#Evaluation: The Factor: Remastered – Destructoid

I keep in mind studying a preview for The Factor in {a magazine} again earlier than its launch. The sport, I imply, not the film. It’s definitely a recreation that sounds fascinating on paper. So, it’s been caught at the back of my thoughts for many years, however I by no means actually made the transfer to play it.

Why would I? I hadn’t watched the film, and opinions on the time of launch have been lukewarm. I knew it developed one thing of a cult following since then, however even amongst followers, I heard the identical factor: The entire psychological factor was too formidable and didn’t truly work very nicely. I’ve been left to think about its failings.

However I hardly ever miss a remaster from Nightdive Studios, and since they’ve taken on the duty of sprucing up The Factor, then the celebs have definitely aligned. I even went and watched the film whereas working a fever and cuddling with my canine, simply to make issues memorable and a bit of awkward. However you don’t essentially must have watched the film to know what’s occurring within the recreation. I feel you must, although, as a result of then you’ll actually respect how fully daft this recreation is.

The Factor: Remastered (PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox Collection X|S, Swap)
Developer: Nightdive Studios, Laptop Artworks
Writer: Nightdive Studios
Launched: December 5, 2024
MSRP: $29.99

The tip of The Factor: The Film was left fairly ambiguous. I don’t actually wish to spoil it for you past that. It’s a terrific film. And since its ending was left so open, a story follow-up had plenty of room to breathe. A narrative may very well be actually delicate with issues and even heighten the thriller of the unique. That’s not what The Factor: The Recreation does, nevertheless. It stomps proper as much as the film and begins respiratory down its shirt. The one thriller it heightens is how this wrecking ball acquired right here.

This was 2002, and the requirements for online game storytelling couldn’t get a lot nearer to the ground. That is very true for shooters. It was a time when Half-Life was nonetheless naively hailed as having spun a story rivaling Citizen Kane. So, I in all probability shouldn’t have anticipated a lot, however The Factor: The Recreation has the kind of narrative I might provide you with off-the-cuff if I used to be attempting to make enjoyable of the idea of a sequel to The Factor: The Film.

You play as Captain J.F. Blake who sounds a lot like Kyle Travers from Last Struggle: Streetwise, I truly needed to lookup the voice actors to persuade myself it wasn’t. It takes place proper after the film, so it’s nonetheless the Eighties, however he has probably the most common hairstyles of the late ‘90s, proper right down to the spiked-up bangs. He’s Particular Forces, and that’s all there’s to him. He’s the one competent particular person within the universe, and he is aware of it. There isn’t an oz of humanity to the man; he’s only a brick. A giant, grumbly block who wears forest camo pants in Antarctica however received’t placed on a hat as a result of it might mush down his hairdo.

It begins off curiously sufficient. Blake’s Workforce arrives at U.S. Outpost 31 from the film and begin sorting by means of the wreckage. It’s a really understated time within the recreation, because it principally simply introduces you to the ideas of the sport whereas permitting you to go to set items from the film. It’s sort of quiet and tense, which is so uncharacteristically restrained for the sport in hindsight.

The group did think about what made the film nice once they got here up with the design. The one factor they added that I feel works nicely within the recreation and doesn’t get sufficient credit score is the truth that you’ll be able to’t linger outdoors for lengthy. It’s winter in Antarctica and no person introduced a toque. You’ll freeze if you happen to don’t discover shelter. This will get squandered when 80% of the sport is in tight concrete corridors, however the hostility of the open air is a pleasant contact.

What will get probably the most advertising and marketing hype is the belief/concern system, which is simply… I get why they’d concentrate on it in ads, as a result of it’s one thing that makes the sport distinctive, nevertheless it’s so poorly applied that it’d as nicely not be there in any respect. The Factor: The Recreation is a squad-based third-person shooter, and the thought is that it is advisable to hold your squad from freaking out when any one in all them may very well be a factor in disguise. The thought is that you simply, as a participant, don’t know who to belief.

The concern facet works the perfect, nevertheless it’s not very impactful. Your squadmates begin getting nervous once they’re round gore and useless our bodies, however the issue is that the areas you traverse are completely awful with corpses, so it’s arduous to inform while you’re in a concern zone. It often solely turns into a little bit of an issue if you happen to stand round in a room with a large number on the ground. As soon as (and solely as soon as), I needed to bodily push a squadmate out of a room so he might get a breather and get a grip. So, it sort of works; it’s simply actually clumsy.

Once I accomplished the sport, I acquired an achievement that stated I by no means let a single squad member attain most concern degree. Meaning I truly don’t know if one thing cool occurs once they fully lose it as a result of I used to be apparently a very soothing presence for these round me. Perhaps it’s as a result of I continually dwell in concern and anxiousness, so I understand how to empathize with others feeling it.

The belief system is totally pointless, although. Positive, some dudes will refuse to observe you as a result of they assume you may need a factor in your pants, however getting them to come back round is only a matter of shoving ammo into their pockets. Their belief is simply between you and them; squadmates at all times belief one another until it’s for story causes. They don’t must kiss and commerce ammo. For that matter, it’s arduous for them to mistrust you when you’ve loaded them up. They’ll solely begin feeling iffy once more if you happen to hold capturing them. They don’t appear to assume it’s bizarre that you simply obsessively test each notepad and carry an armory on their again. Ammo is the one factor they belief.

The entire thought that anyone of them may very well be a factor is the least significant layer. It’s true, a few of them will sprout tentacles. You are able to do a blood check to see who’s human, nevertheless it doesn’t actually work. Like, in any respect. Dudes you already examined may turn into stuffed with issues anyway. That doesn’t matter although, as a result of the second they begin to change, all of your teammates will out of the blue snap and begin capturing at them earlier than they’re even performed reworking. Even when they didn’t, the friend-things aren’t any more durable than any regular factor. They aren’t a menace. So, who cares if you happen to can belief them?

That’s the most important drawback with The Factor: The Recreation’s superfluous programs; it doesn’t attempt for stress. You play as some generic good man. Virtually a super-hero. At the perfect of instances, The Factor: The Recreation is a dumb shooter. It smells just like the early ‘00s. It’s probably not a horror recreation; it simply has some gross unhealthy guys.

Your squad isn’t constant, both. They get swapped out at nearly each loading display. They don’t have charming personalities to get hooked up to. It doesn’t matter if Simmons exposes his factor. Simmons wasn’t particular. There’s an equivalent dude down the hallway.

It’s a great remaster, although. Completely stable. You possibly can inform the tech people at Nightdive had enjoyable engaged on a post-millennium recreation since they loaded it up with all types of fancy lighting results. True to their M.O., they stored it trying like one thing you’d count on from the period, nevertheless it’s not arduous to see and respect the glow-up. It additionally ran flawlessly on my PC.

There isn’t as a lot by way of additional materials as a number of of their earlier releases. You possibly can view the sport’s authentic trailer and there’s some idea artwork, however not a complete lot that’s insightful. I used to be sort of hoping {that a} recreation that appears to have fallen aside in manufacturing would have extra of a narrative to inform, but when it does, it received’t be discovered right here.

They clearly couldn’t do something in regards to the recreation’s weaknesses. That will take greater than a remaster. It’s not simply that the concern/belief/an infection programs have been buggy or weren’t absolutely applied. No, the unique builders had some high-concept concepts and tried to place them right into a dumb shooter, and so they didn’t match. The dumb shooter was the prevailing drive, and there’s no undoing that.

I additionally bumped into plenty of glitches. I’m undecided which of them have been already there and which have been launched within the remaster. I’m additionally not sure which of them can be mounted by the point you’re studying this since I acquired to the touch The Factor early for this assessment. And actually, the glitches I bumped into have been principally simply hilarious. I did must load a current save to undo a bug a few instances, however extra usually, they have been simply humorous, benign issues.

The perfect one occurred early. Your squadmates will typically throw up once they’re in a foul state of affairs. I can relate; anxiousness makes me throw up, too. Nevertheless, one dude apparently began the puking course of proper as a cutscene began. The digital camera snapped again to indicate the 2 of us strolling into body, he continued the method of throwing up, nevertheless it wouldn’t interrupt the animation. As a substitute, it performed the retching noise, and all of the vomit got here out from between his legs, so it appeared like he was violently evacuating his bowels onto the ground. I laughed so arduous. I nonetheless giggle every time I give it some thought. I caught it in my gameplay seize, and I hold watching it.

Actually, as a lot as I feel The Factor: The Recreation is sort of horrible, I did discover it entertaining. The story is simply so braindead and stuffed with cliches that I needed to see extra to search out out if it was going to be so apparent the entire manner by means of. It positively has reverence for the supply materials, nevertheless it wasn’t precisely mild when it got here to constructing on it. To be truthful, I might have been stunned if it had even come near matching the film by way of storytelling, so it’s perhaps what I ought to have anticipated from a 2002 licensed title.

I nonetheless applaud Nightdive for this remaster. They’re the one ones with the center. No matter how I really feel in regards to the recreation itself, they gave it the identical loving consideration that they usually do. Extra importantly, it’s a licensed recreation, and people are typically probably the most unlikely candidates for a re-release.

A part of me needs their effort was spent on a greater recreation, however the different half is blissful that I acquired to expertise absolutely the mess that’s The Factor. I do know it sounds bizarre to listen to, “This can be a mess; you must completely test it out,” however that’s what I’m saying. The Factor is a captivating cluster of missteps, and a totally unconvincing facsimile of its supply materials. But it surely’s arduous to look away when it turns itself inside out.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}