Primal is a forgotten gem of a game.
Released in 2003, it's the type of game that's got satisfying combat, interesting stories,
fun characters...
It's the type that deserves more recognition as one of the great PS2 exclusives.
Sure, it may take a little while for things to get going, with a lot of early exposition.
And perhaps the camera may take a bit of getting used to.
But, still, it's got this rich world that's entertaining and even has some surprisingly
cinematic moments.
You take on the role of Jen and a gargoyle called Scree.
You get to travel to four different realms to fight off monsters, explore foreign lands
and solve, let's be honest, some pretty simple puzzles.
So it's your job to put an end to some of the chaos that's going on.
Let's take a look at Primal.
The game's always got this dark, Gothic feel to it, with environments often being miserable,
soulless places.
All four of the realms come with their own stories, and with their own monsters, species,
kings, queens, lores and traditions, that are all interesting to learn about.
Individually, each realm would probably be a struggle to hold up a game on its own.
But put them together, and they provide these bite size adventures, where after wrapping
up the story in one realm, by removing whatever was causing the chaos in it, you get to move
on to next.
Each realm is kind of like a different episode of a T.V. show, with each presenting its own
problems, and its own, new characters for our heroes to help out, before riding off
into sunset (or in this case rift gate) onto the next adventure.
Exploring all of the different realms is entertaining.
OK, maybe not all of them.
Aquis, the blue, underwater realm can be kind of annoying.
It's very easy to find yourself getting disorientated, as the camera struggles with you swimming
down narrow caves.
And combine that with some boring tasks, plus a poor boss fight (in fact, thinking about
it, the game only really had one good boss fight) you may find that this Aquis quarter
of the game tends to drag on a bit.
But trust me, push through, and it's uphill from there.
There's fun characters to meet.
But the stand out stars have to be the two leads.
They have this great chemistry together, and it helps that they're really acted extremely
well.
Having two voice overs recorded in the same room, at the same time, helps everything come
across as more natural, as the dialogue bounces back and forth between them, rather than being
stitched together at a later date.
The music provides a superb mix of rock and epic orchestral stuff.
Although I did come across the occasional glitch in the audio, which were kind of funny...
...but probably shouldn't have been there.
In fact, if I'm honest, perhaps some of the dialogue could actually have been cut out
all together.
You kind of get the gist of every conversation after a few sentences, but then they still
go on for a couple of minutes more.
If you had to, you could probably trim fifty percent of the dialogue, without too much
information being lost.
Obviously you don't want to cut out the fun stuff, but the times when someone's explaining
something, can feel a bit bloated.
It's fun though, seeing Jen have to come to terms with the fact that she's the one who's
going to have to save the entire universe.
Her starting mood varies from indifferent...
...to scared.
But eventually she does fit into her role as a tough, saviour of the universe, but without
ever losing her sense of humour.
And, of course, let's not forget the lovable gargoyle Scree.
He's the serious one, to counter her comic relief, and is often the butt end of her jokes.
Pressing the triangle button makes him give you a clue as to what to do next.
It's a nice mechanic that stops you from having to run to a walk through every time you get
stuck.
Think of him as the tour guide of the journey.
So now let's talk combat, and here it's surprisingly clever.
The speed of your attack varies depending upon how much pressure you put on the trigger.
So fast, light taps result in fast, light punches, and holding the trigger for longer,
results in the heavy, slow, but high damage moves.
It really gives you a sense of control, and it's not just what you press, but how you
press that matters.
Like any good action game, it's about watching your opponents and learning when to block,
and then counter.
And the violent finishing moves never seem to get old, especially when you throw in heavy
metal rock music whenever a fight breaks out.
Combat does have a slow-ish pace to it, with a lot of the time, you waiting for the right
opportunity to make a move.
And things can get a little messy.
But to be honest, that could be said about the game in general.
Things move along at a slow, methodical pace.
Something like trying a door probably shouldn't take this long.
Now of course, Jen isn't entirely human.
Over the course of the game, she starts to gain the abilities of different forms.
The fact that all four forms come with their own special moves and their own fighting style,
means that you'll be constantly be switching between them a lot.
I do like that each form also has it's own health bar, so when one's running low, you
may have to switch to another to avoid dying.
Scree also gets to help out, with his nice monkey-like animations.
In fact, you probably wouldn't get very far without his ability to climb walls.
He also has a rope to help Jen reach higher platforms, so together they make make the
perfect team.
Each new little area, like a enclosed courtyard, provides its own fun, figuring out how together,
you can find a way out, although, to be fair, Jen is painfully slow at going up and down
a rope.
Scree acts like your personal portable battery, storing energy in him that Jen can use to
heal herself up.
Dying's not something you have to worry about too often in the game.
Scree just turns into stone when a battle breaks out and waits for the danger to pass.
And when Jen dies, it isn't necessarily game over, because Scree has the opportunity to
bring her back, if he can reach the nearest rift gate in time.
There are a few annoying occasions however, when you switch from one of the characters
to the other, to find that they, for some reason, stopped following you miles back,
meaning you have to repeat a journey again, this time as the other character.
Overall, this game is great.
It's not perfect- but definitely one that more people should try out.
Let me know what you think in the comments below and as always, thanks for watching.