FF:Enhanced_Reality
Member
It's crazy to think that the successful formula that makes up God of War, Uncharted, The Last of Us and many other Sony first party AAA games can be seen in one of their works so far back.
I got Primal for Christmas in 2003 and when I first played this game, I was in awe of what it achieved. If you haven't already played it, the down low is in this spoiler if you want a shortened version of the synopsis.
Interestingly I am replaying this game and seeing just the kind of influence that it might have had on many titles I have enjoyed today, especially God of War. It might not be the first third person open world action adventure game but Primal just seems to be a melting pot of all the things that Sony mould into their big titles today. You have some great performances from the cast, with some notable actors you may recognise. The graphics at launch were amazing and really surprised the younger me. Even playing the PS2 classic on PS4, the game still looks amazing. Combat, although it is not the most user friendly, is quite deep with different transformation states allowing you to be strong or weak against certain attacks and opening up different strategies when engaged. The music sticks with you and is beautifully composed, while the battle music provided by the industrial metal band 16 Volt really pumps you up for a fight. The worlds are great to explore and learn about, they feel quite detailed for the time and do have their own unique feel and identity.
But also playing as a female lead was refreshing, Scree doesn't simply play a useless 'damsel in distress' character in a baby sitting fashion but instead adds to the overall puzzle and exploration elements as well as combat in his own way. Being a health fountain helps also. The relationship between the two characters is dynamic and makes for a fun adventure. Scree is an interesting teacher and Jen a student, with Scree teaching Jen about everything she comes across in her adventures, really developing the world and characters within them. Each realm and transformation is represented by a colour and element. Aquis for example is notably blue in design and it's theme, it's reflected in Jen's transformation into a marine like creature and she uses blue coloured whips to fight in water.
There is an idea of what the AAA titles succeed upon and I truly believe the foundations were there for Sony in this game so long ago. If this game was remade for a modern audience with improved camera controls and more fluid combat, you wouldn't believe it's a design for a game 15 years old and it does make me open my eyes a little bit to what David Jaffe was saying about AAA games. It's a tried and tested formula by today's standards but it's interesting to see how the games past influence the future, sometimes blatantly so. Whilst Primal wasn't exactly a major success on the PS2, it has a strong cult following and was thought of by the press at the time as being massively under appreciated. For all it's flaws, when it gets right, it gets spot on. You can't ask for much more than that. If you haven't already played it, I very highly recommend it, it was made by the amazing team at Sony Cambridge who initially brought us MediEvil.
Does anyone on GAF remember this game? Did you complete it yourself? What did you think of it?
I got Primal for Christmas in 2003 and when I first played this game, I was in awe of what it achieved. If you haven't already played it, the down low is in this spoiler if you want a shortened version of the synopsis.
You play as a girl called Jen who is looking to find her boyfriend Lewis who she believes is dead. Both of them are attacked by a demon when leaving a night club and left for dead. The demon takes the boyfriend Lewis and leaves Jen dying on a hospital bed when she is visited by a creature called Scree. Scree takes Jen from her body and into her Astral form and to a place called the Nexus where he explains that the world is composed of good and evil. Good being personified by a being called Arella and Evil being personified by a being called Abbadon. Scree is a companion of Arella whilst the demon who attacked you is a demon of Abbadon. Visiting the Nexus you find that it controls the gateway to four realms that lie between the balance of good and evil. Scree has been called to Jen because those territories that have previously been allied with Arella are becoming fuelled with chaos and despair. You and Scree try to balance the realms back into good and evil. Jen and Lewis however have special gifts that allow them to take on part of the form of the host realms, which means each world has a unique transformation for Jen which brings different combat abilities, exploration possibilities and physical changes in appearance.
Interestingly I am replaying this game and seeing just the kind of influence that it might have had on many titles I have enjoyed today, especially God of War. It might not be the first third person open world action adventure game but Primal just seems to be a melting pot of all the things that Sony mould into their big titles today. You have some great performances from the cast, with some notable actors you may recognise. The graphics at launch were amazing and really surprised the younger me. Even playing the PS2 classic on PS4, the game still looks amazing. Combat, although it is not the most user friendly, is quite deep with different transformation states allowing you to be strong or weak against certain attacks and opening up different strategies when engaged. The music sticks with you and is beautifully composed, while the battle music provided by the industrial metal band 16 Volt really pumps you up for a fight. The worlds are great to explore and learn about, they feel quite detailed for the time and do have their own unique feel and identity.
But also playing as a female lead was refreshing, Scree doesn't simply play a useless 'damsel in distress' character in a baby sitting fashion but instead adds to the overall puzzle and exploration elements as well as combat in his own way. Being a health fountain helps also. The relationship between the two characters is dynamic and makes for a fun adventure. Scree is an interesting teacher and Jen a student, with Scree teaching Jen about everything she comes across in her adventures, really developing the world and characters within them. Each realm and transformation is represented by a colour and element. Aquis for example is notably blue in design and it's theme, it's reflected in Jen's transformation into a marine like creature and she uses blue coloured whips to fight in water.
There is an idea of what the AAA titles succeed upon and I truly believe the foundations were there for Sony in this game so long ago. If this game was remade for a modern audience with improved camera controls and more fluid combat, you wouldn't believe it's a design for a game 15 years old and it does make me open my eyes a little bit to what David Jaffe was saying about AAA games. It's a tried and tested formula by today's standards but it's interesting to see how the games past influence the future, sometimes blatantly so. Whilst Primal wasn't exactly a major success on the PS2, it has a strong cult following and was thought of by the press at the time as being massively under appreciated. For all it's flaws, when it gets right, it gets spot on. You can't ask for much more than that. If you haven't already played it, I very highly recommend it, it was made by the amazing team at Sony Cambridge who initially brought us MediEvil.
Does anyone on GAF remember this game? Did you complete it yourself? What did you think of it?
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