ThinkPad X200 Tablet Save Extra 5%
GameSpot editors' review
-
CNET editors' rating:
stars
OK
Detailed editors' rating
- Reviewed on: 06/23/2009
- Released on: 06/03/2009
- Originally published on GameSpot: CellFactor: Psychokinetic Wars (Xbox 360) Review
For a downloadable Xbox Live/PlayStation Network shooter priced at just 10 bucks, CellFactor: Psychokinetic Wars doesn't seem like a bad deal. You get some shoot-'em-up action for your measly Hamilton, and all the gunplay is spiced up with telekinetic goodies that let you hurl scenery around like Uri Geller hopped up on goofballs. Still, almost everything about this Timeline Interactive/Immersion Games production needs to be prefaced with a "for the money" disclaimer, because this multiplayer-centric first-person shooter is a grab bag of genre cliches and dated gameplay. If you've ever played any shooter made in the last decade, chances are good that you will find the action familiar and repetitive.
The creepy robot babe Bishop is the most distinctive of the game's three character classes, if not the most powerful in battle.
CellFactor: Psychokinetic Wars should be familiar to anyone who hasn't spent the last decade in a monastery. This is a purely by-the-book shooter, and there are two ways to play. You can go solo in challenge battles where you meet goals such as killing a set number of bots before a timer expires. Rewards include skill buffs and new costumes. Or you can try multiplayer deathmatch, team deathmatch, capture the flag, and assault games both online and off. Either way, you pick from a narrow selection of three character classes and then enter arenas with the basic objective of killing everybody who's not on your team. The only difference between this game and its many, many predecessors is an emphasis on psychic powers. Each of the three fighters specializes in mental abilities. Bishop is the psych specialist, a female robot that can summon up magic-style psychic assaults, shoot laser beams from her fingers, and fly. Sam Fisher-look-alike Blackop is the sneaker. He uses a mix of standard shooter weapons and psychic powers, and he can teleport short distances like the X-Men's Nightcrawler. Guardian is some kind of killbot that doesn't use his machine mind all that much but can pull off super-leaps and can run fast enough to steamroll enemies. All three classes can also use telekinetics that let you rip up chunks of maps with your mind and throw them around.
All of the action feels like a rote regurgitation of games that first blew up back in the late 1990s. The psychic stuff is little more than a hook that seems rather clumsily grafted on to traditional shooter arena maps. While the classes have distinctive play styles, they're not memorable, save maybe the creepy Bishop, and the Guardian is probably the most effective of the characters largely because his speed and nonpsychic shooting are the skills best suited to the old-school style of gameplay. It's hard to fall in love with these cool new mental superpowers when you're racing around in Unreal Tournament maps like it's 1999. Corridors are convoluted to the point that it can be hard to locate enemies. Bouncy platforms and power-ups lie all over the place. Dreary graphics focus on de rigueur hazards like lava pits and bland, futuristic factory backdrops.
Continue readingMost helpful 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
- See 1 user review Write review
Submit your review
%20Xbox%20360%20Game%20reviews%20-%20CNET%20Reviews&srcUrl=http://reviews.cnet.com/xbox-360-games/cellfactor-psychokinetic-wars-xbox/4505-11457_7-33483026.html){kind=small}