Survival is a must! Penumbra collection Review
Penumbra collection is a collection of three chapters if you will of a very captivating and very involving game.
The collection consists of three titles one of which being a add-on, the collection contains Penumbra: Overture which is the first episode of the three, Penumbra: Black Plague which is the second episode and Penumbra: Requiem which is the add-on of the collection.
the story starting off being you play as Philip who is a physicist who’s mum has just passed away who was his only living relative, but then receives a mysterious letter off his father who is supposedly dead, which then sees you setting out on a journey which is spanned over three episodes of pure fear, survival horror and very thought provoking game play and each episode contains that extra edge of toughness and the extra little edge on the enemies which means you need to play harder and concentrate more on the puzzle aspect of Penumbra which is rife through out this title in a good way and adapt to the different environments.
This game really compel you in to the story and immerse you in to the mood and thought of really having to survive and utilise your surroundings and to explore and find things that will keep you going.
The controls over the three episodes are done so brilliantly and very interactively it’s such a pleasure to use through out. Clicking your mouse on a door and dragging your mouse back will see the door open up in front of you, so your hand is performing more or less the real life motions of opening a door and swinging rocks to break ice or swinging iron bars to break wooden boxes are all really well done by the advanced physics engine that runs well with Penumbra.
Having great controls to control a great game Penumbra also has great graphics and the bonus of that is that it takes next to nothing to run them on your pc so you don’t have to go running out and buying a new graphics card, the graphics run really well seeing as it has such a low requirement spec, really highly detailed and very nice lighting effects which is all thanks to the games unique game engine.
With its compelling story line in all three episodes and its very captivating game play it also has a brilliant sound effects and ambience collection that immerses you even deeper in to the game, best wear headphones and sit in the dark to play this one because of its very movie like story book style game which have you really involved and wanting more and more and more is what this brilliant title brings you.
But overall if you like this type of game where you have to solve puzzles to progress further in the level then you should buy this game for definite or if you can remember the old pc game called phantasm and if you liked that you will love this game, even if you just want to try your hand and something new grab this one when it comes out.
Review By: Richard Sweeting
