Sanity: Aiken's Artifact (PC)

GameSpot editors' review

• CNET editors' rating: 3.0 stars Good
  Detailed editors' rating
  Overall score: 6.6 (3.0 stars)

• Reviewed by:
  Erik Wolpaw
• Reviewed on: 09/22/2000
• Released on: 09/26/2000
• Originally published on GameSpot: Sanity: Aiken's Artifact (PC) Review

Until now, Monolith has used its LithTech 3D engine to create nothing but first-person shooters. Its newest game, Sanity: Aiken's Artifact, appears to be an effort to prove that the engine is flexible enough for use with games that are played from an alternate perspective. Monolith succeeded on that point, as Sanity looks quite good. The game also features a generally successful mix of action and puzzle solving - but some of its poor design elements, the long loading times, and the quickly tiresome multiplayer mode bring it down.

Sanity is an action game with adventure elements that uses an overhead, isometric perspective similar to that of Blizzard's Diablo II and Westwood's Nox. However, rather than having a typical fantasy setting, Sanity takes place in a near-future world. Thanks to the discovery of an ancient artifact that lets scientists unlock the unused portion of the human brain, a serum has emerged that imbues recipients with psionic powers. People with these mental abilities, called psionics, often become mentally unstable. This prompts the government to create the Department of National Psionic Control to help police rogue psionics. You play as Cain, a DNPC agent with a tortured past, a dark secret, and a sassy attitude.

The bottom line of all of this is that Sanity is essentially still a fantasy game, just with cars and helicopters. The psionic abilities, called talents, are effectively magic spells. They have casting times, ranges of effect, and all the requisite sparkly lights and multicolored smoke that spells have. There's even a spell-cost system: Upon use, every talent drains a varying number of points from the character's pool of mana, called "sanity." Although you are given a pistol with an unlimited supply of ammo, it's so underpowered that you'll rarely need to use it. And other than the pistol, weapons play virtually no part in the game.

The talents are the focus of Sanity, and they're its best feature. The offensive talents range from a typical fireball to an over-the-top attack that summons a giant mummy who then proceeds to pound your enemies with its fists. Some talents are strictly defensive, and some are merely used to solve specific puzzles. There are 80 of them to collect over the course of the single-player game. When used, all of the talents are accompanied by their own distinct pyrotechnics, and even when Sanity is at its most frustrating, the desire to find the next talent provides a strong incentive to keep playing.

While most games that are viewed from an isometric perspective use 2D bitmaps to portray their environments, Sanity uses a fully 3D engine. There's nothing wrong with the graphics - Sanity looks great. The lighting effects are well done, and the level of detail is excellent. However, the 3D perspective itself adds nothing to the gameplay. The ability to rotate and zoom the camera isn't used in any meaningful way, and in fact, occasionally having to manipulate the camera merely gives you one more thing to worry about while playing.

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