3rd person shooter with survival horror elements
Along with Alone in the Dark, this is one of the first games to pit the player into the survival horror genre, mechanics and story wise. The action is seen from a third person perspective (with the camera also fixed and choosing its own angles). The game sports the basic elements of gameplay of the genre, mutated monsters and zombies who are not armed but who can jump you and are generally in big enough numbers to run you down. You will have to be very calculated with regards to using fire weapons, ammunition is in short supply. The overall tone and atmosphere is dark, as the game takes place in murky, corridor heavy areas always trying to anticipate a new attack from the mutants. The game however is not endowed with the most interesting story to have ever gotten out of the genre: you play as a S.T.A.R.S. member and you have to escape a mansion haunted by mutated creatures. While trying to stay alive you will run over different clues as to what happened there, who is to blame, though, generally, you won't be motivated by these half assed bits of information as much as you are by the need to find bullets and supplies. The game is still relatively playable, though the camera will pose a lot of problems, and will disorient you at times, so much so that you might abandon the game in sheer frustration. But, otherwise, the game is as good as the mid 90s could conjure in terms of production value and survival in a bleak setting.
