E.Y.E: Divine Cybermancy Review
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The problem, predictably, is that with so many elements in the pot, E.Y.E never really comes together in a coherent sort of way. The issues with E.Y.E are so numerous and so pervasive, that it's honestly very difficult to decide where to start, but they crop up early and never relent. There's no easy way to say it: this game is broken. Maybe not to the point of it being unplayable (on the contrary, at times it can be a lot of fun), but it's hard to believe it was deemed acceptable to release in this state. The most obvious problem the game has is poor communication. Put simply, E.Y.E is terrible about presenting information, whether that's critical mission details, storyline elements, or even basic tutorials. For instance, jumping into the game, all you get are a set of poorly-subtitled videos; these are either overcomplicated or completely useless, yet you'll have to rely on them to understand many of the game's basic elements. Others, like how gaining experience functions, the nuances of the surprisingly involved hacking minigame, or the details of the research system, are left unexplained. At its worst, E.Y.E will outright contradict itself, such as in one mission where I was told to "get the hell out of here", yet it was only after running back to the drop zone that I realised the game actually wanted me to stand exactly where I was and protect the same NPC who gave me the instruction to run, who ended up dying shortly after. In a nice move, the game didn't just fail the mission, but instead let me continue without him... until he inexplicably reappeared in the next mission, anyway.
Another related problem is poor visual feedback - save for obvious sounds and HUD elements to indicate bleeding, most messages appear in a small log in the top-left corner of the screen, but the only indication of an arm or leg injury can often disappear just as quickly as it comes, leading to awkward deaths when suddenly one's avatar can't run as fast or shoot as accurately as a moment before. And while I mean no disrespect to the developers, the English translation from the team's native French is extremely rough at times, which contributes much to the difficulty with which the game's story and lore are presented with. Hiring on a professional translator would have gone a long way to correct the game's interface and communication problems.
When it comes to gameplay, E.Y.E is also extremely unbalanced, with tons of mechanics that never mesh into the core game design or construction of the missions and levels. It has many non-combat skills, from Medicine, to Psi, to Hacking, and yet it's also an extremely combat-focused game - it's rare to get more than a few second's peace as you explore the environment, as waves of continually-respawning enemies attack with annoying frequency, making even sitting down to use the skills you've put effort into building difficult. Stealth is held up as a genuine option, only for it to turn out useless as the near-psychic AI seeks your character out from halfway across the map, with the main exception being the cloaking skill, which makes sneaking almost trivially easy. It throws up the pretense of choice and consequence in its mission objectives and level design, only for the game to forget your prior choices; at one point my commanding officer offered hearty congratulations on my success last mission, even though I'd directly gone against existing orders and consorted with the enemy.
Then there's the more specific, minute-to-minute problems. Although you've got dozens upon dozens of stats to level up, you only get a paltry 3 points to spend every level, and it's rare to feel as if you're making real progress due to how minor the bonuses given are, requiring a dozen hours of investment just to feel like your character is taking a more defined shape. You'll frequently become trapped in corners and hallways by the enemy soldiers you've mind-controlled into being your allies, or by your summoned clones. At default values, enemy respawn rates are so quick that it's not uncommon to be attacked by a full battalion of them a few seconds after clearing the room they ambush you from (thankfully, this can be mostly fixed in the options menu). Quitting and reloading a mission will cause certain objectives you've accomplished to be forgotten, while others are remembered, but not the specific circumstances of the level, so if you spent half an hour hacking your way through sentry turrets, only to have to quit and come back later, well, I hope you enjoy spawning surrounded by dozens of hostiles. Perhaps worst of all, there are pervasive scripting issues in many of the missions, meaning that it often isn't able to properly accommodate the same open-ended gameplay it revels in. I could go on, but I think that paints a picture of enough frustrations to get the point across.
Despite all these issues, E.Y.E does have its strong points, and I think they're strong enough to the point where many are going to overlook its flaws anyway, simply because some of its ideas are so good, and there are so few games like this on the market right now. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is the most obvious parallel: a shooter/RPG hybrid that was released in a near-broken state, but ended up going on to achieve a lot of success due much in part to its dedicated fan and modding community, so much so that two follow-ups ended up securing the franchise's success. While I'm not saying E.Y.E is going to reach the same status, it has the potential to turn into something great with enough time and effort on the part of the community and developers, and some players may be willing to invest in that potential.
