I picked up Primal by SCE Studio Cambridge at the weekend after trading in a shed load of unwanted titles. It was a bit of a punt, really, as although I’ve been looking forward to the game since I seen some preview code a year ago, it has had fairly restrained review scores on the net.
Fortunately it’s turned out to be pretty damn cool – not that I’ve played more than ten minutes or so – Fliss played most of the five hours plus it took to complete the first level on Saturday night and I have to say I’m impressed by the quality of the graphics and the character interaction.
The levels are simply enormous, and although you are taking a pretty linear path through them sometimes, they are still big enough to give you a good sense of being lost in a very well crafted world.
A couple of niggles would be with the camera and the combat system. Firstly, the camera is very jerky, especially when you run up a set of stairs… not sure why that couldn’t be smoothed as it does take a bit of polish off of the sublime environments. With the combat system it just doesn’t feel like you have much control over Jen and most enemies can be beaten by just tapping away and hoping for the best.
After battling through the first level, we’re on to the second realm – the water world of Aquis, where the graphical quality betters the gothic ruins of the opening level. The scenery is simply stunning at times, and I think you’d be hard pressed to find a better looking or sounding title of a similar genre on any of the current consoles.
At this early stage in the game, despite the aforementioned niggles, I would really recommend it to anyone who likes a good adventure game – especially if you appreciate attention to detail of a high quality.
