The eagerly anticipated first-person shooter (FPS) Pariah was finally delivered to the masses last month. Developed by Digital Extremes (co-developers of Unreal and Unreal Tournament) and published by Groove Games, Pariah has been dubbed as the game Unreal 2 should have been (which ironically uses a modified version of the Unreal 2.0 graphics engine that powered Unreal 2 ). So is Pariah overhyped, or is it truly a unique FPS experience?

Pariah features strong graphic elements and the visuals definitely push the Xbox graphics capabilities to its limits. The game also features excellent outdoor landscapes and character models are quite impressive. My only complaint in the graphics department is the frame rate drops that occur once in awhile. Still, Pariah is a game that manages to look great on the aging Xbox.

For controls, the game utilizes the standard Halo” button configuration, which is now used in the majority of Xbox FPS. Pariah does feature some unique button options. For example, holding the B button will put your character in dash mode, which is particularly helpful when attempting to flee an intense battle sequence. Also, the white button is used to toggle between the healing tool and your current weapon of choice.

The game features several standard FPS weapons (Assault Rifle, Grenade Launcher, Melee Weapon, etc…) that can be upgraded as you progress. Weapon upgrading is achieved by using energy cores that are scattered throughout Pariah or dropped by a downed foe. The energy cores will non-permanently upgrade the weapon and must be accomplished regularly to insure survival. The amount of energy cores needed to upgrade your particular weapon depends on its level, for example a level three assault rifle will require a four energy core to improve, and so forth.

One of the unique features in Pariah is its map editor, which lets players create their own maps and levels. By simply using their Xbox controller, gamers can design their own custom multiplayer death match, team death match or siege maps. The neat thing about it all is that you can share your creation through Xbox Live or by using a memory unit. Read more…

The “For the Gamer” column is a weekly article that I write for [here] magazine based out of New Brunswick, Canada.