Pariah is a game set in the future during a time when Earth has long since been left behind and turned into a convict/labor planet. Thats all you really know during the game so I will leave it at that.
Graphics: 4/5
The best part of the game is the graphics. Pariah features a supercharged Unreal engine to give great environments to fight at. With excellent water reflection and great lighting, this game is visually appealing while it lasts. Weapon effects are somewhat realistic, although the explosion from grenades look like they came out of Doom. Charecter skins are impressively detailed as well, but I found a lack of good facial expressions throughout parts of the game. All in all, it isn't bad.
Gameplay: 3/5
The gameplay is pretty good for this game. Combined with the great graphics and gameplay mechanics, this game is fun to play putting aside the horrible story. The environment features destructable and interactive objects. Chairs well fall over if you run into them, glass realisticly shatters when it takes too much damage, and concrete pillars crumble if they too take too much damage. There are different containers in the game that invite strategic options as well. Use explosive barrals to take out large groups of enemies quickly, or puncture containers of poisonous gas. Be prepared to watch your enemy choke, fall to the ground and either roll around a bit or twitch.
Weapons include a sub machine gun, rocket launcher and a crazy gun that makes anything it points at explode. The grenade launcher was one of the most usefull weapons of the game, allowing you to eliminate enemies taking cover or hiding behind ballistic shields. These weapons are also upgradable to make them more powerfull. Throughout the game you will discover upgrade icons, most of wich are hidden in out of reach areas so you should explore as much of your environment as possible.
The AI is fairly realistic. Enemies take cover while they reload, strafe when changing peices of cover, or charge at you when you are outnumbered. It also seems to feature 'stupid' enemies, meaning some soldiers will seek cover from your fire while some will stand out in the open unloading one magazine after another. You will often encounter enemy soldiers with flamethrowers who charge at you faster then an arabian carbomber. I suggest running in the opposite direction while shooting anything you can at them before you get turned into a shiskibob. They will eventually explode once you damage them enough...making you say "Ooooh!!!" from the pretty explosion. Speaking of boom, ragdoll and crazy explosive physics make this game sometimes comical. It never gets old seeing an enemy get tossed from a blast like a child throwing a lego man and smashing into other objects...you can almost hear the bones crushing in those poor, poor bastards....
Although this honestly gives a great playing experience, there really is no replayability factor once its done and over with.
Story: 1/5
Pariah features a slightly interesting storyline that would be great...if you knew what the hell was going on the entire time. In fact it makes me want to vomit or have a siezure.
You are a doctor who is assigned to transfer a prisoner/patient who has a virus. Why is she a prisoner and why is she a patient? You don't know...and you never will. On top of that your ship is shot down and you instantly become an expert in combat. You will be fighting what seems to be four different factions during the game...and one of them used to be friendly to you, one was an enemy and now is friendly but then you end up fighting them again. Why? I don't know, and I'm probobly too confused as it is to even want to find out.
Missions take you through different environments, uncluding a prison compound that you have to infiltrate for a reason you never find out. Eventually you end up in a crazy building full of confusing machinery while you try to save your female companion. And just when you thought things where screwed up enough, your charecter kills himself for no apparant reason while your companion explodes in a nuclear blast. No, I'm not crazy...but maybe I am after playing a game like this.
Audio: 3/5
This game has some excellent sound effects and environmental sounds. Combat is well contained soundwise, but the music kills it all. The music is the same exact sequence nearly played over and over and over and over again, wich wouldn' t be so bad if it where cool...but it isn't. In fact, it sounds like it came from an SNES game. Audio is deffinately not this games high point.
Multiplayer 3/5
Multiplayer saves this game from being a loss, but it isn't that good. Aside from being able to create your own maps, the multiplayer mechanics arn't very good. Lag is a large issue during online play, and will constantly interrupt the game from being fun. Vehicles make team play more interesting, although they are strangely vulnerable to small arms fire. Take it to your advantage.
Although I do find it strange that one team is made up of soldiers while the other appears to be a group of Irish sailers. Don't ask...just look for yourself if you feel like killing brain cells.
Final rating: 5/10
I give this game a five out of ten. The game is allright to play for a little, but it is really only a game you should rent.
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