Ahh I remember this game, this game was one of the best Story-driven RPG's ever made. The problem was that it used the wacky D&D universe planescape, and at the time the consoles were wowing everyone with full motion video and pre-renders that put any kind of RPG on the PC to shame, it's horrible that this game bombed in the gaming market. But this goes to prove how small and fickle the PC gamer crowd is and why developers jumped ship to primarily making console games. The rise of Real time strategy games, MMO's, FPS and typical tolkien-esque RPG's (elfs, dwaves, dragons, swords, etc) seem the only games being made anymore for the PC. Alas! Obviously Interplay were taking a big risk with this one with so many people only familiar with the orcs, elfs, dwarves and humans of normal tolkien-esque Dungeons and dragons RPG's like Baldur's Gate, Icewind dale and other copy-cats back then. The main selling point of the game is the games story and exceedingly intricate dialogue you have with the non-player characters, if you enjoy reading a good book, Planescape would be a good substitute because personally it probably would have sold better as a book under TSR, as a game it's more like an interactive storybook then it is an RPG game, it does have game elements but the story takes precedence over most of the other aspects. The real problem with this game though was that it was an original property not based on forgotten realms setting (the most common and well known D&D setting in existence for those who read fantasy books, etc), this I believe was it's greatest downfall, people just couldn't associate or even familiarize themselves with the radically strange concept of the planescape universe in combination with D&D steretype of orcs, elves, dwarves, dragons and swords. Mot to mention the really strange looking box art of planescape torment and you have a game ripe for financial disaster. The game starts out with you, the nameless one, (that's right you are forced to play the games main protagonist, you can't customize him save for his states and he always looks the same). You wake up from having died again, and have no memory of who or where you are and how you got there, the whole point of the game is to rediscover who you are and why it is that you're immortal. I won't ruin it for anyone because this is pretty much the whole game is to discover the story of the nameless one. The game by itself plays exactly like all other 2D engined bioware RPG's like Baludrs gate, Baldur's gate 2, and other similar games like Icewind dale. So if you've played those games, you know what its going to be like to play planescape torment. Pro's: -Great story -Amazing characters Cons: -Not exactly the most entertaining game in terms of battle and loot -Game can really drag in parts -Most likely have to go to gamefaqs, just to figure out how to move the story forward.
Let me start this review by dishing out some undeniable facts 1) I don't assign 9.5s often 2) I hate reading (generally) 3. I avoid almost all games that look dated 4) I usually enjoy having a superficial-pretty ma... Read Full Review
The gaming industry moves pretty fast when it comes to graphics and technology. Sadly, the same thing cannot be said about gameplay or story. Yet there are a few exceptions; some games manage to become a bit more then ju... Read Full Review
