorrectness, though, the game is
fun to play, thoroughly absorbing, and a total blast.
