Part II of our dreary lament over the death of Free Radical Design concludes by looking at their two non-TimeSplitters releases. If Part I left the reader with the impression that Free Radical could do no wrong, it’s all the more important to acknowledge these missteps. We tell the truth about the dead out of respect for the living, and so, join me in mournful contemplation of Second Sight, all but forgotten, and Haze, remembered for all the wrong reasons.
Second Sight (2004): Coming between Timesplitters 2 and Future Perfect, Second Sight was a departure for Free Radical in many respects, most prominently in the 3rd-person perspective and comparatively somber tone of the story. The game’s premise (hero wakes up with extraordinary psychic abilities and no memory) was, unfortunately, something of a cliche even five years ago, especially since psychic powers themselves were a burgeoning trend at the time. The other main draw of the action was stealth, and as we all know, for a period of about 10 years, stealth was shoehorned into about every third game release. All of this meant that, to gamers who looked no further than the synopsis, Second Sight hardly stood out from the crowd. In fact, reviews at the time invariably mentioned Midway’s Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy, a game with a nearly identical premise whose release preceded Second Sight’s by a mere three months.
That was an unfortunate coincidence, because it’s easy for people to forget that games with similar premises can vary infinitely in execution. In fact, the number of genuinely novel games could probably be counted on a hand and a half; virtually nothing is unique, especially when reduced to a one-line description. Games, books, movies; virtually all creative endeavors live or die by the consumer’s willingness to dismiss them based solely on the most reductive analysis. I can’t necessarily say that Free Radical’s interpretation of common gameplay devices was Earth-shattering, but it was undeniably their own, and made for a worthwhile experience.
The story alternated between the amnesiac’s present situation and flashbacks leading up to the shadowy events that granted him his powers and brain damage. The flashback segments therefore relied more heavily on gunplay, and unsurprisingly, this aspect of the game was quite polished. In fact, the level design, control, implementation of the powers and overall pace and flow of gameplay were all up to Free Radical’s high standards. Even the story, arguably unfamiliar territory for the team, was engrossing and well-presented, and culminated in what I still consider one of the better twists in gaming.
Article comments
1 - Ken Edwards
I knew you were a necromancer.
2 - Gabe Carr
What can I say? Desperate times call for desperate measures. Now, where'd that sacrificial goat run off to...
3 - Tall Writer
I remember when Haze was the planned "flagship" game for the Playstation 3, possibly even to be included with it.
4 - one of the remanining few
The problem with game developers is that unless you are a rich dev, you rely on a publisher to pay for & distributed your wears & unfortunately that means if they are paying the bills they have an awful big say in what game you make, even if that changes the vision & overall feel of the game you so lovingly worked on.
Throw into the mix that management change overs are frequent & everyone in charge has to have some kind of a say & make their mark, this usually results in an abortion of the game you originally set out to make :(
Valve have it right with Steam. The sooner that we in the games industry can break away from production companies the better for us all!
5 - Gabe Carr
@Tall Writer: I guess "Best laid plans..." about sums that up.
@One of etc.: I've heard similar complaints about movies and TV, but I seem to hear it more and more about games. It's certainly unfortunate (and in the case of Ubisoft, it would definitely explain their hit-and-miss record).