Clive Barker's Undying

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Clive Barker's Undying
Developer(s)	DreamWorks Interactive Westlake Interactive (Macintosh)
Publisher(s)	Electronic Arts Aspyr (Macintosh)
Designer(s)	Clive Barker
Engine	Unreal Engine
Release date(s)	NA February 21, 2001 (Win) EU March 15, 2001 (Win) NA June, 2002 (MAC)
Genre(s)	First-person shooter
Mode(s)	Single player
Rating(s)	ESRB: Teen (13+)
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows, Mac OS, Mac OS X
Media	CD-ROM
System requirements	500 Mhz Pentium III, 256 MB RAM, 32 MB Direct3D video card

Clive Barker's Undying is a horror-themed first-person shooter computer game based on the Unreal Tournament game engine. It was developed by DreamWorks Interactive, and released in 2001 by Electronic Arts. Noted horror author Clive Barker was consulted in shaping the game's plot and background story and also provided the voice of Ambrose, a character in the game.^[1]

Undying follows the adventures of 1920s Irish paranormal adventurer Patrick Galloway as he investigates the mysterious occult happenings at the estate of his friend Jeremiah Covenant.

Contents 1 Plotline 2 Gameplay 2.1 Weapons 2.2 Spells 2.3 Multiplayer 3 Reception 3.1 Critical response 3.2 Sales 4 Notes 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Plotline

The game begins in 1923, after World War I veteran Patrick Galloway receives an urgent letter from his friend Jeremiah Covenant. Covenant, well aware of Galloway's reputation for dealing with occult matters, is in failing health and raves about a curse that has destroyed his entire family. Galloway travels to the Covenant estate on the coast of Ireland to visit his friend, who relates an outlandish tale of supernatural terrors.

Jeremiah Covenant is one of five children, along with his siblings Ambrose, Lizbeth, and twins Aaron and Bethany. As children, the Covenants found a strange occult book in their father's library and performed a ritual found within at an ancient set of standing stones located on their family's extensive estate. This seemingly childish game brought the wrath of evil forces upon the family. After reaching adulthood, the Covenants fell one by one into madness and then death, eventually leaving Jeremiah as the only survivor. The power of the curse, however, has reanimated his fallen brothers and sisters as monsters of pure evil; they have been haunting Jeremiah and he fears that he will soon follow where they have gone.

Galloway decides to honor his friend's wishes by trying to stop whatever was set in motion long ago at the ancient stones where the ritual was performed. Through the Covenants' journals and Galloway's own memories, the player learns more about the nature of the curse and the creature behind it: The Undying King, a powerful demonic presence threatening to destroy the reality we inhabit.

While attempting to prevent the Undying King from entering our world, Patrick must face off against the four undead Covenant siblings as well as Otto Keisinger, an evil rival who simply wants to gain power from the demonic forces.

[edit] Gameplay

The gameplay of Undying in general follows the presets of the first-person shooter genre. The game simulates the main character's (Patrick Galloway's) point of view for the player, who utilizes a variety of weapons to defeat enemies within the game while making his or her way through a series of levels. As with most FPSs, Galloway has a certain amount of health, represented by a cross symbol and corresponding number at the bottom center-left of the screen. Each time the player is hurt by an enemy the health number is continually reduced until it reaches zero, at which point Galloway dies - an event which is usually marked by a third-person cut scene which shows his gruesome final moments. To prevent this, health can be replenished when low using health packs. Patrick's maximum health can also be permanently increased at certain points during the game.

A unique aspect of the gameplay of Undying among first-person shooters - and one which makes it somewhat similar to a computer role-playing game - is that along with its set of offensive weapons, the player is able to utilize and master a wide range of magical spells. Spells consume a certain amount of Galloway's magical energy, or "Mana", which is represented by a flask icon and corresponding number on the bottom center-right of the screen. This energy slowly regenerates itself over time, or can be more quickly replenished by using potions called "Mana Wells". Once the player acquires a spell, it may be boosted, or 'amplified', in power each time the gamer finds an "Amplifier Stone". These are powerful purple glowing crystals found scattered throughout levels of the game. The player can simultaneously wield weapons in his left hand and cast magical spells with his right; the power of both the weapons and the spells increase accordingly as the game progresses.

Also as is common with first-person shooters, combat is interspersed with simple puzzle-solving elements which usually involve overcoming an obstacle (such as a locked door) which impedes the player's progress through the game. Undying is somewhat unusual, however, in the manner in which the player is forced to overcome such obstacles. Along with the usual "find the key" solution, the player is also often required to engage in conversation with non-player characters, or utilize a certain spell - usually the "Scrye" spell (see Spells section below) - in order to find out how to proceed.

[edit] Weapons

The weapons in Undying are quite varied, ranging from standard first-person shooter fare to the supernatural. The more conventional weaponry include such standbys as a revolver, double-barreled shotgun, and Molotov cocktails. Along with these, the player is also given access to a number of more fantastic weapons, such as Phoenix eggs (which release explosive missile-like birds), the powerful demonic melee weapon called the "Scythe of the Celt", and the ice-shooting dragon-like "Tibetan War Cannon".

Notably, most weapons feature both primary and secondary firing settings (e.g. the secondary fire of the Spear Gun is a zoomed mode similar to a sniper rifle}. Some weapons also feature more than one kind of ammunition, such as the revolver, which is able to use both standard lead cartridges, as well as silver bullets for added damage.

[edit] Spells

Along with its many weapons, Undying also features a number of spells, both offensive and defensive, useful for defeating in-game enemies. These include ranged attack spells such as "Ectoplasm" and "Skull Storm", the latter of which unleashes a number of burning skulls at an enemy. Non-combat magic abilities include such powers as "Haste", which greatly increases player speed, "Shield" which envelops the player in a protective translucent screen, and "Scrye", a clairvoyant ability which enables Galloway to psychically see past events and other visions.

All spells can be upgraded throughout the game using amplifier crystals found throughout most levels. Spells are also boosted by one level when the player wields the Gel'ziabar Stone while casting.

[edit] Multiplayer

Undying lacks any form of multiplayer, including cooperative play or online play. The game was originally planned to ship with a multiplayer aspect, but given time constraints it was later to be relegated to a post-release patch. With the poor sales performance of Undying, however, even this belated implementation was never realized.

[edit] Reception

[edit] Critical response

Clive Barker's Undying was in general very well received by critics, with it receiving an average of 85 on Metacritic.^[2]

[edit] Sales

Undying was critically well-received, but sold poorly with sales so low that announced plans for a multiplayer patch were abandoned. Console versions of the game were also canceled, and EA reportedly shelved the idea of a sequel.

[edit] Notes

• Originally, the protagonist of the game was to be "Count Magnus Wolfram", a tattooed man with superhuman strength and supernatural abilities. Barker himself rejected this idea, noting that the more normal, down-to-earth Patrick Galloway would be easier to relate to for the average gamer. Wolfram's character model plays a small part in the finished product, however. He is the Trsanti shaman who attacks a younger Galloway with the Gel'ziabar Stone in the opening cutscene flashback.^[3]
• Much of Undying's music is recycled directly from Dreamworks Interactive's previous game, Jurassic Park: Trespasser. For example: the soundtrack for when the player fights Ambrose is the same as at the first encounter of a T-Rex in Trespasser; the final boss battle music is taken from a scene in Trespasser where two T-Rexes fight each other.
• The words sung repeatedly in the title music, "Dum spiro, spero" and "Dum spiro, scio", can be roughly translated from Latin as "While I breathe, I hope" and "While I breathe, I understand".
• The game won GameSpot's "Best game that no one played" award.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Revelations - The Official Clive Barker Resource
• Standing Stones, a fansite for Undying
• Undying page on Clive Barker fansite
• Clive Barker's Undying at MobyGames

v • d • e The Works of Clive Barker
Novels, novellas, and Short story collections
Stand-alone: The Damnation Game | The Hellbound Heart | Weaveworld | Imajica | Books of Blood | The Thief of Always | Sacrament | Galilee | Coldheart Canyon
Books of the Art: The Great and Secret Show | Everville
The Abarat Quintet: Abarat | Abarat: Days of Magic, Nights of War | Abarat: Absolute Midnight | Abarat: The Eternal | [untitled fifth book]
Short story collections: Books of Blood | Cabal | In the Flesh | The Inhuman Condition | The Scarlet Gospels
Films
Directed by Clive Barker: Salome | The Forbidden | Hellraiser | Nightbreed | Lord of Illusions | Tortured Souls: Animae Damnatae
Directed by others: Rawhead Rex | Underworld | Candyman | Saint Sinner
Other
Art collections: Clive Barker, Illustrator | Illustrator II: The Art of Clive Barker | Clive Barker Visions of Heaven and Hell
Plays: Incarnations: Three Plays | Forms of Heaven: Three Plays
Video games: Clive Barker's Undying | Demonik | Clive Barker's Jericho
Recurring characters
Cenobites | Pinhead | Harry D'Amour