E.Y.E: Divine Cybermancy

You've gained Brouzouf.

I've had my EYE (OHOHOHOHOHOHU) on this game since it came out.  It got pretty mediocre reviews so I never ended up buying it until now.  People have been calling it confusing, unpolished, and clunky.  And you know what?  It is all those things.  But it's also, once you get past all that, quite fun.  EYE is one of those games where trusting the score it got on Gamerankings or Metacritic is a folly, not because it's wrong necessarily but because there's more to games than their production value.

You see, EYE really does seem like a piece of crap when you first start playing it.  It works fine and combat is smooth enough, but there are a lot of little things that detract from the experience.  The interface is just kind of messy, for one.  It looks like some sort of placeholder UI that they forgot to clean up for release.  I mean it's usable, sure, but it's kind of a chore to navigate the menus and they're very simplistic.  There's also a lot going on with very little explanation - unless you watch the dozens of in-game tutorial videos.  It all feels very lazy.  While the UI is the main flaw with the game, the rest of its issues are more of a death by a thousand cuts kind of issue.  For example, the translation is extremely hit and miss.  The game was originally made in France so the English is...tenuous at times.  It's not NES Ghostbusters' "prooved the justice of our culture" bad but it will give you pause every so often.

Hey man why are you talking like a weirdo

Thankfully the gameplay itself is solid enough.  The game is based on the Source engine and it shows, but it's been modified enough that you're not playing a Half Life 2 level pack.  There are many different ways to play, between heavy assault, stealthy sniper, melee, and more.  I personally made a sniper and I must say it was implemented quite well.  It was satisfying to take out enemies before they even saw me and it was intense when they managed to flank me and get up close.  With light armor you can expect your character to freak out if you get shot more than a couple of times, so even if you swap out for your pistol you'll still be firing more or less blind.  You can equip heavy armor at will, but it makes you move so slowly it's not always worth it.  As a sniper mobility is necessary and as a swordsman you need to be able to get up close.

You can mitigate this slowness by upgrading your stats.  The more strength you have the less penalized you'll be if you decide to carry around a minigun while wearing a hundred pounds of steel, but the more strength you get the less other stats you can get, such as accuracy or endurance.  It's a level of depth I really wasn't expecting when I first started playing, and for the most part it's done very well.  The sheer quantity of customization is actually somewhat intimidating.  As you damage enemies, gain information, and complete quests, you'll get experience points.  This earns you levels which nets you stat points which you can spend to increase your stats.  Pretty standard RPG convention.  There's also a wide array of cyber-parts you have which you can spend money to upgrade.  An example would be your legs, which increase how fast you move as you upgrade them.  If it sounds like Deus Ex that's because it is.  Not that there's anything wrong with that.  As if that weren't enough (am I right folks) you also have magic, thus putting the "mancy" in cybermancy.  You start with a few basic abilities like firing...uh...magical force from your hands .  As you gain Brouzoufs (aka money) you can buy more powers like instant kill spells and the ability to make your enemy go nuts and start killing his friends.

Shown: magical force from my hands.

It's all a bit overwhelming, especially considering how little instruction you get.  What the hell is a "Metastreunomic force creature"?  What do you mean I don't have this item?  Who are all these crazy-ass robot angels?  The answers will come in time, although personally I would have explained who your mentor is before having him pop up in your UI suddenly and throwing a bunch of brand new terms and orders at you in the course of ten seconds.  It's like watching a show or reading a book.  Suddenly a new character arrives with zero fanfare and you're left wondering who they are.  Even when it's explained later you were still confused and probably spending more time wondering what you missed than enjoying the narrative.

The core of the game itself is a western RPG-style quest-a-thon.  Within missions you'll be given multiple ways to succeed or fail along with several side missions.  Do you want to stealth your way to your objective or kill everything in your path?  The choice is yours.  Unfortunately it's very easy for the game to devolve into a generic first person shooter, at least in terms of mission objectives, especially in the beginning.  If you really want to enjoy the game try going another route.  You don't have to play Doom With Levels if you don't want to.  Like Deus Ex and its offspring, the game is as unique as you want it to be.  I haven't even mentioned the hacking minigame or the insanity system or the gene splicing because it would make this review uncomfortably long.  There are still many aspects to the game that I'm still unfamiliar with and/or forgot to mention, but rest assured that there's...lots of stuff.  Lots and lots of stuff.

Also, this game is very brown.

Current Price: $10

Verdict: Iffy

I guess I'd summarize by saying that, while E.Y.E: Divine Cybermancy is beyond rough in some aspects, its depth and playability make up for it and then some.  They would have been wise to keep the game in development for another month or two while they polished it up, certainly.  I think the first glance put off almost all their potential buyers.  I can't really fault people who felt that way.  When it comes to games, sloppy mess usually means bad game.  This is one of those rare cases where it doesn't, but that's really not something you can expect people to rely on.  Buy it if you're looking for an RPG FPS with a very steep learning curve and a lot of stuff you have to figure out on your own masking a solid game.  There's definitely ten bucks worth of content here but its inaccessibility definitely detracts from the overall value.