MindsEye Review – WE HAVE GTA AT HOME
It doesn’t take a genius to guess that MindsEye was gonna faceplant out of the gate. From the lack of early review codes to Build A Rocket Boy’s co-CEO claiming that there was a “concerted effort to trash the game and the studio” online, the red flags couldn’t be more obvious.
Death By 1,000 Cuts
It’s not the worst open-world, action-adventure title I’ve ever played, but there are just so many things that’ll slowly piss you off over time. The flaky as fudge frame rate which drops and stutters to slideshow levels on PC. The graphics and AI that can be so hilariously bad you can’t help but laugh. The random mission-ending triggers that pop up at the worst possible times, causing you to replay sections that’ll make you lose your marbles… Watching a trainwreck can be entertaining, but it loses its appeal pretty fast in this case. I must admit, driving a giant truck just under a factory door and getting a game over screen for breaking ‘company protocol’ is the funniest thing I think I’ve ever seen in a video game, hands down. You can’t beat it. But I digress.
Our main character, Jacob Diaz, who’s suffering from memory issues, is the star of the show, though he doesn’t have much utility. Outside of switching weapons, cover-shooting and running, he can’t jump, melee or special skill his way out of a box. Plus, he can only drive very specific vehicles and enter from the left door. No exceptions. This also means he can’t hijack people out of cars, nor will the police bat an eyelid if he starts a rampage. In fact, crime seems to be so foreign to the NPCs that their coding can’t seem to handle reality. I think the devs forgot to get QA test this one, let’s be honest.
Wafer-thin bullet sounds whiz by as Jacob plops off enemies that almost forget what they’re doing half the time.
Same thing applies to the combat. Imagine the most basic cover-shooting gameplay you could think of, and this is precisely what you’d get. Wafer-thin bullet sounds whiz by as Jacob plops off enemies that almost forget what they’re doing half the time. They’ll occasionally try to flank him if you remain stationary for too long, but it actually just makes them easier to shoot, so you can move on with your life. Jacob’s neck implant lets him command a small drone that can stun and grenade enemies on a cooldown, as well as hack hostile robots to become allies. However, it doesn’t make the experience that much better.
Small Carrot, Giant Stick
Okay, look, it’s not all terrible. There is some variety outside of the cutscene, shootout, cutscene, shootout formula. You’ll pilot drones for recon missions, sneaky-sneak around a prison, take part in some decent QTE segments and drive between missions with surprisingly solid handling. But then it’s back to more shooty-shooty bang bang with little else to do in the lifeless Redrock city…
At certain points, Jacob will come across these optional portal-looking things that remind him of his past. Though, as I’m sure you’ve guessed it—more gunfights! You’ll get graded on your time or kill count in these short 2-3 minute scenarios, though there’s no real incentive to aim higher. Unless you wanna show off to your friends, but surely you could do something better than this? Come on. As you could imagine, I was tempted more than once to just skip these entirely. Especially the minigame that has you placing robots into simple tactical positions so they can block a bunch of baddies from entering a building. This had to be the most brain-dead piece of nothing I’ve seen in a while.
On that note, the whole story is about what’s happening inside Jacob’s murky head and how he used to be a part of the military. Hence, his friend suggests that he join a tech company called Silva to suss things out. Strong start. However, while the cutscenes are acted well and do look good (when the frame rates wanna be nice), the intriguing intro of MindsEye doesn’t amount to much in the end, as the main narrative doesn’t pay off and the cast of characters aren’t particularly interesting. So please don’t play this for the plot. Just go and touch grass or something. I don’t know.
Decision
From the moment the game dropped, it was clear: MindsEye has more issues than Tottenham’s defence. The horrendous frame rates, laughable AI and constant mission bugs quickly wear down any goodwill, leaving you with a frustrating mess that overstays its 9-10 hour runtime. While the drone-flying and gunplay can offer a glimmer of fun, the side content, characters and narrative never rise above mediocre. If you’re still thinking of buying this to kill time before GTA VI comes out, think again.
By Anthony Culinas – Reviewed on PC
Bad
MindsEye fails with buggy missions, disastrous frame rates and some of the worst AI we’ve seen in modern gaming. You’ll find the odd spark here and there that’s enjoyable, but you shouldn’t have to trudge through layers of cookie-cutter content to be entertained.
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