For years, The Callisto Protocol has drawn comparisons to the 2008 survival horror classic Dead Space. Everything from the camera perspective to the lot of combat, to the atmosphere and setting screams the silent protagonist Isaac Clarke and his great stepping boots. Understandably, especially since it comes from one of the game’s original creators, it’s a double-edged sword. You already have a very solid foundation to work from when creating your homage to a masterpiece. However, the Callisto Protocol has very few things that can really call themselves.
Although it takes place on the moon rather than on a spaceship, Black Iron Prison still tries to capture the look and tone of USG Ishimura. Amid dark hallways and nightmarish inhabitants, a variety of similarly designed weapons make up much of protagonist Jacob Lee’s inventory, leaving room for rip-offs for Kinesis’ abilities. The HUD is displayed at the touch of a button, and your health is displayed outside Jacob’s suit. It’s like playing the first few hours of a sequel where the gameplay feels familiar before the developers start introducing some new ideas.
It’s hard to tell if this is actually a bad thing. It’s certainly not original – it feels like one or two of his enemy designs were copied – but purely because of that blueprint, the Callisto Protocol has a decent level of quality built into it. It cannot be denied that there are
So what’s new? The story begins with Jacob Lee crash-landing on Jupiter’s moon Callisto and being taken prisoner. Mutant He never spends more than his 5 minutes in a cell until the number of his monsters outnumbers the number of security his bots on patrol and he gets a chance to escape. Below is your stereotypical story: The plot is as much about understanding what is really going on within Black Iron Prison as it is about revealing it.
It’s a useful story. It doesn’t matter if you don’t stand out. The same can be said for the characters who liven up the beat of the story. Most of them are forgettable, and there is little way to define their personalities and traits. While main character Jacob consistently seems just a bit of a noob, Dani is the saving grace. She knows a little bit about her and enhances almost every cutscene she appears in.
Neither the plot nor the other characters can match her prowess, as there are some really impressive movies to the title. It makes the game look very nice when you’re not in control of the action.
This is at least one deviation from the Dead Space formula that presented God of War with every cutscene in the world, and another is combat as much about melee as it is about bullets.At least about 12 hours In the early games of the campaign, Stan Baton sees more action than any gun as you get up close and personal with mutants in Black Iron Prison.
As such, many enemy encounters will be one-on-one. Jacob is equipped with a crowbar and a stun baton that can block attacks and deal damage. Timing is paramount as you read the clear signs of an enemy attack and create space to follow up with your own blows. The game doesn’t really progress beyond pressing the R2 button and getting as many hits as possible, but a simple upgrade tree introduces a few new moves you can think of as you progress.
These melee combats will be difficult at first. The introductory chapter is actually very difficult. However, with more weapons, the game becomes more manageable, and some enemies won’t even be able to get close to you unless you give in to the power of his GRP. This is essentially a rechargeable telekinesis skill that can pick up enemies and throw them around the arena. The best places to place them are among active machines for easy killing. It has a nice curve to start with.
All of this creates a weighted and very robust combat system. The further you go, the more options will open up. This is almost always survival horror action, as the title has few puzzles. It’s the best part of the experience and also serves as a great differentiator from Dead Space.
However, where the game returns to its roots is in its structure — it’s almost entirely linear. Aside from a few optional areas and side rooms, Striking Distance Studios has him one path, and he never deviates from it. At a time when 50+ hour RPGs are a common part of release schedules, it’s refreshing to be able to tell exactly where to go without getting distracted by side quests and open world activities.
Another thing The Callisto Protocol riffs on is death animations. Jacob meets the maker in all sorts of gruesome ways, from having his eyes stuck out to having his torso split in half. These scenes, clearly influenced by Dead Again His Space, are at least original and incredibly brutal. It’s not that I want to stop progress by dying, but seeing how Jacob dies next was at least a fun buffer to another botched run.
As I said before, there’s no getting away from the fact that the title is of fairly high quality.On its own, it’s a fun horror campaign that lets the story fall short, but makes up for it with an excellent combat system. But it’s impossible to avoid comparisons to the series that had such a big impact on it: Callisto Protocol isn’t quite as good as Dead Space, so it’s always overshadowed. To create a game that is very similar, there is always that nagging feeling in the back of my mind that I have already done all this 14 years ago. Despite its emphasis on melee action, Striking Distance Studios will always be remembered as the team that tried to bring Dead Space back to life instead. For real Create your own brand new experience.
On the technical side, you can switch between a quality mode of 30 frames per second and a performance mode that targets 60 fps. Neither option offers a fixed frame rate (small dips are fairly common, especially in intense fight sequences), but you should opt for the latter. Combat is more fluid and uses extra frames to make it feel engaging. Although a significant amount of graphical quality is lost, the game still boasts some impressive visuals.
However, it is not all smooth sailing. During the review process, I encountered severe frame rate drops (less than 10 fps) that could crash the game on command. Reinstalling the title and loading a previous save fixed the issue and pulled multiple updates while playing – a day one patch is also expected.
Conclusion
Callisto Protocol is a consistently good game, and when it’s at its best, you can bet your bounty on a number of survival horror greats. However, you can’t get around the fact that there’s very little this game can truly call its own: By borrowing heavily from Dead Space, there’s always a sense of it’s been there, done that. The Callisto Protocol excels, given its frame rate issues and unimaginative storyline with poor characters. But it’s not great.
