The Callisto Protocol reviewed by Tristan Ogilvie on PlayStation 5. Also available on PlayStation 4, Xbox, and PC.
“The Callisto Protocol is a supremely atmospheric and action-heavy tour through a spectacular slaughterhouse set in distant space. Its largely linear design makes for minimal backtracking, meaning it trims the fat while leaving no shortage of bone and gristle to rip and tear. However, it also betrays its survival horror roots by regularly tipping the balance of power too far in favour of the player, and while there’s plenty of murderous fun to be had using giant grinding mechanisms to make mulch out of mutants, such cheap thrills come at the high cost of puncturing any tension and dread that the tremendous art and audio design work so hard to invoke. Aside from the meaty melee combat, there’s also the overriding sense that there’s not a lot here that hasn’t been done before – and there’s disappointingly little to do once you’ve beaten the campaign. Thus The Callisto Protocol is a satisfyingly gory spiritual successor to the Dead Space series, but it’s ultimately more of a striking modern mimic than a scary new mutation.”
A proper remake might be rising from the Grave next year but the festering corpse Of Dead Space has come lurching back to Life early in the form of the Callisto Protocol this spiritual successor to the Sci-Fi survival horror series recreates The blood-streaked hallways and monster Slaying Hallmarks first established on The USG ishimura back in 2008 and Injects the gore with more ore than ever Before thanks to some strikingly Detailed splashes of Blood and Guts Unfortunately while the mutant Dismemberment has never been more Vivid The Callisto protocol shortcomings Appear just as clearly occasional Control annoyances imbalanced combat and A general absence of innovation result In a roughly eight-hour Massacre that's Gratifyingly gruesome but never quite as Great as the series that inspired it Maximum We're not gonna make it yes we Are joke hold on Catastrophe has struck the black Iron Prison facility on the moon of Callisto And the inmates are revolting not just In the sense that they've escaped their Cells that are causing a riot but also Because they've been infected by a Mysterious virus that's mutated them all Into Twisted toxic Avengers It's up to wrongly incarcerated cargo Pilot Jacob Lee to find a way out of This ruined facility overrun by
Lunar-based lunatics what follows is a Fairly linear Gauntlet run but Thankfully the team at develop a Striking Distance has proven itself to Be masterful makers of creepy corridors Rarely are any two passages ever the Same and each area is given a distinct Sense of place from the maintenance room Decorated with dangling corpses to the Frosted over facilities that lie Beyond The Prison Walls Josh Duhamel from the Transformers Movies does a commendable job in the Lead role but the majority of the Desperation and discomfort of his plight Is conveyed through the impressive art Direction and audio design With the third person camera tight on Jacob at all times you get a clear look At the blood spatter that soaks his Coveralls after each brutal encounter or The especially icky sewerage that coats His body after his forced to Wade Waist Deep through Waste Management everything Is thick and gross in a genuinely Palpable way And reinforced by unsettling scrapes and Sickening squelches in the darkness Around you As Jacob inched his way through the Disgusting pus boil and tendril covered Caves of black Iron's lower levels the Callisto protocol's putrid Penitentiary Had me locked in a state of Maximum
Insecurity Max we got trouble We've been boarded let's address the Elephant-sized mutant monster in the Room though the Callisto protocol is Effectively a dead space game in Everything but name with Striking Distance even being led by Dead Space Co-creator Glenn Schofield from the Neatly minimalistic HUD which grafts Jacob's health bar into the back of his Neck to The Stomping of crates and Corpses To the telekinesis ability that allows You to hurl objects around with a flick Of Jacob's wrist there's even evidence Of a mysterious religious cult that's Somehow involved in the outbreak and Instructions on how to kill enemies left In blood smeared on the walls it stops Short of introducing Isaac Clarke's Stasis ability and swaps his collection Of weaponized mining implements for a More conventional arsenal of pistols and Shotguns but it otherwise feels very Familiar and as someone who's played all Of the Dead Space Games it made for a Campaign that was reasonably heavy on Jump scares but light on any major story Or gameplay surprises The biggest deviation that the Callisto Protocol makes from dead space's Terra-fueled template is its increased Emphasis on melee combat at least during
The opening hours with weapons and Ammunition initially scarce dispatching Each snarling cellmate demands that you Lure them into an uncomfortably close Proximity sway out of the way of their Clawing attacks and then counter with a Flurry of Blows the thumbstick-based Dodging and blocking of incoming attacks Feels a bit like ducking and weaving in A boxing game except your opponent is Less Holyfield and more like holy [ __ ] And it feels satisfyingly weighty to Bash their limbs off one by one and Cave Their skulls in Even as Jacob's Arsenal grows melee Combat remains a smart way to conserve Ammo since every successful combo string You land opens up a brief window to Perform a skill shot allowing you to Automatically lock onto a weak spot with Your firearm and down them in a few Shots instead of a full clip I enjoyed the risk reward Choice Involved in getting up close and Personal rather than trying to more Safely pick enemies off from afar not Least because the already tight end Camera pulls in even closer to really Highlight the Carnage as you administer Each infected inmate with a lethal Injection of hot lead I found one of those gloves that Captain Ferris had That's a grip Boston guards love to use
It on us in mace unfortunately that high Level of tension isn't sustained once The grip is introduced powerful enough To lift most enemies into the air this Gravity-defying Gauntlet can certainly Make for some Dynamic combat encounters Particularly in tandem with the various Death traps and volatile objects that Are handily positioned around most areas It can be a lot of fun in a jailbreaking Jedi sort of way and it often produces Some gloriously gory results But it also means that enemies are often Snuffed out too quickly and before they Can become a threat a bit like your Indiana Jones bringing a gun to a sword Fight Grip is an ability that depletes and Must either be recharged over time or Instantly topped up with batteries so I Couldn't constantly use it as a crutch But I certainly felt it gave me the Force flinging up a hand in the bulk of Enemy encounters even on the hardest Difficulty setting and there were times I wondered if the most dangerous monster Lurking in Black Iron was actually me Similarly stealth sequences fail to Introduce much in the way of stress Midway through Jacob's Great Escape the Callisto protocol introduces a deadly Blind variant of the infected that a Reminiscent of the clickers from The Last of Us
However although they're said to possess An elevated sense of hearing I found it Surprisingly easy to violently shift Them to death right under the nose of Other enemies who wouldn't even Flinch Despite the loud death squeals of their Freshly dispatched friends A far more serious threat of the Towering Terminator style security Droids that can only be destroyed with a Pinpoint headshot But strangely these genuinely formidable Foes are introduced early on and then Rarely encountered again service Required That's not to say there isn't a healthy Variety of enemy types to tackle in the Callisto protocol although they embody a Fairly customary set of survival horror Archetypes they all look wonderfully Repulsive and even better when you're Making Space Jam out of their space guts Before too long basic enemy grunts are Able to regenerate transforming into More resilient brutes if you wound them Without finishing them off completely Which brings a welcome sense of urgency To fight with groups of agitated foes This is perhaps best exemplified by a Late game ride on an underground Drilling platform with hordes of Attackers that set upon you from all Sides and instantly power up as a result Of being lashed by the shards of flying
Rock it's definitely one of the most Heart rate ratcheting sequences of the Entire Journey But elsewhere my anxiety was stirred by The surprisingly slow so-called quick Weapon swap function which routinely let Me down during the repeated fights Against this twin-headed mini boss The animation of Jacob holstering a Weapon and drawing another is too long And can be accidentally interrupted Meaning there were many times I'd start A weapon switch but perform a Dodge to Evade and attack immediately afterwards And then spring back up into a shooting Stance to find myself still armed with The exact same empty weapon I was trying To holster Control issues aside the Callisto Protocol's handful of boss fights are Disappointingly one-dimensional and Never really blew my mind although they Certainly smashed Jacob's skull on a Number of occasions Foreign Boss encounters aren't the only things Overused in the Callisto protocol either The same can be said of many of the Attempted jump scares Having a Facehugger leap out of the Locker you're searching is certainly Startling the first time But by the sixth or seventh time it Feels like you're being forced to endure
The same repeated office pranks of an Alien April Fool's Day The Callisto protocol is a supremely Atmospheric and action-heavy tour Through a spectacular slaughterhouse set In distant space It's largely linear design makes for Minimal backtracking meaning it trims The fat while leaving no shortage of Bone and gristle to rip and tear however It also betrays its survival horror Routes by regularly tipping the balance Of power too far in favor of the player And while there's plenty of murderous Fun to be had using giant grinding Mechanisms to make mulch out of mutants Such Cheap Thrills come at the High Cost Of puncturing any tension and Dread that The tremendous art and audio design Works so hard to invoke Aside from the meaty melee combat There's also the overriding sense that There's little here that hasn't been Done before therefore the Callisto Protocol might be a satisfyingly gory Spiritual successor to the Dead Space Series but it's ultimately more of a Striking modern mimic than a scary new Mutation Keep an eye out for our performance Review of the Callisto protocol based on The day one patch for an in-depth Comparison between the quality and Performance modes on each platform for
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