Preview: Get Even

We must confess that our first impressions of this title were radically incorrect. Going off the name, we figured Get Even was a self-help game aimed at teenage girls; an instructional experience for those who, try as they might, can not even. After hours of play we imagined they could learn to secure at least one even, and then build from there to acquire the life-skills necessary to amass many multiple evens. It’s not too late to kickstart this idea.

No, Get Even is, in fact, a rather surrealistic and unconventional first-person shooter. What is real in it? We wouldn’t assume anything if we were you. The game opens to a botched hostage rescue mission and quickly heads south into a mind-screw Animus situation where there’s clearly layers upon layers of deception. We played roughly the first quarter of the game and left with more questions than answers.

On the surface, you’re Cole Black, a cliché action-man who’s voiced by the best Sean-Bean-a-like in the business. It’s quite easy to let the developers egg you on into playing to Black’s obvious strengths, too, as there’s an incredibly robust shooter framework here. Sprinting, stealth options, takedowns, and cover-leaning make this feel like a mini-Rainbow Six; and the action gets even more pleasurable when you unlock the Covergun. It’s an armature that holds a phone and allows a slotted-in pistol to be turned 90 degrees via o and u. Obviously, you can then use the thermographic screen to cap people around corners, but we were impressed by its use over hip-level cover. Look at the ceiling, hit the view change, cap fools that way. It’s pretty novel.

Pleasing gunplay is just one angle of this, however. We found ourselves hooked by the sheer mind-screwery of the narrative, and the questions raised by Back’s mental state. Is he really still an operative “voluntarily” checking himself into an experiment to find answers? Or is he simply a nutter with delusions of grandeur who isn’t taking comms advice from a handle, rather his own cuckoo bananas delusions? The groundwork for a truly remarkable story is here, but it’s all going to rely on a seriously good twist.

Interestingly, it’s worth noting that Get Even offered many “killing comes with consequences” warnings. We also found a number of times when lateral  thinking and environmental puzzle solutions could be used over brute force. As to how this will alter the (frankly batshit) plot remains to be seen. This will be every bit a thinking-person’s shooter that’s not for every taste. But we find it delicious so far.

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