Every once in a while a game comes along that latches onto our happy sacks like a lamprey. It refuses to let go and gets in the way of our social lives until we finish with it. And being the twisted little monkey we are, we like it, and we want more. In recent memory, Half-Life was such a game. Before that, games like Civilization and Wasteland had that terrible grip on our psyches. Well, Hewey Louis got his wish, we have his new drug. It's addictive, it's beautiful, it's original, it's funny, it's clever, it's wonderful, it's Appeal's Outcast.
Outcast is a mixture of first person shooting, third person puzzles, problem solving, social interaction, and much more, all in the totally new and lifelike world of Adelpha. You are Cutter Slade, an elite military commando blessed with ample talent in the field of sarcasm. You have been sent to escort a team of scientists whose job it is to save the Earth from an experiment gone wrong. This is all explained in a well-rendered and pleasantly long introductory movie. It's one of the best we've seen. Unfortunately for Cutter but fortunately for game play, your mission goes wrong from the very start.
We don't like to give away details that can ruin the game, so we'll only give you the basics. You start out poorly armed in a strange unfamiliar world filled with aliens who basically think you're the messiah. Fortunately, you're not nearly as dumb as Neo. You've got to get your team back together and help them fix the experiment which went awry and thereby save the Earth. In the process, there are many adventures you'll have, all of which have an effect on future play. Some missions raise your status with friends and thereby gain you help. Others weaken your enemies in future battles. Almost all of them are fun and interesting.