C-12 Final Resistance

When I first heard that Sony was going to bring us C-12, I thought maybe this would be the swan song the PSi truly deserves: a 3D adventure to top the likes of Syphon Filter or, dare we dream, Metal Gear Solid. Unfortunately, the end product turned out to be more of a dying gasp for air on Sony's aging console. C-12 takes place in an apocalyptic future where aliens have turned humanity into hostile cyborgs, and it's up to you to layeth the smack down. That's pretty much the entire story, although you do get plenty of chatter from fellow rebels along the way. It's just too bad you never really get a good sense of who anybody is, only that all your teammates look like Doctor Who rejects with cybernetic implants. Story in an action game? I could really take it or leave it. Where C-12 really hurts is in the camera and targeting areas. You'll curse every time the view clips into a building and shows you nothing but a big black wall, or when it automatically swings around to obscure your line of sight during heated battles. Spittles of hatred will fly from your lips as C-12's auto-targeting system consistently chooses the wrong enemies for you to shoot at, or even worse, simply doesn't target at all. The list of problems goes on and on. Want boring key-fetching and box-pushing puzzles? Step right up. Want repetitive environments and tiresome trial-and-error stealth missions? It's all here in one craptastic package that's destined for the bargain bins.

The game tells me to take cover to avoid getting hit by enemies. Sure, if I can compensate for the jittery controls that don't put me where I want to be. And how come I'm still taking damage when I finally do get behind "cover"? Then the game tells me to go to "location this" or "destination that." Well Mr. C-12, can you at least mark them on my map or point me in the right direction? No? Fine. Later, out of nowhere, the game tells me to kiss its ass by throwing nearimpossible situations at me (like bosses who don't play fair) or forcing me to go on tiresome and chal-iengeless fetch errands. At least the storyline kept me intrigued enough to keep playing.

C-12 puts the Sy Fi in Syphon Filter--a cool futuristic setting right out of The Terminator, with the familiar look and feel of Sony's espionage-action series. The best bits are the puzzles--your abilities to push and pull objects, remotely control gun turrets, and snipe or analyze objects (thanks to your cyborg implants) in first-person mode are integrated well into the levels. With cooler enemies, a more reliable lock-on system for combat, and especially a better camera to help you follow the action, I could make a stronger recommendation. As is, it's not worth any PS2 owner's time, but if you're still stuck with only a PSi, you should definitely check it out.