Kiss PSycho Circus: The Nightmare Child Review

7.8

Format PC

Developer Third Law Interactive

Publisher Take-Two Interactive

Genre Unknown

Dave Woods

Let's have a quick game of word association. Ready? Ex-Daikatana developers leave Ion Storm and start creating their own first-person shooter based around the exploits of sad supergroupers, Kiss. What's the first thing that comes into your mind? Now that's not very complimentary is it? And if we printed words like that then we'd be taken off the shelves at WH Smiths.

Basing a game around rock dinosaurs like Kiss is a risky business. On the one hand it's going to sell to die-hard fans who must, simply must, own everything connected to their idols. Flip the coin over and you've got a title that's likely to be ignored by die-hard gamers who know that these sort of licenses are often a way of hiding utter trash masquerading as entertainment.

But not in this case. Despite the fact that Psycho Circus is almost completely devoid of innovation, from the distinctly unremarkable AI to the Doom homage in the second realm and secret hiding places, it's an entertaining game that's well worth £35 of anyone's hard-earned cash.

How so? It's simple really. Behind our cries for realism and human-like AI, one important point can get overlooked: games are supposed to be fun. Psycho Circus is a blast for three very important reasons: level design, monsters and weapons. Get these secret ingredients in place and you're in a no-lose situation. (Take note John Romero).

Before we look at these in closer detail, let's just fill you in on the basic storyline. Four members of a band turn up at a seemingly deserted circus and are accosted by a man-woman with a crystal ball. Before you know it, you're in charge of saving the world, through four distinct realms of the Psycho Circus. You have to play all four characters through all four realms, and, although there's a suggested order, you can tackle any of the realms at any time.

By choosing to build the game around the marvellously flexible LithTech engine, Third Law has been able to flex it's muscle by designing levels that move from claustrophobic corridors to massive landscapes, canyons and ravines. It's something that id has never been able to code into its admittedly superior Quake engines and it suits the style of this game perfectly. The LithTech engine also delivers the looks that we've become accustomed to (Daikatana notwithstanding), although it does sell us short on water and, with next-generation blasters like Voyager imminent, it's going to look dated before the boxed copies hit the shelves. But that's something we're willing to forgive.

Then there are the monsters. If you've read our preview then you'll know that the one feature we were looking forward to was the Horde technology, which promised swarms of creatures on-screen at once. Now we've played through the full game, we're pleased to report that it's in place and it works a treat. Even on a mid-end system we didn't suffer any slowdown, despite tackling dozens of creatures, from scuttling the Headless to Flaming UniPsychos and Fat Ladies.

Cleverly, all of this frantic action disguises the fact that the AI in the game isn't really up to much. It's not quite as bad as the disastrous Daikatana, but you won't find anything displaying the tactical awareness of the Half-Life troops. However, with a level full of creatures that can follow you wherever you go, and taking into account the mix of flying and ground-based creatures with melee or long-range attacks, it doesn't matter. The strategy that you have to follow is dictated by numbers and you'll actually find yourself halfway through the game before realising that you haven't even had time to stop and think about the AI.

Another new strategy is introduced via the spawning points. These contraptions spew out smaller creatures (up to the rotten Gasbags) by the bucket load, so you can't just dig in and keep shooting, otherwise you're going to run out of ammunition just before you get overwhelmed. Instead you have to destroy the nests before trying to clear the screen of your adversaries.As mentioned, this does lead to a small problem. The way the levels have been designed, it's sometimes extremely hard to reach the spawn points. In the second realm, spawn points have been placed on upper levels, which doesn't stop the creatures from dropping down and attacking you while you're trying to deal with bigger problems. By the time you've managed to make it upstairs, your ammunition can be severely depleted making it hard to progress through the game without constant recourse to the quick save key. It's the biggest irritation in the game and it could be solved by a dynamic ammunition system which takes into account how low you are and doles out the bullets accordingly.

It's a damn shame as well because the range of weapons is excellent, and having to stare down at five or six empty barrels can be a heart-breaking experience. The weapons are surprisingly effective, from the melee weapons like the sword, gloves or battleaxe, through to the magma and zero cannons, and up to the four ultimate weapons that are granted to each of the four characters.

The balance is excellent. All of the weapons have their place, and all are effective, even the assorted melee stuff, which doesn't normally work. There's no alternate fire mode, which is a bit of a shame, and there's no sniper rifle (although you can zoom in at any time by using the Hawkeye option), but there are some neat little touches, such as the way you have to use the super-whip to haul yourself across huge ravines or up into places you wouldn't be able to access normally.

Another nice touch (and completely in keeping with the arcade style of game) is that each of the creatures you attack has a life bar so you can see how much damage each weapon is doing and how much longer you need to keep battering away until the thing gives up the ghost.

And there's even a few dollops of humour. The different creatures that are sent out to destroy you have an uneasy alliance with each other. One stray shot and this is gone, leaving them to slug it out with each other while you tiptoe back to the safety of the spectators gallery. With the amount of creatures on screen at any one time, this is pretty well balanced; it doesn't happen too often but when it does, it's usually right when you need it.

There are also a few jukeboxes scattered around. Use one and a Kiss track drops onto the platter and starts blaring out of your speakers. You might like this (who are we to say?), but it put the willies up us, and instinctively we backed off and fired a shot, which destroyed the jukebox and stopped Gene in mid flow.

And, on the subject of humour, the game itself is a cheeky two-fingered salute to Third Law's ex employer Ion Storm. Think about it. Daikatana is a FPS that's set across four distinct realms, populated by a wide variety of creatures. In each one you get access to a multitude of different weapons, including the fabled Daikatana sword, and you can upgrade characteristics such as jumping along the way. Trouble is, the game stinks. Psycho Circus is also set across four different realms, with different creatures, weapons (including a sword that actually does a bit of damage) and the ability to collect armour along the way that upgrades your powers. It's also a quality game.

Psycho Circus doesn't rewrite any of the FPS laws, but it succeeds in refining and tweaking and proving that there's still life in the genre. It's not going to win any awards and there's a general feeling of deja vu, particularly in the second realm, but as a means of passing time there's a lot worse on the shelves of your local shop. Third Law has had to withstand a lot of criticism about its abilities but Psycho Circus has done just enough to prove all the critics wrong. Who's having the last laugh now?