Gameplay

Interface

The developers did a pretty good job in the rough demo we received in terms of the gameplay interface. Mostly you just need a few movement keys on the keyboard and you have two context sensitive buttons on the mouse to interact with people and the environment. You also have access to your inventory with just one button - from there you can place items into each of your hands. When you have a weapon drawn, it can be difficult to aim from 3rd person perspective, so the developers added a red "laser sight" that indicates where you're currently aiming. Holding down the right mouse button allows aiming with the mouse, while keeping you free to move using the keyboard. LMB fires the weapon. The bad news is that aiming in the Z-axis didn't seem to work, but it's probably due to the rough state of the demo we played.

Nice terraces

Enemies ahead

Conversations

With hours upon hours of dialog in the game, you're going to be doing a lot of interacting with NPCs. Conversations are often open ended, allowing you to choose which questions to ask, although there aren't any "right and wrong" answers. Mostly it looks like the choices are there to let you glean whatever info you want and ignore what you don't want. Notes of your travels and conversations are kept in your notebook, which is easily accessible like your inventory.

Heat hot lead

Run away!

The voice acting is above average, but I found the voices they used to be rather…interesting. Cutter sounds a like he could be a father in one of those 50's white-bred sitcoms, with the intonation and the phrases he uses. The Talan look and sound like the Trade Federation aliens from Star Wars Phantom Menace, right down to the bizarre accents, some of which sound like fake Asian accents. The only difference is that the Talan from Outcast are indeed wearing traditional Chinese country garb, complete with conical reed hat. And they look like they're farming rice paddies too. Hmmm…Infogrames may just be skating thin ice there. Well at least the dialog is funny with the occasional double entendre thrown in and Cutter acting flabbergasted at the Talans' unknowing quips.

Line up the shot

Wild Twon-Ha