Game Review: "Dishonored"

- by Ninja Ross, 15 October 2012

That’s it! Every game should go home now. You’ve been beaten. The upcoming games of the next two years are gonna have to be pretty good to beat "Dishonored". Because what we have here is pretty close to perfection. At least, as close to perfect as a triple A game can get.

You  play as  a  character  called Gordon  Free- I  mean, Corvo. A classic silent protagonist with no personality but still manages to  stick  in  the  old  memory  juice  as  a  loveable  serial  killer. A loveable serial killer with a very awesome looking mask.

Corvo returns from a long trip to find a cure for a plague that turns its victims into “Weepers,” shambling insane monsters who cry blood. When reporting his failure to find the cure to the Empress, teleporting ninja arrive, kill the empress and abduct her daughter.

Arriving on the scene just after is the Spy Master and his lackey, who have enough clout in the government to have him arrested for the empresses murder. The day before Corvo is to be executed, he finds a mysterious note and a less mysterious cell door key under his dinner.

After escaping the prison, he joins up with the authors of the note, also known as the loyalists who want to find the empresses daughter and put her on the throne. Corvo's given a mask and some weapons and sent out to assassinate some of Dunwall’s (the city the game takes place in) key political figures. You’re also given magic powers by “The Outsider” who appears in a dream.

The story itself is obviously pretty straight forward with some mild twists thrown in. But what really makes the story memorable is the amount of detail thrown into it and the world around Corvo.

You have back story all over the place. Back story coming out of the pores! The city is powered by whale oil, there are islands that you hear about in conversations between people on the streets, history of the city of Dunwall you can read about in the many books scattered throughout the game.

And playing as Corvo is a whole lot of fun. His magical powers are never overdone or needless. He only has a few to choose from, but each one can be essential to you, depending on how you want to play it. Blinking can teleport you across rooftops, possession can help you get through grates as rats and accomplish goals as a dim witted henchman. And you can also summon a swarm of rats to eat people. That’s good for killing, disposing of corpses and it’s just plain cool.

The enemies are not as smart as they could be, considering how far enemy AI has come in recent years. Although, to be fair, when they say “just a rat” it often is a rat. Or a swarm of man-eating rats. But these guys look pretty darn good! They’re menacing and the level of detail is really quite astonishing.

This brings me nicely onto the design for the game.
If you’ve played Half Life 2, this game will look very familiar. That’s because Viktor Antonov was art director for Half Life 2. And, just like in Half Life, he has managed to create a beautifully dark world that compliments the story, creating an atmosphere that seems to be missing from a majority of mainstream games.

The length of the game is something that’s been called into question by some players, though. There are only nine missions and, if you rush, they can be completed in less than an hour.

And this is true. If you rush through it it’s short. People say they’ve completed it in an afternoon. But there’s so much to explore and learn, you miss a whole lot when you rush through. Plus, there’s a lot of ways to complete each mission. I started a new game almost immediately after finishing it. I haven’t done that since Dragon Age: Origins.

There is so much to this game! Have I stressed that enough? I’m not sure I have. Every action has its consequence. For example: The more people you kill, the more rats there are in the city. And rats bring plague. So more people die and there are more Weepers. This all leads to a darker outcome. So each person you kill could increase the plague body count.

It really is worth playing. It’s a fantastic experience for players with all sorts of preferences. Also, come on - swarm of rats as a weapon? Isn’t it worth it just for that?

Tagged: video games, Reviews.

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