Set on a bleak future planet Earth where things have dramatically changed to how we know it today. Parts of the Earth are a mere wasteland infected by the lowest dregs of society and insane gangs that rule the lands with firepower and brawn. From a more civilised region, Dr Mason undertakes a supposedly routine transfer with a cryogenically stored female human patient (Karina). However this patient isn’t your average human, suffering from the simplicities of a common cold. No, this patient is far more deadly and is known to be carrying a virus that could change the fate of all mankind.

The transport ship and its cargo traverse the airspace above the hostile lands below and as things seem to be progressing as planned, fate has something else in store for the occupants. Without any warning a surface to air missile heads towards the craft and with mere seconds to impact there is no chance for the craft to manoeuvre away from its deadly path.

The ship crashes to the ground below killing most of the occupants; however there are three survivors including Dr Mason and of course his precious cargo. As the Doctor comes to, he finds himself staring down the end of a loaded weapon with a not so happy escaped and fully awakened Karina appearing to be ready to pull the trigger before asking questions. However the third survivor manages to intervene and calm the situation by shooting the prisoner; however her blood splashes onto the doctor’s face and this is where his troubles begin as he is now infected with the deadly virus.

Gameplay:

Pariah is a first person shooter (FPS) which throws players in at the deep end from the offset, because as soon as the introductory pleasantries are over the Earths hostiles begin to seek out the doctor and Karina (who at this point and in many other points in the game has a unique gift of running off into the unknown).Upon taking control of Dr Mason you are armed with a basic assault rifle, bone cutter tool and a reusable health pack. The health pack basically gives you a small adrenaline boost as well as replenishing your health bars. However, say one of you health bars is half full then after a short moment this will refill to maximum on its own.

The weapons are also unique in that they are upgradeable if you can find the few energy packs scattered about the levels. The first upgrade will usually cost very few packs but as you progress further you will require more packs to make the upgrade. Each weapon is relatively distinctive such as grenade launcher, sniper rifle and “shotty” type weapon and more so when you begin to upgrade them as the extra abilities can come in handy such as remote detonation for the grenade launcher or even added shrapnel. I guess it’s down to the player to choose what weapons they are going to max out- although I did find the maxed out assault rifle to be a little underwhelming.

Enemies come thick and fast at predetermined points throughout the game and act in a rather hit and miss manner at times. It is possible to sneak behind them on occasion and whip out your bone cutter tool for a quick one hit kill. The AI seems to perform reasonably but at times a little gung ho for my liking or perhaps showing off dancing ability as they move from side to side trying to avoid incoming fire.

Other than the on foot sections which take you across some varied open landscapes and some more confined interior sections there are some vehicular sections which sees you take control or become a passenger (where you are the gunner) of a vehicle. These sections were reasonable but again a little underwhelming. I found that being on foot and then getting run over from an unseen vehicle to be a pain in one section as it basically boiled down to a trial and error experience at this point.

The story in Pariah felt a little loose and basically meant that the doctor (who had little to no back story) was able to kick butt across the levels (since when are doctors effective killing machines- surely they are supposed to preserve life)? Combat is fluid and works well especially with some of the rather cool destructible scenery on offer. Although sometimes the enemies would get crushed from their own handy work which is always good for a laugh. Movement seemed a little sluggish at first but is something you will overlook once you get deeper into combat situations and deeper into the game itself.

Graphics:

The environments on offer are actually quite pleasing at times and offer some beautifully crafted landscapes, which are fairly open to navigate. The interior sections were less pleasing in my opinion but still did a good job of conveying a technologically advanced Earth. There were some moments where the frame rate would suffer horribly but again this was infrequent to pose too much of a problem. Some rather cool rag doll effects have been employed and this became more apparent when blasting some scenery (such as exploding barrels) and watching your victims fly through the air. However the lack of variety with the enemy character models seemed to let the game down a little.

Sound:

The sound is fairly decent with some average voice acting used throughout. The enemies themselves have plenty to say to each other especially when getting blown to pieces (although there were a number of repeated phrases used). The weapons sound effects were reasonable and really need to be heard with the volume turned up to be appreciated fully. The musical score featured is orchestral, dramatic and suiting of the situations that you are in at the time although I can’t really say that any of it was memorable as such; either way it did a good job of adding to the atmosphere of the game.

Longevity:

Pariah has an extensive multiplayer mode and whilst the single player offers several difficulties and isn’t that long an experience will keep players occupied with something extra to mess around with. The multiplayer features capture the flag, team death match, death match and an assault type game which are all quite fun. For those of you who are alone then you are able to include bots to make up the numbers (although the bot AI seemed rather questionable to me).

What is more Pariah has its own map making tools which allow players to create their own landscape themed levels. These tools are quite easy to use where you can add objects; small buildings raise lower terrain and even change the lighting. The onus on the map making is definitely outdoors and much more suited for Xbox Live as players can share their maps with others. For those of you without Live then sadly there are no bots available on player created maps which is shame.

Overall:

Pariah seems to have had a lot to live up to, what with comparisons being made with other games and the like. On its own merits, Pariah is a fairly standard first person shooter that plays pretty good despite some minor flaws here and there. The weapons upgrades are a cool feature (although maybe this is just another way of limiting the amount of weapons in the game) and the map making is a welcome addition if you have access to Xbox Live. On the whole I can recommend Pariah as a decent rental that you might wish to purchase after checking it out first. If you are not grabbed in the first hour or so of play then maybe it’s not for you. As it stands Pariah is a welcome addition to the Xbox library of games and with its fun multiplayer will no doubt keep you entertained for some time.