m.s.heart's Full Review: Project Eden for PlayStation 2
I went out Christmas shopping and to buy myself a couple of PS2 games. I picked up PROJECT EDEN and read that it was made by EIDOS (the creative team behind the TOMB RAIDER series) so of course I thought this had to be a great game, right? RIGHT??? Weeellll, it's not bad. It's definitely NOT a 1-star game, but it's not TOMB RAIDER either. If that's what you're looking for...look somewhere else. PROJECT EDEN is more like RESIDENT EVIL with lots more puzzles and less zombies. If you like to use your brain a lot (like I do) then you'll enjoy this game.
PROJECT EDEN starts out in TR fashion with a nice CGI sequence. Society has built itself upward...literally. Cities are now networking towers and walkways ascending high into the sky where only the rich (and the fortunate) reside. A little girl drops her teddy bear off a platform and watches as it tumbles into the murk below past levels of ever-increasingly weird creatures until it hits the earth's surface where...well...something picks it up. The story starts with an incident having occurred at the REAL MEAT PLANT (insert joke here). You are a police squad consisting of 4 members and are assigned to discern what happened. Once you arrive you become engulfed in an story with a lot of twists and turns, including a rogue gang of terrorists and biomechanical mutations.
One of the cool things about PROJECT EDEN is that you literally can control any member of the team at any instant by pushing up/left/down/right, and you will have to work as a team to push onward and deeper into the game. Carter is the leader and the only one who can access the security doors at certain points. Andre is the mechanic who fixes broken machines and fuses along the way. Minoko accesses the computers, and Amber is the all-impressive massive robot with heavy firepower and the ability to withstand heat and toxic environments. Teamwork is a must, and it can be fun and interesting or really time consuming and frustrating depending on how you look at it (I have enjoyed what I've played so far).
Having said that, I will say that the controls are a bit frustrating. It's not really the moving people around the big areas that's the problem. The camera switches between a 1st/3rd person perspective at will it seems (if there's a way to manually switch back-and-forth I haven't found it). There are places where you need to get your people across a narrow beam or board. I would like my choice of perspective...but I don't seem to get a choice. NUTS! *****ADDENDUM: I just discovered last night (11/27/01) that you CAN CHOOSE your perspective between the 1st/3rd person. All you do is push down on the left analog controller. Tricky!!! Maybe I should have read the directions. :0) ***** Shooting enemies is also difficult. There's no target-and-lock system...just a targeting system. So, your enemies can kill you a lot quicker than you can kill them. BUT that doesn't seem to matter much either because there are no real power-up items in PROJECT EDEN. You can recharge your biosuit and weapons at various stations along the way, and if you die you simply travel through a blue beam of light and come out at the last station you passed. This facet of the game kind of takes the "OH, CRAP! I'M GONNA DIE" factor out of the way, but at least you don't have to reload the game...unless you get put waaaaayyy back at a station far away...then it's a good idea to reload. You can save at any time so save often! On the plus side there are some neat toys to play with. You get a Rover Robot and a Flying Robot to get into tough areas and search for switches and keys, etc. They're fun but also a little tough to drive around.
I like the look of PROJECT EDEN a lot. The characters have a great 3-D look about them. The environments are futuristic and grungy all at the same time as well as detailed. Even the menu letters have a metallic and futuristic look about them. I just wish the environments would have been a little more interactive as in RED FACTION. It seems kind of silly to shoot a missle at a wall and nothing happens at all.
The sound effects are adequate. The music is not in excess but is effective where needed. The voice acting ranks up there with the later RE series games, and some of the in-game character sound-bytes can be absolutely hilarious!!!
I don't think PROJECT EDEN is a breakthrough game, but there's a lot here. I've only played through 3 of the 11 enormous levels, and it's taken me 2 weeks. I can't wait to see what's ahead. There are also other non-story related levels that multiple players can run around on and hunt each other down, and you and your friends can use the multi-player capability to play together on the main game as well. I just hope you like a quad-split screen on your TV.
Despite its shortcomings, PROJECT EDEN is pretty fun and cool as long as you can think things out. I would recommend renting this game first before buying it to make sure that it's what you want to spend a lot of money on.
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