Otherskin PC Review
Summary: Absorb alien creature morphs to use their powers to your advantage as you try to save the universe?
3.3
Morphological Mayhem
Otherskin has a pretty cool concept: absorb the unique abilities of creatures you encounter and then use them to complete your objectives. In practice, it’s a bit rough.
The core concept is that you have the ability to absorb alien “morphs” and then use their special abilities to advance. Things such as wings to give you a greater leap with an impressive glide, a toad-like tongue that enables you to grab objects previously out of reach and swing to new locations and so on. This is all very handy as your mission is to explore the planet of Vandemire, home of the extinct “Magna” species as it is believed to be the source of the “Corruption,” a universal threat that is expanding and threatening to take out all life in the universe.
Fortunately, you have a highly advanced AI suit that guides you on your mission, making suggestions and giving you information about what you are encountering. Like I said, it’s a cool concept, but the execution is a bit lacking.
Other than your morph abilities (which are gained on each level and lost at the end of each level as they are surrendered to help remove the Corruption) your main activity ends up being shooting or slashing at anything you can (so really, what’s more dangerous, the Corruption or you and your AI suit destroying anything in sight?). Shooting/targeting, at least to me, felt really counterproductive. At one point it seems like you lock onto a target, but when you move the mouse it seems like the game doesn’t want you to shoot at the target. It constantly feels like you are fighting against the controls just to do simple third-person shooter tasks. Combat in general is okay, nothing special, typically starting with a few enemies before progressing to groups and then a boss battle, with potential swarms of enemies. Dying isn’t exactly a big deal as you basically respawn and can try again so it’s not a huge danger, but it can be a bit frustrating at times.
Visually I was quite underwhelmed. The promo image (granted not the best reference for quality) looked great and at times the main character does indeed look okay, but for a lot of the time the player and the surroundings feel like they are almost complete, as if they had a lot of work done on them but were still waiting on the final texturing or details to be added. They aren’t bad per se, but they do feel as if they aren’t as good as other games of a similar style.
I don’t specifically have an issue with the whole notion of completing a level and then losing all your abilities, but I imagine some people might find that seems harsh (the reasoning does make sense). I did find myself not feeling overly engaged in the story though. I’m not sure if it was the story itself, the voice acting (there’s nothing wrong with it, I think it’s more the scripts that are a bit flat) or the overall presentation, but I felt like I had to fight the game more than enjoy the experience (it didn’t help that before even getting into the game it warns you not to turn off your “console” while the game is loading).
Final Thoughts:
Otherskin does have some interesting game mechanics, the core idea is indeed pretty cool. For me it was just a bit too rough around the edges and lacking polish to keep me interested. If you are after a game with a slightly different approach that adds some new ways to play and complete levels (light puzzle solving)… it might be worth your time. I would probably recommend at least waiting for a sale though.
About the Author
Chris O'Connor Father of four, husband of one and all round oddity. Gaming at home since about 1982 with a Sinclair ZX Spectrum. Moving on to the more traditional PC genre in the years that followed with the classic Jump Joe and Alley Cat. CGA, EGA, VGA and beyond PC's have been central to my gaming but I've also enjoyed consoles and hand helds along the way (who remembers the Atari Lynx?). Would have been actor/film maker, jack of many trades master of none.
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