Often people I work with will say
"Man it must be awesome to be a reviewer" or "I wish I could do that". The
truth of the matter is, is that, yes, it is great to be a reviewer. But I
think that most people think that it’s all HALO 2 and Grand Theft Auto, meaning
that every game I get to review is awesome. The honest truth is, an
average reviewer gets nine crappy or average games for every one great game.
As a matter of fact, I actually remember getting over a dozen really bad games
in a row before getting a decent one. Not that I’m complaining, any good
reviewer will tell you it can be fun to review a bad game. But for all
this good game, bad game reviewing there is, I like to call it "Reviewer Karma"
one only needs to look at recent reviews.
Case in point, I got to do the HALO 2 deluxe edition review, an absolutely
fantastic game. Using my Karma theory, I should get a less then good game.
And lo and behold, I present to you the game Torrente.
Torrente is a first person/third
person action game. Playing the title hero, Torrente is a foul mouthed,
alcohol consuming, over weight womanizer who was disgracefully fired from the
police force. Now, acting as a private detective, Torrente is handed jobs
by his police friends that may help him get reinstated on the force. Of
course, given the absurd nature of some of the mission, the over the top
violence and sheer insaneness of it all, I had to wonder why bother.
Torrente is a bottom shelf game, meaning if you want to buy this, look on the
bottom shelf at the store. I could spend the entire review lambasting it, but
that wouldn’t be right, there are some interesting ideas that this game has,
that I think are worth mentioning.
For one, I really liked Torrente, we are all used to playing that elite
character, the Master Chief, Sam Fisher and others who are described as being
the best of the best. Well with Torrente, you certainly don’t get that.
If anything, he is more lucky then anything. Stumbling and shooting his
way through one mess after another, only by sheer luck being the one who isn’t
lying dead after all the chaos ends. It’s actually a novel idea for a
hero, add in that he is certainly a flawed character who looks out for himself
as much as your average scumbag. I liked him, he was fun.
Secondly, the audio also was kind of fun, Torrente the game, takes place in
Spain and Torrente the man has a quick wit and strong accent. I found
myself chuckling on more then one occasion with his wry one liners and the sheer
goofiness of it all. Other audio was also done nicely, but it actually
pales in comparison to the strong character voice of Torrente.
But, despite those two qualities, the game does suffer some major flaws.
Most notably the bland gameplay and stiff controls. Even though there are
customizable controls, I never did find them very user friendly. During the
game you can transfer between third and first person perspectives. Problem
is, when you play in third person, the mouse never seems to dial in as tight as
it should and the movements of Torrente are stiff and uncomfortable. When
you play in first person view, the view is brought in almost too close, like
it’s 20% closer then your average first person shooter game.
The game also has fairly flat graphics that don’t do it any favors. There
doesn’t seem to be any texturing in the game and all object/characters that move
have a clunkiness to them that makes the whole experience seem cheap. I
wasn’t surprised that the game uses the same generic bad guys over and over, in
fact I can say that there is nothing inspirational to see in this game
whatsoever.
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Review Scoring Details |
Gameplay: 5.0
Really disappointing here, poor controls, poorly designed missions, poor
execution.
Graphics: 4.3
It really looks bad, there is nothing to rave about, character movements are
stiff and clumsy, the walls and levels have no texturing, there is nothing
flashy or impressive here.
Sound: 7.4
The best part of the game is the goofy accents. You can play it in either
English or Spanish, that’s kinda cool and should be something that other games
should consider.
Difficulty: Easy
Nope, no challenge here.
Concept: 6.4
I like the idea of the game, with its flawed title character and non-elitist
demeanor.
Overall: 4.8
Gaming Karma here folks, this one is not worth the price. Stay away.
