Second Sight

This game isn't genre defining. One thing about games being released at this time (bearing in mind this reader review is being written 2 years after the release of the game) was that they needed to be advertised well or cleverly for them to ever make a mark in the charts.

Unfortunately, SS wasn't a trillion seller, but for those who did decide to buy it - well - they were in for a great thriller.

The story is fantastic. You don't expect it. With what looks like the TimeSplitters engine, you can't expect a fantastic story.

Lol.

You get it, though. And it immerses you like no HD 1080p Super Mega Immerso-game could, because you want to be immersed. The psychic powers are simply sublime. They might not always work with the controller, but if the fact that after two years, I've even bothered to go back to the game is anything to go by, I recommend this purchase on any system - GC, Xb or PS2. Just don't pay more than £15.

It lasts about ten minutes. Ish.

Second Sight is a one-player game that involves the elements of stealth, combat and puzzle solving.

Stealth is applied in this game because there are tons of guards. None of the guards are particularly hard to kill, but sneaking can save you from confrontations.

Combat is handled with weapons or powers. You pick up weapons from dead guards such as the pistol or rifle. You automatically aim when you press the aim button, but you can refine it to aim at their head. There are also many powers such as cloaking, psychic blasts and healing. These are useful since your mana regenerates.

Finally there are a few puzzle sequences. For instance, you may have to snoop around for a password for a computer. In order to play a video, you have to get a disk, get a computer to put the file into the disk and get the disk to the video player.

But the game's strongest point is definitely the plot. You are John Vattic who wakens in a mental hospital with no memory of anything. Along the way you learn your powers and recall memories from the past. You'll meet your teammates, along with dangerous foes.

Second Sight might not have a breakthrough in gameplay, but it offers what many of the games of today lack - a immersive storyline.

Second Sight casts players in the role of John Vattic, an amnesiac who's nonetheless endowed with awesome mental abilities. How he's acquired those abilities and what Vattic has to do with a brutal military mission in Siberia is the onus of the story that drives Second Sight.

Developed by Free Radical, whose previous work on TimeSplitters and previously the N64 hit GoldenEye before departing from Rare, this action/adventure game translates the team's FPS talents to a third-person game with intense shooting action the ability to harness paranormal psychic abilities.