An interesting
adventure game, with the distinctive organic-sci fi style prevalent in many
French games of the last decade. The game is extremely ambitious, with adventure, fighting and role playing elements. The designers' vision is somewhat
hampered by the decision to release the game for the ailiing
Playstation. If it was a PC-native game, many of its
flaws could have been rectified.
It has several features that had seldom been previously seen (especially in a Playstation game). The content was refreshingly adult, the environment was a (just about) convincingly "working" city, and there is extensive and imaginative use of motion capture (most notably facial motion capture, which adds immeasurably to the experience). Also, David Bowie's contribution is not a last-minute bolt-on. The musical style and his appearances fit in well with the rest of the game content. Bizarrely, this game led to Bowie winning a BAFTA award for "best contribution to the interactive industry". But seeing as the Interactive Entertainment BAFTAs are a crock, this has little relevence on the game's actual quality. It was released in Europe as The Nomad Soul.