Second Sight (video game)

Second Sight

Developer(s) Free Radical Design
Publisher(s) Codemasters
Composer(s) Graeme Norgate
Christian Marcussen
Platform(s) GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Microsoft Windows
Release date(s) GameCube,[1] PlayStation 2[2] & Xbox[3]
  • EU 3 September 2004
  • NA 21 September 2004
Microsoft Windows[4]
  • EU 4 February 2005
  • NA 18 February 2005
Genre(s) Action-adventure, stealth
Mode(s) Single-player
Distribution DVD, Nintendo optical disc, download

Second Sight is an action-adventure stealth video game developed by Free Radical Design and published by Codemasters for GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox and Microsoft Windows. The storyline follows parapsychology researcher John Vattic and his attempts to recover his memory as well as the secrets behind his new mental powers.

Plot

The game begins with John Vattic, the protagonist, waking up in a medical research facility. He has no memory of his past except for a mission that he went on six months before. His role in the mission was to be strictly advisory, but he finds himself going to Siberia with a group of U.S. Marines called WinterICE, and a psychic named Jayne Wilde, in search of a Russian scientist named Victor Grienko, whose secret research is beginning to draw attention from The Pentagon.

Vattic learns from a computer he finds in the medical facility that Wilde was killed on the mission. He then has a flashback, in which he prevents Wilde's death. Back in the present portion of the game, the computer now says that Wilde survived the mission as well. Vattic finds her in an asylum in Vermont and rescues her. They escape into the sewers and she tells him that the WinterICE team's commanding officer Colonel Joshua Starke was killed during the mission. Vattic then has a flashback in which he rescues Starke. During this flashback, one of Grienko's child test subjects awakens Vattic's psychic powers. Back in the present, Wilde informs Vattic that Starke is alive and that he gave her an address in which to contact him if she ever needed help. Vattic and Wilde then travel to the location to find him.

Vattic finds Starke in his apartment in Queens, New York. Starke is surprised to see Vattic alive and says that the rest of WinterICE were killed in Siberia. Through a series of other flashbacks, Vattic is able to save the rest of WinterICE and make it to the village of Dubrensk. Soldiers have killed most of the villagers, but a dying survivor tells the squad that their children are the research lab's test subjects, and that while they would kill the WinterICE team, they would accept Vattic due to his similar psychic abilities. Vattic infiltrates the research lab alone in his flashbacks to save the children, while also infiltrating the headquarters of the National Security Executive (NSE) based on the evidence given to him by Starke in New York.

In doing so, he discovers the secret of Grienko's research and the true meaning of the mission. The main antagonist is revealed to be Hanson, the director of the NSE, who wanted to use Grienko's research into psychic abilities in order to create an army of psychic super soldiers. WinterICE was sent in to discover Grienko's research facility and dispatch anyone who got in the way; they could then secure Grienko's work for Hanson's evil program. Vattic confronts Hanson in his office and is ready to kill him, but backs down when it is revealed that Hanson has taken Wilde hostage. Placed in a no-win situation, Vattic intends to once again change the past via a flashback, using his current knowledge to stop Hanson's plans.

In his flashbacks, Vattic finds that Grienko's research project is in the process of being packed up for transport to the United States. Grienko and his staff believe they will be relocated as well, but the real orders are to kill them once the project is ready for transport. Grienko is killed according to plan, but Vattic continues to infiltrate the lower levels to try to save the children. The flashback is repeatedly interrupted by a series of flash-forwards, showing the various outcomes that Vattic has prevented so far via the actions in his other flashbacks. During these, Vattic discovers that he has not been having flashbacks at all. The WinterICE mission is still ongoing and incomplete, whereas all his experiences in the present are merely possible futures, and are a manifestation of one his mental abilities, precognition.

Now knowing the truth of his situation, Vattic confronts Hanson in the research facility, but he is once again placed in a seemingly unwinnable situation, with Hanson taunting him from behind a window impervious to both bullets and psionic powers. To aid him, Vattic releases the test subjects, referred to as the "Zener children", who were the basis of Grienko's original research. The Zener children help Vattic fight through many waves of soldiers with their psychic powers. After this long shootout, the Zener children use powerful telekinesis to pull away the frame of the glass and then attack and kill Hanson. After that, WinterICE and the troops arrive, raiding the facility. Starke and Wilde help an exhausted Vattic into the helicopter. Vattic then finds out through Wilde, why he was so important to the mission.

Gameplay

Second Sight emphasizes stealth and minor puzzle-solving over brute force. Vattic uses psionic abilities to supplement his conventional weapons. Being spotted triggers an alarm mode, increasing the number of guards and they search for Vattic. The majority of the psychic powers are meant to be used defensively, avoiding detection or healing wounds.

Soundtrack

In 2006, Free Radical Design made the Second Sight soundtrack available for download on the company website, including printable album artwork.[5]

Track listing

Music by Graeme Norgate and Christian Marcussen[6]

  1. Isolation – (1:52)
  2. Experimentation – (4:12)
  3. Fieldwork – (5:42)
  4. Escape – (4:24)
  5. Madness – (5:16)
  6. Rescue – (4:51)
  7. Reliance – (3:49)
  8. Entrapped – (5:18)
  9. Street Life – (4:53)
  10. Teamwork – (4:53)
  11. Breakout – (3:33)
  12. Conspiracy – (5:37)
  13. Infiltration – (5:21)
  14. Childcare – (4:47)
  15. Confrontation – (3:11)
  16. Redemption – (6:03)
  17. Credits – (5:35)

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores
AggregatorScore
GameRankings(GC) 80.51%[7]
(PS2) 78.92%[8]
(Xbox) 78.00%[9]
(PC) 70.29%[10]
Metacritic(GC) 77/100[11]
(PS2) 76/100[12]
(Xbox) 75/100[13]
(PC) 73/100[14]
Review scores
PublicationScore
Edge7/10[15]
Electronic Gaming Monthly6.5/10[16]
Eurogamer(Xbox) 8/10[17]
(PC) 6/10[18]
Game Informer8.5/10[19]
Game RevolutionC[20]
GameSpot7.5/10[21]
(PC) 7.3/10[22]
GameSpy[23][24][25][26]
GameZone(PS2) 8.6/10[27]
(PC) 7.5/10[28]
IGN7.9/10[29]
(PC) 7.5/10[30]
Nintendo Power4.7/5[31]
Official PlayStation Magazine (US)[32]
Official Xbox Magazine8/10[33]
PC Gamer (US)65%[34]
Detroit Free Press[35]
The Sydney Morning Herald[36]

Second Sight was met with mixed to positive reviews. Aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic gave the GameCube version 80.51% and 77/100,[7][11] the PlayStation 2 version 78.92% and 76/100,[8][12] the Xbox version 78.00% and 75/100[9][13] and the PC version 70.29% and 73/100.[10][14]

In 2010, the game was included as one of the titles in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die.[37]

References

  1. ↑ "Second Sight Release Information for GameCube". GameFAQs. Retrieved 20 June 2013.
  2. ↑ "Second Sight Release Information for PlayStation 2". GameFAQs. Retrieved 20 June 2013.
  3. ↑ "Second Sight Release Information for Xbox". GameFAQs. Retrieved 20 June 2013.
  4. ↑ "Second Sight Release Information for PC". GameFAQs. Retrieved 20 June 2013.
  5. ↑ "Free Radical website".
  6. ↑ "Second Sight credits".
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Second Sight for GameCube". GameRankings. Retrieved 20 June 2013.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Second Sight for PlayStation 2". GameRankings. Retrieved 20 June 2013.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 "Second Sight for Xbox". GameRankings. Retrieved 20 June 2013.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 "Second Sight for PC". GameRankings. Retrieved 20 June 2013.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 "Second Sight for GameCube Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 20 June 2013.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 "Second Sight for PlayStation 2 Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 20 June 2013.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 "Second Sight for Xbox Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 20 June 2013.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 "Second Sight for PC Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 20 June 2013.
  15. ↑ Edge Staff (October 2004). "Second Sight". Edge (141): 104. Archived from the original on 23 September 2004. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
  16. ↑ EGM Staff (November 2004). "Second Sight". Electronic Gaming Monthly (185): 130.
  17. ↑ Reed, Kristan (24 August 2004). "Second Sight (Xbox)". Eurogamer. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
  18. ↑ Bramwell, Tom (23 February 2005). "Second Sight (PC)". Eurogamer. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
  19. ↑ Juba, Joe (September 2004). "Second Sight". Game Informer (137): 106. Archived from the original on 11 June 2008. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
  20. ↑ Dodson, Joe (23 September 2004). "Second Sight Review (PS2)". Game Revolution. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
  21. ↑ Shoemaker, Brad (20 September 2004). "Second Sight Review". GameSpot. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
  22. ↑ Shoemaker, Brad (22 February 2005). "Second Sight Review (PC)". GameSpot. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
  23. ↑ Fischer, Russ (21 September 2004). "GameSpy: Second Sight (PS2)". GameSpy. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
  24. ↑ Fischer, Russ (21 September 2004). "GameSpy: Second Sight (GCN)". GameSpy. Archived from the original on 1 December 2005. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
  25. ↑ Fischer, Russ (21 September 2004). "GameSpy: Second Sight (Xbox)". GameSpy. Archived from the original on 2 November 2005. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
  26. ↑ Harker, Carla (25 February 2005). "GameSpy: Second Sight (PC)". GameSpy. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
  27. ↑ Lafferty, Michael (20 September 2004). "Second Sight - PS2 - Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on 26 February 2008. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
  28. ↑ Aceinet (7 March 2005). "Second Sight - PC - Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on 25 January 2009. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
  29. ↑ Castro, Juan (16 September 2004). "Second Sight". IGN. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
  30. ↑ Castro, Juan (17 February 2005). "Second Sight (PC)". IGN. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
  31. ↑ "Second Sight". Nintendo Power 186: 129. November 2004.
  32. ↑ "Second Sight". Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine: 128. November 2004. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
  33. ↑ "Second Sight". Official Xbox Magazine: 76. November 2004.
  34. ↑ "Second Sight". PC Gamer: 72. May 2005.
  35. ↑ Crumm, David; Crumm, Benjamin (20 March 2005). "'Second Sight' (PC)". Detroit Free Press. Archived from the original on 20 March 2005. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
  36. ↑ Hill, Jason (2 September 2004). "Psychic action". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
  37. ↑ Mott, Tony (2010). 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die. London: Quintessence Editions Ltd. p. 580. ISBN 978-1-74173-076-0.

External links