Graphics and physics
Graphically, Pariah looks pretty good. Textures and level design a nicely varied but in places it can feel a little empty, as if the areas you’re in are a little too large for all the props strewn within the game. Speaking of large, the levels are pretty big with some nice outdoor environments for you to strut your stuff in. The game engine handles the outdoor areas with ease and no sign of pop up or fogging, though for some inexplicable reason there are a couple of places where the game has a minor seizure, background loading perhaps?
Visual effects are to be found in abundance, from the slightly weird warped vision you acquire when you pick up the plasma rifle through to the superb heat shimmer from explosions. Bung a grenade, fire off a rocket or blow up a barrel and not only do you get an impressively flaming and smokey explosion, you’re also rewarded with a totally over the top heat shimmer that nicely distorts the background as you look through it… nifty.
Character models are well rounded, detailed and nicely animated. DE have made good use of facial animation for the cut scenes, giving the characters a bit of life. In game, the bad guys move realistically, with none of that rotten ‘rotate on the spot’ stuff that you tend to see in AI movements.
Pariah uses the famous Havok physics engine to good effect, though it’s implementation doesn’t impact upon the gameplay any more than the effects of explosions hurling debris and bodies all over the place. This is a shame as other games have built the physics into the gameplay to enhance the playing experience and increase the level of immersion. The ragdoll effect is nicely in place, but suffers from what I like to call the ‘Thief 3 Syndrome’ where dead guys sometimes crumple in totally unlikely ways… such as folding back on themselves with legs tucked underneath. You could argue that I’m being pedantic in picking holes in this, but I reckon that if you’re going to implement a feature to add realism, you might as well make it realistic, no?
