Eye on iOS: Volume 8
Stargate SG-1: Unleashed – Episode One
If you’ve managed to blast your way through Gemini Rue‘s gunfights and two-handedly navigate the streets of 19th century London in The Awakened, then you might just be ready for Stargate SG-1: Unleashed[/i]. Maybe. Billed as an “interactive episodic sci-fi adventure game”, the first episode of this planned three-part series is essentially a third-person action game with a few minor adventure game trappings. There’s exploring to do on an alien world, interactive dialogues that may (but don’t seem to) impact the outcome, and a few pattern-based puzzles to solve along the way, but the vast majority of this roughly three-hour game is spent fending off waves of enemies in cover fire shootouts, stealthily sneaking past guards, escaping danger through Quick Time Events, and engaging in the odd context-based rhythm minigame.
My first experience of Stargate dates back to watching grizzled Air Force Special Ops Captain Kurt Russell dragging chicken-clucking Egyptologist James Spader through an intergalactic portal to help free a race of enslaved people on a planet ruled by Ra in the original 1994 movie. I’ve also stumbled upon a few random Stargate Atlantis episodes in recent years and been bewildered about who was who and what was what. The only thing I recognized was the stargate. But apparently somewhere in the middle was an extraordinarily successful ten-year television run of Stargate SG-1. Pulled from the air in 2007, the iOS adventure reunites the main cast of the show, including Richard Dean Anderson as Jack O’Neill, Amanda Tapping as astrophysicist Samantha Carter, Michael Shanks as archeologist and linguist Daniel Jackson, and Christopher Judge as the rebellious former alien slave Teal’c. The likenesses are acceptable and the voice performances credible, so there’s not much more you could ask in terms of fan service.
Fortunately, if you’re not up to speed on the Stargate universe, the stylish opening menu offers a handy recap of key players and events to fill you in. The game itself begins with a pair of Russian scientists inadvertently releasing the Egyptian “god” Sekhmet (not a spoiler: really a parasitic alien), and instantly regretting it in a very visceral way. Once you take control back at the Stargate Command Center, you’re on your own for a baptism by fire. Or should I say, firestorm. With just a few brief pop-up messages for tutorial, you’re thrust immediately into a timed escape sequence with multiple gunfights. This isn’t a learning curve, it’s a learning WALL. The cover mechanics are actually pretty easy. Like Gemini Rue, there are icons to stand (you have to hold it, though the game says to tap), shoot, and switch guns, then let your finger-pointing do the rest as enemies pop out of cover. Their weapons need to power up, so there’s plenty of chance to get some shots in first, though if you’re facing multiple opponents at once (and you almost always will be), you’ll need to beware energy blasts from multiple targets. Getting hit is a virtual certainty, but the extremely forgiving damage system lets you simply duck back down until you’ve fully recovered, your foes patiently biding their time until you do. There’s no health meter, but your character will physically react to injury, and the screen will start to redden when the situation is dire.
Simply moving around proves a whole lot harder, at least in the early going, which doesn’t bode well when you have a time counter ticking down (grrr). Stargate uses the same system as Sherlock Holmes – left-side swipes to move, right-side swipes to rotate view – but the latter is overly sensitive. And as a third-person game, the default camera periodically changes perspectives on its own, which means you can be struggling to face the proper direction one moment, only to find yourself moving the completely opposite way the next. That’s fun. Did I mention the timer? This opening sequence introduces the first rhythm exercise, as you must tap at the precise time to help your character maintain balance. It’s pretty simple, and you can rapid-tap an icon if you do make a mistake. None of these tasks are particularly hard in their own right, but each will take some getting used to as they’re thrown at you in rapid succession. I died the first time by letting the timer run out, but since I was stuck facing the entire scenario over from the beginning, I was all over it the second time through.
The premise revolves around Sekhmet’s discovery of a time travel device, but this first episode includes only the Stargate team’s search for information on an alien planet. It’s a world that closely resembles ancient Egypt – or more accurately, Egypt as it would be today if it had never overthrown its ruling oppressors and been allowed to evolve technologically. You’ll briefly explore a temple and then a widespread excavation as metal-masked guards monitor their malnourished, ill-treated human slaves. You’ll spend a fair chunk of time sneaking around here as Jackson. Like the rest of the game, the stealth scenes aren’t particularly difficult, but they are unforgiving, as you’re sent back to the nearest checkpoint if spotted by a guard’s seemingly hyper-sensitive peripheral vision. Getting back out is a bit more tense, resulting in a fast-paced chase punctuated by swipes and frantic screen tapping on cue.
These limited action sequences are really all there is to Stargate SG-1, as each is repeated multiple times (the gunfights by far being the most numerous). It’s not that they aren’t fun at all, just very repetitive after the first couple times. The “adventure” elements are largely wasted, with a couple fetch tasks and Jackson’s specialist abilities restricted to: see hieroglyphic code in plain sight, enter symbols accordingly. A bit more variety would have gone a long way to making the game feel like a more complete experience. The crisp 3D graphics certainly look nice, but the lack of environmental diversity doesn’t really do them justice. There’s a lot of dirt and rock and sand and sun, and not a whole lot else. The secondary character models look nice as well, with convincingly menacing alien warriors and a one-armed slave prophet inciting the masses in camp. Music is largely unobtrusive, but it was certainly nice to hear the main Stargate theme play occasionally.
Available as a univeral app for iPad and iPhone (but NOT iPods), this game will appeal mainly to fans of the franchise eager for an interactive mission with the original cast. It’s a shame, though, that so little has been done with the concept so far. With its repetitive, action-oriented gameplay, it may turn off those who enjoy Stargate‘s more cerebral elements, along with any number of diehard adventure gamers. However, with another two installments still to come, there’s plenty of room for improvement and expansion in terms of story, locations, and gameplay variety. This episode teases of bigger (if not better) things to come, but for now it still feels very much like Stargate SG-1: Leashed, which hasn’t been let out to truly stretch its legs.
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