Instinct (PC)

GameSpot editors' review

• CNET editors' rating: 1.0 stars Terrible
  Detailed editors' rating
  Overall score: 2.0 (1.0 stars)

• Reviewed by:
  Brett Todd
• Reviewed on: 09/10/2007
• Released on: 08/22/2007
• Originally published on GameSpot: Instinct (PC) Review

Instinct is a Resident Evil rip-off with a first-person perspective that's a good 10 years too late for the party. This creation of the aptly named Russian developer Digital Spray Studios has more problems than just copying the story and bad guys from a game with a best-before date that expired in the 1990s. Everything here is ineptly made and annoying, from the dumb zombie foes to the terrible level design. Throw in big performance problems that regularly turn battles into slideshows and you've got yet another atrocity good for a trifecta of crap.

The storyline appears to be a garden-variety zombie caper, with you guiding three Russian commandos on a search-and-destroy mission to a secret facility in North Korea. You start off facing run-of-the-mill soldiers, but immediately run into what looks to be the undead as soon as you enter the base. Or so it seems. The plot continually bounces back and forth in time, with cutscenes filling in the backstory only after you've completed missions. While this style of storytelling might work well in the hands of a competent storyteller, it's just confusing here. You start off watching a clip of a drunken Russian soldier taking out a TV a la Elvis and then plunge right into the invasion of some kind of military base. If not for the blurbs on the box cover and in the manual, you wouldn't have a clue what's going on until wrapping up at least three levels.

Another big problem is the developer's decision to leave all of the dialogue in the original Russian. While it's sweet of Digital Spray to save us from what would no doubt have been mangled English dubbed by family and friends of the development team, not being able to understand anything said by your comrades in the middle of firefights isn't a great alternative. Bringing up a separate journal screen with subtitled dialogue is the only way to figure out what your pals are saying, and this is tantamount to suicide since the action continues in the background while you're trying to read. By the time you've gotten an idea of what you're supposed to be doing, the zombies on your heels will usually have caught up to you and started busily pounding on your skull. Not fun.

But this handicap is one of the few things that makes combat in Instinct remotely challenging. Enemy soldiers are total morons who frequently take cover behind explosive barrels. These barrels can typically be found adjacent to all soldiers, so it's a lot easier to just target them whenever spotted and then rely on the ensuing ka-boom to take out any bad guys in the neighborhood. Shooting soldiers directly isn't nearly as effective or as satisfying, as they absorb a ridiculous number of rounds before eating the pavement and show absolutely no signs of being shot even while you're riddling them with bullets. Not surprisingly, the zombies are pretty stupid, too, although at least they have the excuse of being the victims of a mind-destroying experiment gone horribly wrong. Regardless, they pretty much line up to be gunned down. They pose a threat only when they attack in large numbers, and even then you can still blast them to bits without much of a hassle as long as you've got a little room to fall back whenever you need to reload a weapon.

Continue reading

Compare prices for Instinct

This product is currently not in stock at any of our online merchants.

Email me when this product is available

Recent user reviews

• Average user rating: 0 stars Not yet available
  Back to product review
• My rating: 0 stars Write review

• Showing 1 of 1 user review

• 2.0 stars

  "Summary: Put crosshairs on the target and click."

  by Zombie_Shooter on December 30, 2008

• See 1 user review Write review