PSX Sentient

[Graham Mitchell]

Kind of a wierd-looking game for the PSOne from Psygnosis. The game is essentially a modern update of the classic PC text adventures of the early 80's. It didn't fair too well commercially and it's going for $.01 on ebay right now. But to a person who enjoys stuff like Snatcher and Hotel Dusk, this game looks intriguing. Here's some gameplay footage:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBfNYH70EEU

I doesn't look like much from the video, but it seems like the type of thing you need to really invest some time into in order to get any gratification from it.

Has anybody played through this game? Is it worth grabbing?

[Graham Mitchell]

Wow, so I guess nobody's really played it. Can it suck that bad?

[Rob2600]

Wow, so I guess nobody's really played it. Can it suck that bad?

It received above average reviews from Gamespot and GamePro and an average review from IGN:

Gamestats.com - Sentient (Sony PlayStation) (http://www.gamestats.com/objects/002/002115//articles.html)

"Sentient is irreparably marred by a tedious pace, worsened by the fact that all the corridors begin to look the same after awhile. The background graphics are passable, but the faces of the people you talk to are just grotesque."

[Graham Mitchell]

...but the faces of the people you talk to are just grotesque."

That was part of the appeal.

[norkusa]

The description of this game sounded so good, I started looking around for used copies on Ebay until I realized that I already have it in my collection. I don't remember buying (or even playing) it, so it must have been of those $3 impulse buys at Gamestop that I put on the shelf and totally forgot about. Looking forward to playing it soon though, despite the bad review in the DP Advance Guide.

[Jorpho]

There was a PC version of this one, actually. In fact...
http://www.cdaccess.com/html/quick/sentientpr.htm

[Haoie]

This game is in my collection.

The biggest problem with the game is quite possibly it's open ended nature, coupled with it's invisible time span [before the space station plunges into the sun].

It's the sort of thing that could be enjoyable, given a whole lot of refinement.

[jdc]

Gee, thanks.....another weird PSX game. Now I've gotta hunt me down a copy.

[Graham Mitchell]

Gee, thanks.....another weird PSX game. Now I've gotta hunt me down a copy.

Shouldn't be hard. Or expensive.

I think the faces look pretty creepy in that Psygnosis sort of way.

[retrogarden]

I played this game (was going to start a thread about it), and it is very much an open ended, thrown in at the deep end, not sure what to do, game. But it is engrossing when you get into it.

But like I said, overwhelming to begin with, in that you have to formulate sentances about people and objects - with rather similar responses (for example, you can say "Would you go to the medical bay?", "Will you go to the medical bay?" and "Can you go to the medical bay?" and only one would result in the person going to the medical bay).

Other than that though, it's good :)

[Graham Mitchell]

So, a few months short of a year after making this thread I bought the game today. It's got an intriguing ambience, to say the least. I've had to restart it several times as I manage to muck something up and the space station plunges into the sun after awhile if you're not doing things correctly (I guess).

I'm going to have to resort to gamefaqs a little bit on this to help me plunge a bit further, because it is intriguing. It took me for-effing-ever to figure out how to navigate around the station. It reminds me of the Twin Towers prison hospital--designed to confuse you and thus prevent your escape.

Anybody else have something to say about it?

BTW-I picked up another obscure Psygnosis nugget today as well: The PSX adaptation of City of Lost Children. Such a...creepy thing to make a game out of. It plays like a cross between Alone in the Dark and Liesure Suit Larry. Cool concept, but the game was rushed and you can tell. And why does Miette have an English accent?

[c2000]

It was planned for the Saturn as well but never got anywhere..