Harbinger: Fun, but not addictive

The Harbinger: Destroyer of worlds. This monstrous spaceship has destroyed countless planets, and any survivors are used as experiments and slaves of the Overlords. Some creatures, however, have escaped into the depths of this vast vessel, existing as scavengers, factions, and to some extent challenging the power structure of the Harbinger. As the behemoth continues to ravage the universe, you are tasked with one mission alone: Stay alive.

Harbinger, from Dreamcatcher Games, could easily be called a Diablo knock-off, and in many ways that statement would be correct. However, a somewhat intriguing storyline and excellent updated graphics give this title something worth looking into.

Gameplay is straightforward: Diablo fans shouldn’t even need the manual to jump right in. In fact, apart from the plot and a few enemy descriptions, the manual is pretty much a waste of paper, with little to no descriptions on what weapons, armor, and the like can do. The three-quarter isometric view we’ve all come to love (or hate) is Harbinger’s view of the world.

And what a large and well illustrated world it is. Graphics are excellent, as the gritty, post-apocalyptic feel resonates throughout. Some areas are strewn with trash, and add to a sense of age and decay aboard the Harbinger. Character movement is a bit jerky, but the models are well skinned and enemies are well defined ad have passable AI.

The story is interesting in some ways. While not unique, the three different characters available had different enough tasks and storylines that made replay value quite a bit better. In many ways, cut scenes and clips play out like a graphic novel, a well used effect.

However, Harbinger is not without its flaws. Pathfinding is spotty, and sometimes the character will not move correctly. Enemies will sometimes appear out of nowhere when turning a corner, and tiles will sometimes obstruct shots which seem to be straight on target. Audio is also missing a bit. While the dark and ominous background music is well used, character voices are extremely clichéd, with the gratuitous “Elvis impersonator” of a Human thrown in. Often gunfire and in game sounds did not match up correctly. And even though I’m playing on a P4 1.7Gb, 1 GB RAM machine with a GeForce2, there were still laggy moments. And most importantly, the lack of multiplayer will eventually kill Harbinger.

Though flawed in execution and in desperate need of a patch, Harbinger is nonetheless an intriguing sci-fi take on the Diablo model. Most action/RPG enthusiasts will enjoy this title as a reminder of how much they enjoy this type of “dungeon crawl”, but will eventually shelve this title after a few hours.