Platform: PC, XB

Genre: First-Person Shooter

Publisher: Groove Games

Developer: Digital Mayhem

ETA: Spring 2005

Related Links:

Official Pariah Website

Review: Halo (XB)

Review: Unreal Tournament 2003 (PC)

Review: Unreal 2: The Awakening (PC)

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Pariah

Here’s a title with some high expectations.  Pariah is being developed by Digital Extremes, on the collective minds behind the smash Unreal Tournament series (including UT 2004).  That alone should be enough to get shooter fans interested.

On with the facts and then a few of my own comments:

From the creators of Unreal comes a spiraling plunge into destruction, despair and disease.  Jack Mason is a burned-out doctor with no will to live, that is, until he nearly dies in a transport crash.  Now he and his infected patient are stranded deep within the most vicious prison sectors of a wasteland call ‘Earth’.  In sixteen hours an orbital platform will initiate a total biohazard containment procedure: 50-megaton yield, detonated above sea level, to cleanse the contamination.

Known for creating games with incredibly rich dynamic graphics and mind-blowing fine-tuned gameplay, including the recent hit Unreal Tournament 2004, Digital Extremes is reaching beyond the limits with its most ambitious project to date.  Pariah is utilizing the power of a heavily modified Unreal Engine with state-of-the-art Havok physics technology that produces stunning settings, lifelike characters and tremendously satisfying in-your-face first-person action.

Features:

Can you survive?  A unique combination of action and strategy create an unprecedented single player gamine experience.

Immersive story written by professional Hollywood script writers takes FPS gameplay to a new level.

Bleeding edge visuals with a heavily modified Unreal Engine combined with state-of-the-art Havok physics technology.

Emergent tactical AI:  Based upon the already spectacular Unreal AI, the enemies in Pariah are much more aware of one another and work as a team to make them fierce foes.

Use your senses including sight and sound awareness to track and outsmart deadly adversaries against overwhelming odds.

Customize your arsenal using Weapon Energy Cores (WEC’s) to build and customize your weapons with devastating results.

Strategically interactive terrain:  Use your surroundings to help you survive a variety of brilliantly designed futuristic earth environments.

Unprecedented multiplayer:  Vehicles and customizable weapons come together to create the ultimate multiplayer experience online and off, from the developer who created the Unreal franchise.

Exclusive Map Editor lets you customize and create levels that you can play and share online and off.

It’s good to see that the single-player portion will be front and center – never mind the “unprecedented multiplayer.”  By the time Pariah hits the shelves (2005), both Doom 3 (very close to hitting the shelves as of this writing) and Half-Life 2 (according to rumors) will be months old.  Will people still be playing those games and give short shrift to Pariah?  Both Doom and Half-Life have proven track records as Mod Producers – mod makers use the tools of the trade to create all sorts of wonderful add-ons to increase the shelf life of the original game. (See: Counter-Strike)  And then there’s the likelihood of a UT 2005.  Pariah will really have to do something special to compete – I really want to see how weapon customization works.  (But any way you slice it, the next 6 or 7 months will be ripe for first-person shooter fans!)

Hopefully between now and when Pariah hits the shelves we’ll have an updated preview.

- Omni

(August 1, 2004)