Messiah is the best game in which you control a cherub that I've ever played.
It's also the only game in which you control a cherub that I've ever played. Now imagine that!
Messiah is one of those games that I was never able to try when it was first released, but still remember. The idea and setting made a pretty big impression on me, and after playing Undying and going on a bit of a nostalgia trip through old magazines and demo cds that I have stored up, this surfaced and I thought "I'd love to try that!". Thankfully GOG.com have it at a reasonable price and working most smoothly with modern systems with no hassle! Hooray!
Positives:
-Interesting setting - a comedy take on a cyberpunk style world like in Blade Runner (I think. I still haven't seen that film :( )
-Interesting concept - instead of playing a single hero or a specific class, you possess different characters and use them as tools.
-Some interesting puzzle elements amongst the action.
-Licensed music! By Fear Factory - THE first metal band I ever properly listened to. I have one of their shirts ^__^ (and besides, the industrial metal stylings of FF really suit Messiah's game world perfectly)
-It's a 10 year old game... but still looks surprisingly nice for its age.
Negatives:
-Controlling the character took me quite a while to get used to. No targeting reticule is a bit odd on PC, and controls seem slightly sloppier than I would have liked.
-Some annoying bits - combat is difficult and basically involves possessing each person fighting you until your host dies, then moving on until there is only one human left.
-Because you can control all of the characters, very few of them are actually interesting beyond appearance. Most NPCs have about the same level of personality as the pedestrians in Carmageddon - with such an interesting setting it would have been really fun to see more characters that take advantage of it.
Messiah is a hard game to recommend because it is a hard game to "get into". It took me quite a while of actually playing the game to start enjoying it properly, and the game never really sucked me into the story as much as I'd like.
What it was, however, was a reminder of a time when companies - like Shiny and publisher Interplay - were not afraid of making games that were different and trying new things. The setting itself made me nostalgic for the strange and quirky games I used to see all the time as a kid and that I do my best to look out for amongst newer games.
If you're willing to forgive the fact that Messiah isn't the player friendliest of games to check out, you may just find that you will enjoy it quite a bit - and it's super easy to find, unlike some older games, due to the fact that gog.com have it on their website.
5 comments:
I remember this game, in fact it is the the most memorable game I have ever played. It took me many times trying to beat (and that was on easy) but I kept coming back.
One thing to note, the combat would be completely different on easy/hard, on hard the NPCs have to be unaware of you for you to possess them. so while easy is still hard the combat was shoot until dead run towards a person and possess, I have no idea how hard would even be possible.
Note: this was a long time ago, and I was far worse at video game then, so I might take completely different stances on the game if I played it now.
Also of note is all the sex in the game. In general all the women, of which their are lots, are scantily dressed. and their are a few sexual locations you play through.
Also it is worth noting that all the NPCs have different skills. Some of which are required to move through certain areas, and others that just make combat easier.
And I completely agree with Ben 304, it would of been nice to see more talking to flesh out the world.
Yes, it was very memorable! I remembered it even though I hadn't even played it until the other week!
I agree that it is pretty difficult, but compared to some games I've played I wouldn't say unfairly hard - it just takes persistence.
Sex is something it has plenty of, but sex is a natural thing for humans - much more so than being violent - so even though it's a point of note because it's not something you see in heaps of games, it never really made me go "Wow, look at the strippers and prostitutes!". It fit the whole idea of a "sinful dystopia" setting very well, so it didn't feel too tacked on.
Glad to see others who remember such daring old games!
I think everyone who worked on this game is now dead.
The captcha for this post is ISSESTOM!
I blame the ghosts.
Bladerunner was the wierdest movie EVER!
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