| "Within
the spiritual land of the human heart, an ongoing battle for the
control of your mind is being waged." So the story begins
on the first person shooter, "Saints of Virtue" by Shine
Studios. The game is an allegorical struggle for the human soul
against the worldly forces which attempt to keep it from discovering
God's truth.
"Deep within the heart" this battle rages and in order to
overcome the forces arrayed against the soul, you must put on the armor
of God and do spiritual warfare on a battlefield as old as the
garden of Eden.
The enemies you will
face are divided up into two major categories. First are the
floating heads that represent things in life that fight against
learning God's truth (worldliness, fear, vanity, arrogance and
self-glorification).
These spit their attacks at you and you must use your "Sword of the
Spirit" to defeat them. The second are a series of
worldly arguments that you must destroy by using the correct
scripture to refute it. As you progress in the game you get
closer to your heart and the center of your soul where you must
confront the final enemy which stands between you and a right
relationship with God, yourself.
The game is broken up
into four levels. That doesn't sound like much but the levels
are huge. They are so huge because each main level is actually
many
sub-levels. Much of the game play involves searching one of
these sub-levels to solve a puzzle found on another sub-level. I got through
the game in roughly 20 hours. However, I relied heavily on the
online hints (had to get this review done) so the actual game play
would have been closer to 30 hours.
The Good, the Bad
and the Ugly
Now to the nitty
gritty. I'll be honest. When I first opened Saints of
Virtue I was disappointed. My first attempt to play it ended
in frustration as I roamed the Mall sub-level in the first main
level. I almost did this review without having finished the
game. I'm glad I waited because once I was over my initial
negative reaction the game really grew on
me. By the time I finished it, I had to admit that I'd enjoyed
it quite a bit.
What turned me
off initially was the game engine. The game engine leaves something to
be desired when compared to what has become standard. For
those familiar with first person shooters, you'll be quick to note
that the engine appears to be closer to a Doom II style of engine
which puts it five years out of date. Listing the standard features
it lacks: ability to change to higher resolutions; the ability to
configure the controls and the ability to use the mouse to look
around freely. The game engine, simply put, is archaic by
today's standards. This serves to drag down what is otherwise
a solid game.
However there's a
reason this engine was used. The game first began development
nearly two years ago. At that time this engine was the only
viable option for the developers. On the plus side, you can
play this game on a low end Pentium. It'd probably play well
enough of a 486 DX100 though you might have to turn off some
features.
Getting beyond the
engine, there is much the game does right. The story is
integrated well into the game. The levels are nicely
integrated into the overall story and give appropriate backdrops to
the teaching of the various biblical lessons. While there's nothing original
in the requirement to use a specific scripture to refute an
argument, their choice of scriptures and the way
they develop the story through the levels was well done.
Graphics are probably
about as good as can be expected considering the engine's
limitations. Texture quality is a bit of a mixed bag with some
very good textures offset by some that simply didn't look good. Level design (including the sub-levels) was somewhat
inconsistent. Some were very interesting while others tended
to be monotonous or boring. Because of the sub-level design,
this never was much of a problem because just as one area got
monotonous, you'd move into a new one. A couple areas even made me
chuckle. Those guys at Shine Studio are capable of some pretty
biting humor.
Sound is one of the
highlights of the game. The choice of music and the soundtrack
are consistently interesting. There is a lot of variety here
to keep you from getting irritated by hearing the same sound over
and over again. All the key moments have voiceovers so you
could almost complete the game without reading. This will help
some younger kids succeed at the game who are still learning to
read.
The biggest problem I
had in playing the game was having to track down scripture scrolls
or keys. Because they could be found in any sub-level, I often
found myself wandering back and forth frustrated in an effort to
find that hidden switch or oddly placed secret wall. Two
levels have transporters that help greatly in this process by
allowing you to move back to key points in the level and speed up
the process of getting missed items.
Usually,
though, I was able to find the scrolls, keys and other items without
a great deal of searching by using the standard technique of
"check every nook and cranny in every wall." Much of
this is due to the huge size of each level. In the end I went
to Shine's website and liberally used their hints to figure out
where a scroll or key was. If you're someone who enjoys this
kind of a challenge, you probably won't even be phased by having to
backtrack from time to time. And if you carefully search each
sub-level brick by brick before moving along, you'll probably do
just fine as well.
For the most part the
puzzles are interesting and well thought out. Occasionally I
found myself wondering if the designers had made some puzzles just
to annoy me personally. I began to feel that way about one bridge
that had lots of places to fall through. After 10
minutes of trying to get across I finally made it out of sheer luck
rather than real skill. But this kind of situation was the exception.
Usually the puzzles were not frustratingly difficult to work out and
they related well to the
story. I particularly liked the puzzle involving the Hebrew
letters. Having studied Hebrew I thumped myself in the
forehead once I got the letters in the right order and realized what
they spelled.
One nice feature
which was under-utilized in the game were the various altars
scattered throughout the levels. Here you can ask for wisdom
and it'll give you some advice on how to find a key or another
valuable object. They are all very worthwhile to visit to see
what advice they will offer. But much of my frustration could
have been avoided if the altars were able to give out advice based
on what was accomplished up to that point. Having to search
through every corner of every sub-level in order to find one missing
scroll or key can be an exercise in misery. I highly recommend
using the online hints. They are comprehensive enough help you
out of just about any jam. If it hadn't been for the online
hints I probably would have given up out of frustration.
The game had very few
noticeable bugs. It crashed a couple times (reboot after this
happens or you'll be sorry you didn't. If you know how to end
a task, you can do this instead but don't do this unless you know
which task running needs to be ended). A few times I
began to walk through walls but hitting the "F" key fixed
this every time. Before hitting the "F" key be sure
you're on the right side of the wall. Otherwise you may get
stuck and be unable to continue.
There is no
multiplayer support. Considering the storyline of the game,
doing a good multiplayer version would have been difficult and was
probably beyond the resources of the developers and the capabilities
of the game engine. Even so, a
cooperative multiplayer option would have been a very nice addition
to the play experience. Besides I want to see that cool armor
running around the game.
When I visited Shine
Studio's web site I went to the "Hall of Fame" that lists
people who've finished the game and who registered that fact
online. There's a list of comments here that show many people
have enjoyed the game immensely. David Slayback of Shine
Studios said that while the target audience was teens, people of all
ages have played and enjoyed the game. In fact a large number
of females seem to be playing the game (historically an elusive
market group). Considering how this genre is dominated by
young male teens, this is quite an accomplishment and might indicate
that "Saints of Virtue" has touched a nerve with
Christians of all ages.
Check out the
"Hall of Fame" here.
Conclusions
Shine Studios
released the game in May of 1999 and billed the game as "Finally,
a cool Christian computer game." Considering the type of
Christian games on the market in the last few years, "Saints of
Virtue" is a big step forward. However, the engine used
to develop the game lags well behind the current state of the
art.
So, is this a cool
game or was that just marketing hype? Should you go out and
buy it? Well, there's two answers to the first question.
First, on the basis of the engine itself, it's not a cool
game. However, based on the game itself, it's pretty
cool. In the end I'm glad I bought it. It was an
enjoyable game. I can give it a marginal buy recommendation
because of the story and the solid Christian content. However,
if graphics and the ability to customize your controls are very
important to your ability to enjoy a game then you'll probably want
to pass.
I've already decided
to buy their next game because once I sat down and realized that
nearly all my criticisms were easily remedied by a better engine, I
got excited about the thought of a much improved game coming from
the minds at Shine Studios. Clearly these guys are
talented. The intro and finale movie show off that talent much
better than the graphic engine they used for the game.
Considering the huge amount of content in this game (sounds,
graphics, level design, story) that came from three guys with a tiny
budget living thousands of miles from each other...yeah, I think
these guys have it in them to create a truly great Christian
oriented first person action game.
Read an interview
with David Slayback, one of the game's developers.
Final
Score
Highlights: Interesting
premise well executed despite the archaic engine. Huge levels
which add a new dimension to game play. Solid Christian
content well presented and integrated into the game. Nice
soundtrack and a good variety of sounds. Lower system
requirements means people with older machines will run the game
well.
Lowlights:
The game engine is a constant drag on the game experience.
Inability to configure the controls is a big turnoff.
Sometimes game play is frustrating due to trying to track down a
missing piece of a puzzle hidden somewhere on those huge levels.
Recommendation:
If great graphics and cutting edge technology is of prime important
then this game won't satisfy you. If that's not an issue then
we marginally recommend the game based upon an overall good gaming
experience. Unfortunately Shine Studios doesn't offer a demo so you can't try it
out before you buy it.
Hints:
The creatures can be fast and hard to hit. Often the best way
to get rid of them is to go nose to nose since since strafing is
often ineffective in avoiding shots and makes it much harder to hit
the creature. You'll run out of ammo for your sword before
spiritual health and shield of faith so make those shots
count. Use the map (TAB key) with the view as far out as you
can make it ("+" key).
Age Appropriateness:
Young Teens and older though younger kids who can read should be
able to do well with it.
Christian
Sense (CS): 4
Game
Engine (GE): 1.5
Game
Play (GP): 3.5
Overall:
3 |
