Navigation
Jen learns that the world as we know it is only one realm of existence. There is our world Mortalis, home of mortal men, and the world of Oblivion, breeding ground for all demonkind. Both planes are connected via the Nexus. The Nexus is the crossroads between the universes. Here the powers of chaos and order clash and only Chronos, a presence not explainable to man, keeps the balance between the two primal forces.
Oblivion consists of four realms, each inhabited by a different race of demons. Since the beginning of time two of the realms were aligned with order, two were aligned with Chaos so no force grew too strong. Recently the two realms loyal to order were tainted by chaos. These realms now crumble and Chronos has to use all his power to keep the balance. But time is running short. If Chaos continues it’s ruthless assault Order will perish. Where there is no Order there is no Chaos either – it would mean the end of both universes.
Jen is asked to be Order’s champion and investigate what is happening in the four realms. She must travel to Solum, home to the fierce Ferai and Aquis, and inhabited by the gentle merfolk known as Undine. She then visits the realms of chaos, Aetha occupied by the deathly Wraiths and Volca, and the world of the Djinn, a species with bodies formed from a living metal. These realms hold certain death if Jen isn’t careful.
But Jen isn’t defenceless. Jen is in truth a child of Oblivion brought from Mortalis when mere a baby and returned to her home only after being touched by Chaos itself. Soon she and everybody else will realize that she is made of more than meets the eye. There is a demon in all of us...
Enter Oblivion
Without doubt I can say that Primal features on of the best story concepts I ever saw in a game. Numerous cut scenes make you feel like you are actually playing an interactive movie while staying in control at all times. If you think that I gave away too much of the story in the introduction, think again. I barely cover the first 15 minutes of gameplay. Yet giving away more of the story would perhaps spoil your experience so I will try to keep down the narrative and stick to the necessary facts.
Four realms have to be explored, each featuring a totally different environment. Solum, the climate harsh and cold, is a world of eternal winter and its inhabitants, the Ferai are aggressive yet noble warriors. Aquis is, as the name suggests, a pleasant underwater realm and Jen has to learn how to swim quickly. Aetha is a realm high up in a mountain kingdom. The twisted Wraiths life there, the few of noble blood living in decant way while all common folk are doomed to lead a short and terrible life. The last realm is a volcano world. The local beings, the Djinn are connected to the main volcano in more ways than anyone can imagine. Made of a living metal, the Djinn are less human than any of the other creatures Jen met in here adventure.
Despite Jen’s slowly growing powers, she would be helpless without Scree, her protector and friend. Climbing stone walls, crushing stones to draw energy from them or helping Jen by dropping her a rope are all ways Scree contributes to the quest. Only if you use the powers and abilities of both of your characters will you succeed. You can switch control between your two actors at any time and your partner – with the help of quiet a good AI – will follow you around and perform obvious actions automatically. Jen is the fighter in the team and controlling her during battles is quite simple. The shoulder buttons control 3 different attacks and a block and with the sticks you can move camera and character. If controlled by the AI Jen doesn’t fight badly either, yet enemies are killed much slower and for the stronger enemies which you should handle yourself a little training isn’t bad anyway. Besides the features already mentioned Scree has other unique abilities as well. If you collect enough “loadstones” Scree can posses some statues. If the little guy – normally about 1 meter in size – controls a 6 meter tall statue some monsters are in for a beating. During fights Scree turns to stone (Ed. - chicken!) so it is always Jen who takes harm. If Jen runs out of energy everything is not lost yet. Scree might be a able to reach a rift gate, a passageway that not only connects different regions in a realm but the realms to one another as well (Stargate anyone ?), and summon her back to his side before her mortal shell dies in the real world.
Being a regular reviewer some flaws were evident in this otherwise perfect game. The automatic camera is sometimes quite annoying, especially in narrow hallways. You will have to use the right analog stick to move it to a better position or center your view with you shoulder buttons. The second and final flaw I want to mention is that you sometimes may not use the full potential of your characters. If you are not intended to go somewhere you can’t go there. There are numerous stone walls that Scree can’t climb and laughable obstacles that athletic Jen can’t step over. This makes the game too linear in many places and in a otherwise great title this is a little annoying.
Ending this review with the “cons” does this game injustice but it had to be put somewhere.
It is a well known fact that many video game productions nowadays are comparable to big screen movie productions regarding effort and the needed budget. Everything in this title from the voice-overs to the cinemantics is professionally done. “Primal” is certainly a “must-have-title” for every decent collection.
