I guess I’m better off now that the North American release of Beyond Divinity has been delayed by a couple of weeks, and won’t actually arrive in stores until the end of April. I find this a bit odd, if only because Larian is crowing about how they’re making some final adjustments based on reactions to the demo, while the German version will be out in stores as soon as this week. I don’t pretend to understand their motives; I’m still entranced by the elegant and simple beauty of its predecessor. I can say with certainty that my gaming time over the past week has been spent half-heartedly in the jungles of Vietnam, but this isn’t anything against it. I just can’t remember feeling so enmeshed in the fibre of a game since my weekend of adventures accross Northern Europe.

I did, however, find time to acquire the Multiplayer demo for Pandora Tomorrow. The final product mind you, not that bug infested version that was released prematurely. I am mostly pleased with the results, but there are some issues that I feel need addressing.

Let me get right to the point: the interface is shit. Anyone who has grown accustomed to the brand-intrusive, but easy to use Gamespy search engine in something like MOHAA or BF1942 will feel like they’ve had their hands chopped off and replaced with large anvils. It’s extremely unwieldy, and does not make the usage of Ubi.com transparent like it was with Raven Shield. Trying to join a game was even more of a chore – the pings of active games were all over the place, and the browser wouldn’t update inactive servers that I was furiously trying to connect to. Still, I’m not about to hold it against the entire experience, because the demo is still relatively fresh and prone to a number of faults and frailties from user demand. Up front these annoyances were a little more than I was expecting, but getting to experience this newly fashioned Spy vs. Mercenary gameplay mechanic is something that I’d much rather be talking about.

The graphics and level layout in the included “Mount Hospital” are good, but nothing especially eye popping. I found that the Mercenary view seemed more of a taped-on addition to the game; something about it just didn’t feel right. The mouse felt unresponsive and I felt crowded by useless details on screen. Instead, I was much more at home playing a SHADOWNET Spy. With a nonlethal tazer as your only weapon, relying on your surroundings is paramount. The tasks seem simple enough – deactivate some Cryogenic control panels or somesuch – but when you throw a couple of player-controlled Mercs into the building with motion sensors and laser sights on fully-automatic rifles things tend to get a bit nerve wracking. I was fortunate enough to find a nice enough group of people to play with: a simple 2 on 2 battle where we took turns playing each side. These tense bursts of action divided up by terrifying moments anticipating your opponent’s next move are something that the typical FPS will never see. You actually have a reason to wander about cautiously as the Mercenary; as the Spy you’d do well to stay out of sight free of worry that you’ll be labeled a camper. I still think at least eight players would have made this an even better game, but then a sequel to address this is probably already on UbiSoft’s “To Do” list given the reviews.

The class-balancing and pacing of the multiplayer component is well designed, and I have to give UbiSoft credit once again for establishing the model that I’m sure future games in the genre will no doubt try to imitate. I’ll be picking up my copy post haste; but to be honest I’m more fascinated by the thought of another engrossing single-player campaign.

miles above the sea