Get Even is not an atypical videogame only for the events that led to its birth: it is a product distant from the titles in the first person we are used to, that ranges between various genres and tries to offer the player a rich experience of tension and strong emotions, relying on a branched narrative and a meticulous study of sound.
We played it thoroughly these days, after having tried it at various events, to understand if the young software house had actually managed to give life to something memorable. You can find the answer as usual below, but it is considerably more complex than just “yes or no”.
RED AND BLACK
The beginning of Get Even sees you in the role of Cole Black, a rude ex-mercenary engaged in the rescue of an unspecified victim of a kidnapping. On paper is the typical hero’s mission of the movies: neutralize the mercenaries, save the girl, collect the glory … but something goes wrong. Cole awakens immediately after the accident, without memory and in a place that he does not recognize.
It is a madhouse where it is located, and the only voice to guide it between the claustrophobic corridors and the crumbling walls of the buildings is that of a mysterious doctor who says his name is Red. Only that our “guide” also states that the presence of Black in that horrible place is intentional, and that it is all part of a specific “treatment”
whose ultimate goal is to make him regain his memory.Other than the premise you do not need to know, apart from the fact that Red’s plans coincide with the use of a very advanced viewer called Pandora – able to revive memories as if it were a virtual reality simulation – and that these will bring the player to get lost in a tangle of events very articulated, with more than a few surprises waiting for him.
The fiction of Get Even, indeed, is not an impeccable example of screenplay: it has highs and lows, and many of its twists are extremely predictable (also because the scattered clues to understand what is happening are not lacking).
The epilogue, however, is very satisfying, and the slow and staid progress of events is strengthened sufficiently by the environmental narrative and by the careful research of not to be tired. In short, the Farm 51 have guessed the plot, and the impact that they have not managed to get from the dialogues have pulled out of the sound, given that Get Even boasts an absolutely exceptional sound design.The multifaceted composer responsible for the music of the game,
Oliver Deriviere, has in fact treated maniacal music and effects in a manic way, coming to merge them to the events with impressive naturalness.
Sound clues populate all levels, while the music gradually becomes more oppressive as you approach an important event: most of the emotions that the game manages to stimulate in the player come from this element, and there is very little to criticize (maybe just a few moments a bit ‘too extravagant).
I DO NOT WANT TO USE THAT GUN
If it is true that both history and sound are at the top of the range, however, the same can not be said of two other equally important factors: gameplay and technical sector. As mentioned earlier, in fact, Get Even is a hybrid title, which combines exploration and investigation of various types of shootout.
You will pass the vast majority of the game walking, solving puzzles (quite basic), and using the various functions of your mobile phone, which contains a scanner, a map, an ultraviolet light and an infrared viewer, but everything will break when you need to make use
of guns, due to mechanics far from filed.In firefights in fact, artificial intelligence often proves to be atrocious, and when it does not move in senseless ways, it crashes against the obstacles of the maps or stops in cover waiting for death. Not only that, the feeling of weapons is bad, unstable, with enemies that disintegrate after a couple of shots, and can sometimes kill you just as quickly without warning.
