Sanity: Aiken's Artifact

Finally someone has combined real 3D with a Diablo-like RPG. Actually I kind of think of Diablo's isometric views as being rather dated. The graphics rendering in this game is surprisingly good- nice lighting models. The ability to control your viewpoint makes it far more enjoyable than the typical Tomb Raider games where all you see is the hero's back.

The game has great user-interface and an initial tutorial-mode that weaves itself into the opening story of the game so learning how to play is a snap.

Another pleasant surprise was that there is actually humor in the game which encourages you to go and talk to each and every character.

The voice talent is very good. I thought Ice T's voice was kind of odd initially but it does bring life to the character. Other voice talents are also pretty good.


Everything a computer card game should be   November 7, 2000
 2 out of 2 found this review helpful

Sanity: Aikens Artifact (or as it's called in the UK Aikens Artifact we lost the Sanity somewhere) is an old style adventure game with modern gameplay and graphics.

You play the part of Agent Cain voiced by Ice T and follow him round trying to apprehend rogue psychics with minimal damage to innocent bystanders.

There are really two games here.

The single player is a good solid adventure with a series of (pretty simple) puzzsles leading through some pretty levels to the end of stage nasty (and some are pretty nasty).

There are 20 levels to the single player game and they are fun enough to provide a couple of late nights at least as the story unfolds.

Where ths game seriously comes into it's own; however; is the multiplater game. Like Magic (or Pokeman) you construct a deck from the available talents and go off to do battle against other peoples decks so far so same as everything else.

Like magic and Pokemon however there are booster packs available freebie psyonic abilities given with magazines (eg Computer Gamer has 2 Talents in it at the moment). SO you can scour out these extra talents add that killer tweak to your deck and keep the interest hot that little bit longer.

It's well worth a look so treat yourself


Sanity - The Best Game Ever?   October 9, 2000
 5 out of 6 found this review helpful

Hmmm, from looking at this game, one thinks, "Oh, a Diablo II knockoff with Ice-T as a character voice. Let's pass this one over." Big Mistake, and I mean to spell Mistake with a capital M. Fox has designed, quite possibly, one of the most stunning (and addictive) games ever.

Gameplay is immersive from the opening cutscene, which gives a cinematic feel without the need to waste megabytes of a CD that could be used to add to other various gameplay options, such as the depth and number of psionic Talents (various spells for psionics, there are almost 100 of these, all rendered with breathtaking quality). This game looks extremely great with a massive graphics card, as it runs as smooth as silk even at 1600x1200 resolution on my computer (of course, I have a GeForce2 64MB card, but that's beside the point). Loading times can be slightly unbearable, as they do not seem to get much shorter with the more RAM you have (each level, albeit expansive, takes about thirty to forty seconds to load even with 256 megs of RAM on my P3-933 rig). However, the gameplay more than makes up for this.

Dozens of levels and talents, awesome detail, voice acting of superb quality (Ice-T is notably excellent as Agent Cain), and immersive and addictive gameplay is what makes this game one of the best games I have ever seen if not being the best game I have ever played (NHL 2001, NOX, and Carmageddon TDR 2000 included).


Great !!!   September 29, 2000
 1 out of 1 found this review helpful

Monolith has finally got it right.Beatiful graphics and music.Don't listen to reviews saying this game takes a long time to load.I have 32mb Ram and it only takes a minute or so.I've known games that take longer than that.