Get Even Review – Thrilling Action Despite a Case of Split Personality

Get Even Review

You are Cole Black, and you wake up in an abandoned building, with nothing but a smartphone that tells you to “save the girl.” Confused and scared, you go off to your first objective – Welcome to Get Even. This action adventure defies categorization – part puzzler, part first-person shooter, and even some moments of survival horror. They all make for a sometimes unfocused and disjointed affair, but one that is unarguably thrilling.

It turns out, the girl in question is from Cole’s own memory, a hostage from his time in Special Forces, and Get Even is about him reliving those pieces of his past in order to find out exactly who and what he is. Confined to an insane asylum along with other inmates – all wearing virtual reality headsets just like him – Cole is guided by the mysterious voice of Red, who may be anyone from his guide to his tormentor.

And that’s the appeal of Get Even – the powerful tone of ambiguity and irony permeating everything and everyone in the game. What is real, and what is fantasy? Who is Red? What does he want? Where are you? Are you even good, or did you do something horrible to end up in this horrible situation? Repeated trips through the labyrinth of Cole’s memories bring a new question for every one they answer – keeping you guessing, and second-guessing, but always motivated to know more.

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“Puzzles are smart and interesting, making you use more than your shooting prowess to succeed.”

You get little to help you, other than the aforementioned smartphone – but the game’s developers, The Farm 51, make excellent use of it as a gameplay mechanic. You use the phone for everything from a map, a thermal sensor, UV light, and even a scanner to figure your way out of a variety of situations. Puzzles are smart and interesting, making you use more than your shooting prowess to succeed. I also liked that Get Even keeps the hints to a minimum, letting you work through problems and fell like a badass when you solve them yourself.

Gunplay has some novel mechanics to it as well. You are given a Corner Gun, which allows you to shoot enemies unseen around corners. It adds a neat element of spatial thinking to the stealth kill, although it isn’t perfect.  AI is not very challenging, tending to sit conveniently in one place for your shot. And they all spread out nicely, so you never really feel threatened – as interesting an idea as the Corner Gun is, it feels superfluous after a while.

If you prefer, there are the Stealth aspects of Get Even. Sneak up behind an enemy, and kill them quietly instead of guns blazing. Again, though, AI seems to be completely oblivious to threats behind them, so the stealth kills lack the rush of adrenaline you should get from pulling off something difficult. Since noise doesn’t seem to be a problem in completing your missions, I found that using a gun or stealth kill was really no difference – just a matter of preference.

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“Get Even has no shortage of cool ideas and ways to appeal to different play styles – but the parts don’t quite come together as a coherent whole.”

As you can see, Get Even has no shortage of cool ideas and ways to appeal to different play styles – but the parts don’t quite come together as a coherent whole, unfortunately. It tries to do a lot of things, and be many games in one – but it is never great at any one aspect. Shooting is just ok, stealth seems pointless, and the survival horror atmosphere is never very scary. Overall, the game is solid though, and luckily it is held together by an interesting and well-written story, so you might be willing to overlook its imperfections.

That story is well-served by some of the best voice acting I have experienced in a game. Actors bring Red, Cole and the other characters to life so well that Get Even feels like you’re a real MI5 agent. There are also some very nice visuals, with realistic environments that pull you in and a smooth framerate for a fully immersive effect. Add to that the fast pace and efficient level design and Get Even will often have your heart racing and your unblinking eyes locked on for the entire rollercoaster ride.

Get Even is a fun, stylish mind-bending adventure that I found very enjoyable for much of my play through. Each part of the game plays like an episode from Cole’s past, and each offers a fresh twist in play style and tone that keeps the experience fresh. Along the way, you also collect fragments, such as photographs, that you bring back to the asylum between episodes to slowly piece together the entire gestalt of Cole’s narrative. But while the parts of Get Even are fun in isolation, just don’t be surprised if they don’t seem to fit together all that well. While it may suffer from a case of split personality, this action thriller is worth your undivided attention.

*** PC code provided by the publisher ***