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Constantine

If you’re unfamiliar with the Constantine property, you most likely aren’t a fan of film or television, as both have been liberally peppered with advertisements and trailers lately. Starring Keanu Reeves, Constantine is the story of John Constantine, a drinking, smoking and generally sarcastic demonslayer. While having not seen the movie (You didn’t miss much – Ed), and having only a passing knowledge of the DC comics source material it is derived from, I’m quite sure that both are leagues better than their average videogame counterpart.

The game opens in a fairly gloomy apartment. We are shown a young girl strapped to a mattress. Preceded by a plume of unhealthy smoke, Constantine enters the room. Fiddling with a clip of what appears to be small metalic, almost key-like charms, Constantine gets atop the child and begins to exorcise the demon plaguing her. After handling that small task (well, for him I suppose), we cut to Constantine’s home base of operations.

Here, through a series of hand gestures and brisk Latin, we see Constantine transport through a puddle of water to Hell. Hell is treated like a seperate plane here, one that holds all demons and keeps them from trashing our domesticated party here on Earth. Once herel, a fairly convincing scene is painted via some nice particle effects. Littered with destitute cars (demons drive?!) and magma-erupting craters, Hell is the most (and arguably the only) impressive area of the game. On your first visit, you are sent to retrieve a piece of what will eventually become the Holy Shotgun. After obtaining the piece, you are taken on a scenic, fly-by trip through Hell as the credits roll.

Once you get past all this and into the actual meat of the title, you’ll discover a cookie-cutter approach to third-person action. With almost insultingly linear levels, it’s really hard to find any incentive or ambition to get through each one, regardless of whether or not you’re transferring between Earth and Hell. Along the way, you’ll fight various foes, including bosses, who fail to exhibit even the most microscopic amounts of creativity. For the normal foes, there really is no distinction to be found between them other than their appearances. Taking on bosses is nothing but a case of trial and error, as they’re easily defeated once their small arsenal of patterns is memorized.

Controlling Constantine is very similar to controlling Agent 47 from the Hitman games. With the ability to perform a quick 180-degree turn, the controls are responsive, if unremarkable. I had no problems in achieving any of the functions, from shooting to casting spells, but I did experience a small issue in the ways of detecting interactive areas of the environment (climbing a ladder, hopping a dumpster, etc…). The inclusion of the ability for Constantine to jump would have helped a great deal in this aspect, especially with it being a standard for third-person titles nowadays.

Once spells are gained, you’ll find yourself dispatching large quantities of foes without even pulling out a weapon. Each spell is activated by pressing the Y button, which slows down time a tad and asks you to perform a 4-button sequence to successfully cast it. If you’re hit or move while in your pre-spell casting stage, you’ll have to go back to square one. Spells are a nice addition to the game, but the fact that the game just isn’t very difficult makes them an unnecessary addition.

True Sight, which is the game’s Predator-like gimmick of Constantine’s ability to see demons disguised as humans and various clues hidden throughout each level, is something else that really wasn’t needed. True Sight looks a lot like Thermal Vision in Splinter Cell and helps when you find yourself within the darker areas of the game. This is the only instance where it is genuinely successful.

The game’s graphics are both good and bad. On the one hand, the cinematic sequences make everyone look rubbery and, aside from facial gestures, show them move very unrealistically. Dealing with the in-game engine, the atmosphere and mapping is fairly well done, especially in the segments where you find yourself in Hell. The character design is fairly accomplished, looking a lot like those characters represented in the film (especially Constantine, who is the spitting image of Keanu).

The voicework and sound could have used some more polish. At times, Constantine sounds like Keanu is voicing the part himself, while at others he sounds like a child attempting his best ‘Bill & Ted’ impression. The other characters are also fairly flat, but luckily you’ll mostly be subjected to just Constantine. Gunfire and explosions sound unimpressive as well and lack the punch today’s common titles have, even with Dolby Pro Logic 2 enabled.

At the end of the day, Constantine just helps to solidify the notion that a movie property made into a game is destined to turn out poorly. With bland gameplay and an almost uncanny desire to make the gamer feel absolutely apathetic about everything going on, Constantine is a ride not worth the price of admission. Unless you have a very high fever or are mentally ill, there is no reason for you to want to buy this. Rental only for those who are absolutely mad about the film or comics and are uninterested in the immeasurable amount of good games out there.

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Tags: Constantine

Posted by David Hinkle on Mar 23rd, 2005 and is filed under Reviews, Xbox Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.

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