Reviewed: March 17, 2005
Reviewed by: Tyler Whitney
Publisher
THQ
Developer
SCi Games
Bits Studios
Released: February 15, 2005
Genre: Action
Players: 1
ESRB: Mature
6
7
5
6
6.2
Supported Features
Screenshots (Click Image for Gallery)
While not the biggest fan of Keanu Reeve’s fine acting resume, one that includes smash hits like Johnny Mnemonic and the epic Matrix and the Bill and Ted series; I was eagerly awaiting the release of Constantine the movie.
The movie was based on a DC comics line called “Hell Blazer” which involved demons, a mysterious John Constantine and a whole lot of gory action. That’s about it for the similarities between the movie and the comics. In the comics Constantine was a blonde hair-blue-eyed Brit who charted across the globe. In the recent movie however, Keanu, in all his natural half-baked glory, is 100% American and stuck in NYC. Needless to say I was a bit disappointed.
Inaccuracies aside, THQ and Bits Studios bring us Constantine, a third-person action game that mirrors the movie. John Constantine was cursed (or blessed…) to see demons, and this so haunted him that he committed suicide as a teen casting himself into Hell, but was brought back to exorcise demons for the archangel Gabriel in hopes of gaining a place in Heaven. To complicate matters, Constantine was just diagnosed with terminal lung cancer-the clock is winding down on our. He must uncover a plot involving a powerful artifact that could unleash the powers of Hell upon Earth, all the while wading through demon after demon over several levels.
You of course lead John through numerous levels, transitioning back between Hell and the mortal world to prevent eternal darkness washing over the planet. A nice assortment of weapons is at your disposal, from your ever-present twin pistols to the grand “Holy Shotgun.” If some ugly mutha gets to close to your grill, it’s time to bust out some Matrix-esque moves on their fugly butts.
Surprisingly, I found the melee attacks more effective in dealing with most enemies, and you save ammo to boot. To complement the guns and karate moves, there is an interesting magic system in place. You learn various spells and perform them via button combinations that follow a certain order and rhythm, all the while Constantine chants strange words. I found this a pretty unique feature but with a limited amount of spells, it’s not used very often.
The enemy is an assortment of demons from lanky to squatty, to slimy to spine covered. There is a bit of variation but most seem unoriginal after a few levels. The A.I. is pretty dull as well, most enemies run at you in droves, and don’t seem to employ much brains-regardless of the fact they literally are missing half of it.
Boss battles are more intriguing however, with some great visuals and design, but are hindered by ancient NES-like routines that are easily recognized and thus beaten back to Hell. All of this is easily controlled; Bits did a good job on how your handle Constantine, aside from occasional problems with climbing over or around objects. The latter requires you to press a button when you reach a certain special area for it to activate the function. Other than that glitch, the controls are surprisingly solid.
The highlight in this department are the character models, especially Constantine, his face is spot-on Keanu Reeves, and if that alone doesn’t unnerve you, then the burning hurricane’s that are the Hell levels will. The latter are really well done and lifted straight from the movie, it looks like an A-bomb went off in L.A., complete with cars strewn everywhere and rubble piles blocking your path. Demons and other creatures resemble a lot of the stuff in Spawn comics, especially the main enemy early on, a lanky, ape like demon with half it’s face missing, almost as if it was cleaved straight through horizontally.
The magical effects are pretty neat I must say, and there are several different variations to be seen from electrical storms to powerful wind forces to unleash upon your foes. Along with these, weapons are decently portrayed but nothing overwhelming or awe inspiring here.
Sadly though, most of the urban environments in the mortal world are too dark and drab, with limited color pallets. It also seems to be constantly raining and at night. You can adjust the brightness but it will gray things out more than brighten up the hard to see areas.
Sadly, this is a pretty weak area. Aside from the heavy gothic ambient sound, there is very little music to speak of. Add to that the generic weapon and fighting noise, you won’t be impressed at all.
Even the voice acting is a bit off. They couldn’t snag Keanu for voice acting credits, so they got some poor smuk who does a pretty lame impersonation of a voice that belongs more in an Orange Julius than a motion picture or video game.
With no multi-player support (thank God, imagine playing this with other people!) most gamers should finish this off in a weekend, if you can get past the monotony of course. Not a whole lot to speak of really, pretty standard quick action game that appears all too familiar these days…sadly.
With mediocre sound, graphics and variety, Constantine could make the Devil himself happy to know the torment it will bring to us.
Fans of the comic line or movie may be intrigued enough to buy Constantine but everyone else would be advised to stick to a simple rental. If your looking for demonic action games for your PS2, look for titles such as The Suffering, or even the excellent Onimusha or Devil May Cry series with more of an Oriental flare to them.