Project Eden
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| Project Eden | |
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| Developer(s) | Core Design |
| Publisher(s) | Eidos Interactive |
| Release date(s) | October 22, 2001 (NA) October 2, 2001 (EU) |
| Genre(s) | First-person shooter, Third-person shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Teen (T) |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 2, Microsoft Windows |
| Media | CD-ROM |
- For the anime, see Dirty Pair.
Project Eden is a video game for the PC and PlayStation 2 released in 2001. It is a first- and third-person shooter with an emphasis on teamwork and puzzle solving over combat. Players switch between control of four UPA agents, each with their own special abilities, as they work their way through a city that has grown upward and upward, leaving delving buildings and neighborhoods "below city limits.". Among other unique mechanics of Project Eden is the fact that player characters don't die; instead, they are respawned at the last checkpoint, where their health is fully restored. With its emphasis on puzzle-solving over combat, the game may be thought of as a cyberpunk updating of The Lost Vikings, as it has more in common with that game developed by Blizzard Entertainment than traditional first- or third-person shooters. A single player can control any of the four characters at any given time, and other players can jump in at any time and assume control of team members.
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[edit] Characters
No subsequent background information is given on the characters (except for Minoko), only their abilities are listed.
- Carter: Leader. 36. Serious character and not looking forward to a forced retirement at 40 to a desk job, which is standard in the UPA. He can interview suspects and civilians, open secured UPA Doors.
- Andre: Technician. 32. Former Skylift engineer, joined the UPA at 25 looking for excitement. Has a perceived attitude problem but will take over the unit when Carter steps down. He uses an Omnitool to fix any equipment or device that needs to be repaired to be used.
- Minoko: Computer hacker. 20. Orphan taken in by the UPA as a youth of 9 years old. Can hack into any system. She can log onto the terminals scattered throughout the areas that the squad enters, can hack into cannons, computers, devices, cameras, and can retrieve information.
- Amber: Cyborg. 27. Involved in a Skyway accident which resulted in horrific injuries at 19. Chose to have a full robotic makeover opposed to more realistic surgery; however, has become more withdrawn and robotic over the years (typical of people who have had this transformation). Amber carries heavy weaponry as a default function (missiles, which are later upgraded to homing missiles), and can withstand hazardous environments such as gas, electricity, extreme cold, flames, harmful laser beams (harmful laser beams only encountered in Eden Bunker).
[edit] Plot
The game starts with UPA agents Carter, Andre, Minoko and Amber heading below city limits to find two technicians missing from the Real Meat Company (a corporation that produces organic meat, hinting that most of the food in that time is synthetic). The suspicions of the team revolve around a local and powerful gang named The Death Heads. The UPA team tracks the gang down to their base in St. Lucia's Church; but upon their arrival and later on, the gang members start mutating into strange creatures. Clearing their way through the Church, battling the mutants, the UPA Team finally get close to the technicians, only to see them being taken far below city limits, possibly to ground zero (the term used for the sea level). The UPA Control, instructs the UPA Team to recover a creature, a live one, for analysis; which shows that it has been a regular dog, which had been tampered with using an old MK-3 Gene Splicer (this hints at the fact that genetic technology has greatly). The analysis also reveals that the creatures they have been attacked by are being controlled by a signal; which is their next job, to both find and if possible, recover the technicians, and locate the source of the signal.
On their way, the UPA Team start to encounter little girls (blonde, and dressed in a red dress) that go by the name of Lucy, who talk about irrelevant things before mutating into dangerous creatures themselves. Minoko, upon the team's arrival to a Skytran station (to reach Ground Zero), mentions that she once had a sister named Lucy, but that Lucy had probably died due to a genetic illness she and their mother suffered from. As they continue, the team starts to question if Minoko's family was involved in their situation. The train crashes before reaching its destination, and leaves Minoko trapped in by a group known as cannibals. Upon their arrival, Carter asks Control to check out Minoko's father. Dr. Molenski, who was once a skilled technician and a genetic engineer, was kicked out of Real Meat, due to his act of stealing machinery. As a fugitive, Molenski was never acquired by UPA, so wasn't Lucy. Minoko was taken to the UPA Recreation Program, and thus, became a UPA Agent.
Clearing out The Zoo (which is filled with mutants more than regular people, which have been reduced to cannibalism) the team arrive at Ground Zero. However, since what they are looking for is further down, the team advances to the underground levels; below sea level. Upon their investigation, they stumble upon a video of Dr. Molenski, saying that he has found a nuclear bunker underneath, and that it was filled with equipment he could use, such as a MK-3 Gene Splicer. He also mentions that using it, he hopes to cure Lucy finally.
The UPA Team enter the Eden Bunker, and upon their entrance, they discover that Dr. Molenski was trapped in a time dilation field (a field that which stops time around a given area, or slows it down immensely; something used in a weapon the team uses, TIMESHOCK). Molenski is seemingly reaching out to a computer. Upon dwelling deeper and deactivating the time dilation field, Minoko is kidnapped. Lucy tells Minoko that she has been creating the creatures, and the girls that mutated (in attempt to find a new body for herself), but that the DNA synch ratio was just too much to deal with. Since Minoko is her biological sister, Lucy wishes to take her body.
Meanwhile, Molenski is told that 15 years has passed, and asked what has happened. The answer is simple; in order to keep Lucy alive, Molenski had linked her mind to the computers, running half of her mental faculties with them, while keeping her body in a time dilation field. However, since the computers were networked, Lucy took over them all, and tried to solve things her way. The UPA Team rescue Minoko, and they deactivate the time dilation field; causing the death of Lucy. Molenski removes the harddisk from Lucy's head and inserts it into a robot body he has built for her. The UPA Team return to the surface.
[edit] Weapons
Each weapon has two modes. Weapons do not allow friendly fire. A minor drawback of this is that, explosive weaponry will not explode whenever used upon an enemy that is too close to the member using the weapon.
Pulse gun: The Pulse Gun is the most basic weapon of all the UPA Members, and the only weapon that they start with. The initial rapid mode simply fires out rapid bursts of energy to harm the UPA Squad's opponents and/or the surfaces that need to be broken down. The secondary mode, charge, charges the energy and fires out a single, more powerful burst.
Pipe Bomb: The Pipe Bomb is the second weapon the squad acquires. It's initial mode, contact, makes it explode upon contact with anything at all. The secondary mode, proximity, simply stays wherever it's thrown, and explodes when and if something comes in close proximity. Pipe Bombs can be recovered when in this setting.
Disk Launcher: The disk launcher covers the arm of the member using it. In the first mode, launch, it engages a laser pointer which is both visible on the radar (more useful on the bounce mode) and in front of the player, and when the trigger is released, throws an explosive disk straight forward. The secondary mode, bounce, also includes the laser pointer, but when the disk is launched, it bounces off twice and then explodes when and if it hits something.
Time Shock: The time shock slows down time on wished target. The initial mode, beam, has to continuously be held upon an opponent to slow him down. The secondary mode, area, launches a blast that creates a minor time dilation field around a certain radius (the shape of which is a sphere, which means it encompasses everything within that area) which effects anything that crosses through it, the player included.
Extractor: The extractor comes late in the game, but is quite useful. The first mode, extract, while damaging the opponent it is aimed at (with a rate equal to or slightly slower than the rapid weapon), takes the energy of the opponent and uses it to refill the ammunition of weaponry (the ammunition is a general energy source for all weapons,, not just for the extractor). When the ammunition is full, the excess energy creates energy cells. The secondary mode, blast, drains the ammunition energy at tramendous speed, but focuses that energy onto numerous waves which damage the opponnent with more or less the same speed.
Missile: The weapon is Amber's secondary weapon by default. It launches a missile towards the crossair. The homing missile upgrade, however, first locks on the target, and launches a missile that follows the target regardless of the direction its headed.
[edit] UPA Equipment
[edit] Stationary
Regen: The Regen Points have two uses; the first is regenerate the member of the UPA team who has been killed, and second, heal the damages the UPA member suffers.
Recharger: Recharges the ammunition energy of the UPA member when held.
Terminal: For Minoko's use only, the terminals can be used to open doors, activate devices, control cannons, use cameras to see through the rooms the members have not yet gained access to.
UPA Station: Every once in a while, stations with the equipment mentioned above will appear, secured with a security door only Carter can open.
Battery: Later in the game, some devices must be charged, using the ammunition energy, in order to be worked.
Sentry Gun: Generated by any UPA Member, a sentry gun acts as a defensive weapon which is stationed on a given spot (provided that the spot is a flat surface with enough space for it to be installed) and attacks any and all opponents that enters its range.
[edit] Mobile
Rover: The Rover is a small device that has wheels and a low-charged weapon on top of it. It can activate simple devices and destroy minor enemies.
Flycam: The Flycam is a sphere-shaped device which has a camera that allows the user to move it in the air. It can be used to activate simple devices.
[edit] Miscellaneous
Omnitool: For Andre only, the omnitool is basically a tool which can fuse with all kinds of circuitry, and can be used to take care of any shortcuts or damages.
Radar: Each UPA Member has a radar on their standard armour which can be used to locate objects marked on it, to find other team members, civilians or locate enemies.
UPA Data Pad: Each member have a data pad on their standard armour which can be used to view objectives, read mails sent by UPA Control, and review the interviews.
Torch: Each member has a torch (mounted on their earpiece). This can be switched on and off at will, but when on slowly drains weapons energy. The torch is noticeably better-looking in the PC version.
