Second Sight

Second Sight is the latest title from developer Free Radical. You probably know them best as the team behind the TimeSplitters series, and before that they were with a little company called Rare. Fans will love that it is filled with the trademark humor and little extra tweaks and twists that the team is known for. It isn’t exactly the longest or most replayable game out there, but Second Sight is a fun experience while it lasts.

The Story of John Vattic

In Second Sight, you are John Vattic. When you start the game, you find yourself battered and bruised and trapped in a medical facility. As you explore, you discover new psychic powers to aid in your escape. Something interesting that the game does is that it actually follows two stories. You follow Vattic now, but you are also taken back in time six months to see what led to Vattic’s incarceration and newfound psychic abilities. You are given the back story in bite sized increments while still moving the current story forward. This storytelling technique works very well and keeps you hooked the entire time.

Mystical Psychic Powers of Doom!

In the sections with the bruised and beaten Vattic, the game is more stealth oriented and you have the ability to use your psychic powers. You can slink along walls and peek around corners and over obstacles or sneak up behind enemies and knock them out. You can also use a handful of firearms as well, but they aren’t nearly as fun as using the psychic powers. Your powers include telekinesis (power to move objects), healing, the ability to move a mental image of yourself around in areas your physical body can’t go, the ability to become invisible to guards, and a handful of offensive attacks.

You Can Shoot Stuff Too

In the sections of the game where you control Vattic of six months earlier, the game plays more like a straightforward third-person shooter. The game uses auto-aim, but it is pretty loose and gives you a lot of control over what enemy you target and you can also fine tune your aim to go for headshots. There are all of the normal pistols, shotguns, machine guns, and other weapons you would expect and they are all used pretty well. One interesting thing that I really enjoyed is that the sniper rifle brings up a zoomed image in the corner of the screen rather than filling the whole screen. This allows you to keep an eye on the battlefield while still sniping. The shooting is fast paced, easy, and remarkably fun.

Choose the Way You Play

What makes Second Sight so agreeable is that it allows you to play the game however you want to. Using the psychic abilities is fun, but if you want to play through those parts of the game relying more on guns you can. Or you can play through the action sections and rely on stealth instead of firepower. You aren’t forced to play the game a certain way, and the experience is much more enjoyable because of this. Some puzzles have to be solved a certain way, but for the most part you are free to do whatever you want.