With a name like Get Even you might be expecting an action-packed revenge shooter, but The Farm 51 has crafted something a bit more elegant with their latest first-person action game; something a bit slower and more thoughtful, both in concept and execution. You’ll be playing Cole Black, some sort of agent sent in to rescue a female hostage with a bomb strapped to her chest…but that’s just the prologue. Things get infinitely more cryptic when that bomb detonates during your defusing, and you wake up to find yourself in some sort of asylum.
For those who played it, Get Even quickly evokes that same atmosphere and gameplay style of Outlast, but instead of viewing the world through a camcorder you’ll be using a multi-purpose cell phone, which serves as your only UI into this immersive world. Your phone has the typical data log elements for reviewing notes and such, but you can also cycle to apps that call up a mini-map, UV light, thermal scanner, or use the camera to tag clues to further your investigation. An early example is when the power goes out and you must use the thermal vision of your camera to follow the glowing power lines back to the fuse box. Most games would shift the entire screen into thermal view, but in Get Even you must move the phone around to dual view the world in this augmented reality.
While Get Even does have its fair share of guns – a key plot element is a prototype CornerGun – the mix of shooting takes a back seat to exploration and discovery, as you slowly unravel the mysteries of your captors and what they are really after. Using a VR-style headset called Pandora, you will dive deep into your mind, which offers the developers some unique level design opportunities where levels are fluid and can even be altered with pure thought. This also allows for a bit of player choice in how to approach levels; either going in stealthy or guns blazing, although you are warned that violence can alter your memories, which in turn affect the levels and events.
I was impressed with the engaging story and the quality of the voice acting. Get Even explores some surprisingly emotion terrain and heavy plot elements that you don’t find in your everyday action game, and the end result is a nicely paced and satisfying conclusion to the 8-10 hour adventure where many of your previous actions all play a critical part in the final chapter.
Technically, Get Even seems to be a bit dated when it comes to visuals with graphics that look like the aforementioned Outlast or even an old Crysis game. It’s an odd mix really, because there are parts that look outstanding while some objects and textures don’t seem to gel with the rest of the scene. Lighting is fantastic and there are some good effects for shadows, dust, smoke, etc. The game ran smoothly at a locked 60fps at max settings in 4K on my 1080ti and should easily scale to most any reasonably good PC.
As previously mentioned, the voice acting is excellent, and the sound and music fits the psychology of the game design and story; although I did find some parts of the score distracting and even annoying at times. This is ironic since the soundtrack is available as digital DLC or on a standalone CD, yet there is little music in the actual game.
Get Even has moments of brilliance, but those are mostly in story and game design juxtaposed against a presentation that seems trapped in the past. There were some annoying clipping bugs that would stick Cole in the environment forcing me to reload – the first being just seconds after starting when I went to investigate a manhole cover after exiting the first building. Being unable to jump in the game is not only an annoying physical limitation; it’s also heavily exploited to create contrived puzzles that break your immersion.
For those looking for something a bit more cerebral in their action games, Get Even definitely offers up a unique blend of stealth and action, a great sense of style, an immersive world with no HUD or UI to distract, and a heavy dose of investigative adventure that might have you thinking you are playing a Batman game. While no single element of Get Even is truly exceptional, when they all come together you do get an engaging action-shooter with exceptional moments, and for only $30 it’s hard not to recommend Get Even to anyone looking to fill that FPS void this summer.
