Harbinger (PC)

GameSpot editors' review

• CNET editors' rating: 2.0 stars Mediocre
  Detailed editors' rating
  Overall score: 4.5 (2.0 stars)

• Reviewed by:
  Bob Colayco
• Reviewed on: 02/27/2003
• Updated on: 02/28/2003
• Released on: 02/26/2003
• Originally published on GameSpot: Harbinger (PC) Review

While most action role-playing games, such as the extremely successful Diablo series, are set in a fantasy world, Harbinger attempts to stand apart from the crowd by taking on a sci-fi theme. Although the futuristic setting is a welcome change of pace, Harbinger falls short of the mark, with half-baked action and role-playing elements that are overly shallow and simplistic.

The game takes place on the titular space cruiser, in which a small band of outcasts hides away in a tiny corner of the ship. Harbinger is a slave ship, and most of its occupants are trapped aboard under the iron-fisted control of a being known only as "the overlord." Amidst the backdrop of a major war between the ship's primary factions, you and your band of misfits attempt to stay alive.

There are only three character classes to choose from in Harbinger: human, gladiator, and culibine. The gladiator is a cyborglike robot infused with the consciousness of a living being, while the culibine resembles Diablo's sorcerer character, though in practice, all the classes play about the same. While the different classes have special gadgets they can use--the gladiator can control remotely operated cameras and the human can drop mines of varying types, for example--these items actually don't figure prominently into the gameplay because of play-balance issues between the attack types.

All three classes have a ranged attack, and the human and gladiator have true melee attacks. When engaged in close-quarters combat, the culibine can use a spell-like ability to damage enemies in a small radius around her. However, almost all ranged attacks from enemies in Harbinger are slow projectiles that are easily dodged. You can also outrun just about all the enemies in the game. As a result, you'll find that the entire game consists of running away, firing off a couple of shots, dodging your enemies' shots, and then running some more. There is no point in putting yourself in harm's way by moving into melee range when you can avoid damage altogether by just running and shooting all the time. While you could argue that this kind of shallow gameplay is a feature of almost any other game of this kind, Harbinger lacks the fun elements that better action RPGs possess.

There are few monster types in Harbinger. In fact, for some bizarre reason, the game has about as many different types of treasure chests (in which you can find items and weapons) as it does enemies, especially if you count the same soldier carrying three or four different weapons as one unique type, and the same bug with slightly different coloring and textures as one type. Each character class has only four different attributes to choose from when it gains an experience level. Since melee combat is more or less useless, that leaves three useful attributes per character. This relative lack of traits or new skills to unlock essentially takes all the excitement out of gaining levels.

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