Primal (video game)

Primal
European cover art
Developer(s)	Sony Computer Entertainment Europe
Publisher(s)	Sony Computer Entertainment
Director(s)	Rob Parkin
Producer(s)	Jean-Baptiste Bolcato Mark Green
Designer(s)	Katie Lea
Programmer(s)	James Busby
Artist(s)	Mark Gibbons
Writer(s)	Jonathan Ashley
Composer(s)	Paul Arnold Andrew Barnabas 16Volt
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2
Release	NA: 25 March 2003 EU: 11 April 2003
Genre(s)	Action-adventure
Mode(s)	Single-player

Primal is a 2003 action-adventure video game developed and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 2. It was the last video game to be developed at Sony Computer Entertainment Europe before its renaming to SCEE Cambridge Studio.

It tells the story of Jennifer Tate, a 21-year-old woman searching for her boyfriend through a series of demonic realms. As the story develops, more is revealed about Jen's past and her relationship with her boyfriend, as well as the nature of the demon worlds. It received mixed reviews from critics.

Synopsis

Setting and characters

The game is mainly set in Oblivion, a plane between the worlds, in which a careful balance between the forces of Order and Chaos is kept. Both are presented as primordial beings vying for control, the female Arella and the male Abaddon, respectively. Should one of the two become too dominant, the multiple worlds connected to Oblivion would perish, which is why a third power known as Chronos is tasked with maintaining balance. To do so, it resides in the Nexus, the place where the life energy of all worlds intertwines. Prior to the game, Abbadon has tipped the balance in his favor by corrupting other realms.

While multiple worlds are implied to be connected to Oblivion, only five appear in the game. Earth, known as Mortalis to the other worlds, is a neutral world inhabited by humans, from which the game's protagonist, Jennifer "Jen" Tate, hails. The other worlds, whose creatures are referred to as demons, either align with Order or Chaos and their inhabitants are portrayed as good or evil, respectively. Solum is a world cast into darkness, yet its inhabitants, the Ferai, humanoid ovis, align with Order, as do the water-dwelling Undine, who reside in the aquatic world of Aquis. Wraith dominate the world of Aetha, vampire-like creatures that live in an aristocratic society, where the high-born feed of the enslaved. The volcanic world of Volca is inhabited by the Djinn, proud and malevolent spirits of great power.

The game's protagonist Jen, a rebellious young woman, discovers that she possesses mystical powers that allow her to assume the forms of the creatures inhabiting other worlds. While chosen by Arella to restore balance between Order and Chaos, she at first shuns her new responsibility, as she has not sought such fate. Jen is searching for her boyfriend Lewis, who is presumed to be somewhere in Oblivion. She is assisted on her journey by Scree, the primary servant of Arella. A powerful demon originally known as Abdizur, he was reduced to the form of a gargoyle after losing a fight with his nemesis, Abaddon's chief henchman Belahzur, prior to the events of the game.

Plot

Jennifer "Jen" Tate has just attended a rock concert of her boyfriend Lewis's band, when both of them are attacked by a demonic creature outside the venue. She is reduced to a comatose state and has an out-of-body experience after she is touched by a gargoyle, Scree. He transports her to the Nexus, where he and Arella inform her that she is caught between life and death and can only save her life if she restores balance to the realms of Oblivion. He hands her a set of bracelets that allows her to channel the energy of the worlds she visits and absorb the powers of its demonic inhabitants. Despite being unwilling to accept such a huge task, Jen reluctantly agrees to save her boyfriend, who she learns has gone missing and is somewhere in Oblivion.

Accompanied by Scree, she visits the world of Solum, where the realm's king, Herne, has refused to commit the ritualistic suicide expected of him to restore his world, thus throwing into chaos and disarray. They find out that Herne is unable to kill himself, as his son and successor, Jared, was abducted. Herne grants Jen her first demonic transformation, allowing her to find Jared, who reveals that the king's wife is actually a shapeshifting alien imposter who has killed the real queen. After revealing the imposter by burning the real queen's body, Herne kills both himself and the imposter by jumping of a cliff, restoring Order to the world.

In the sub-aquatic realm of Aquis, Abaddon's henchmen have sabotaged the world's water purification system, poisoning the sophisticated Undine, including their ruler, Adaro. His mind clouded by the poison, he plans to sacrifice his wife Aino to restore the waters. The latter grants Jen the ability to transform into an Undine hybrid, allowing her to freely roam the waters and restore the purification system. Adaro, driven further into madness, claims only a sacrifice will ensure his people's survival and forces her to fight and kill him in order to restart the system, after which Order is restored.

Meanwhile, Jen is attacked by a mysterious person that seems to have powers similar to hers, while Scree has to escape Belahzur. Noticing that balance has still not been restored, Scree and Arella task the unwilling Jen to further investigate the realms that align with Chaos and weaken them.

In Aetha, Scree and Jen notice that the world has drifted further into evil, as its cruel rulers, Count Raum and his wife Countess Empusa, have created a Blood Machine, a device that kills and harvests the blood of peasants they sacrifice, boosting their own power. After escaping capture and retrieving her bracelets, Jen notices that their new-found power is too strong for her to overcome, even after obtaining her Wraith form. Realizing that their Blood Machine against can be used against them, the duo taint it with Jen's hybrid blood, which weakens Raum and Empusa. In the ensuing fight, Jen kills them both, ending their diabolical rule and weakening the world's Chaos.

However, when they return, the mysterious attacker strikes again and kills Chronos, thus seemingly dooming Oblivion, as balance can no longer be kept. The attacker is revealed to be Lewis, leaving Jen distraught. When Scree has to admit he knew about Lewis being aligned to Chaos all along, she angrily declares their friendship over and refuses to help him. However, Scree reveals the truth: Jen and Lewis – both orphaned at a young age – were kidnapped by Abbadon as infants. He experimented on them and turned them into human-demon hybrids in order to finally defeat Arella and rule supreme. When Arella discovered this, she sent Scree, then known as the powerful Abdizur, to save them. At the cost of his own freedom, Abdizur saved them, with the ensuing torture reducing him to his current gargoyle form. On Earth, Lewis and Jen found each other again because their fates are connected. Moved by this, Jen decides to help Scree in a last-ditch attempt to restore balance.

In the final world of Volca, they encounter the realm's evil king, the immortal Iblis, who gives Jen access to her Djinn-form seemingly out of morbid curiosity. However, when Jen masters her powers, he reveals his ruse and enslaves her, as he can control her through the corrupted essence he provided her. However, Scree manages to free her mind with the help of Queen Malikel, who secretly wishes death upon her husband and tells the duo how to defeat him. After a final confrontation, Iblis is killed by Malikel, who has realized that the death of Chronos would ultimately lead to the death of her world as well. She breaks the stone that granted Iblis immortality in half and succeeds him as ruler, with the other half being used to revive Chronos.

Back in the Nexus, Jen and Scree, who uses his remaining energy to transform back into Abdizur, have to fight Lewis and Belahzur in a final confrontation. While Belazhur is presumably killed by Abdizur, Jen tries to talk sense into Lewis, who has fully succumbed to Chaos. As he won't relent, she is forced to kill him, devastating her. Abdizur and Arella console her and explain that now that Chronos is revived, there is a small chance for Lewis to return to his mortal body, if his soul finds his way through the Nexus. They transport Jen back to her world, where she is seen reading to a comatose Lewis in a post-credits scene.

Gameplay

Control can be switched between Jen and Scree at any time in game. When in control of one, the other will be operated by an artificial intelligence (AI), performing various functions depending on the situation. During play, the characters can interact with one another, performing actions such as asking questions, or siphoning energy.

When in control of Jen, the player may transform into one of four demonic forms for various purposes, depending on the situation (provided the forms are unlocked). When in a demon form, Jen experiences a boost in attack, defense, speed, attack range and access to abilities unavailable in a human form. The tattoo on Jen's back also glows when in a demon form, corresponding to various forms.

Defeating enemies involves weakening enemies to the point where their hit points reach zero, at which time a finishing move must be performed to kill the enemy. While the moves differ in style and time taken, the final effect remains the same. Enemies can be finished off before the health bar reaches zero, and doing so leaves more residual energy.

While Jen can remain in a demonic form indefinitely, taking damage will reduce health. However, hit points here are represented by demonic energy. When an enemy is killed, the remaining energy can be drained through use of Scree, who can store the energy for when it is needed. Jen can then call on the energy, siphoning it off to replenish her own. Scree can store a vast amount of energy, but also has limits as to how much.

When in control of Scree, the player is invulnerable; Scree, being a gargoyle, cannot suffer damage, making him an effective scout. Scree is capable of climbing on stone walls, a necessary ability when traversing the realms. Scree can also store drained energy from dead enemies, which can be used to replenish Jen's demonic health, though he must remain immobile when doing so.

Scree is revealed to be the long-lost Abdizur, who disappeared following an encounter with the lord of Chaos. In Solus, for a temporary amount of time, the player possesses a life-size statue of Abdizur via Scree, to combat Belhazur when Jen's powers are not fit to do so. The player may also possess other statues in an area under given circumstances.

The player may also happen across various energy crystals, which can be stored and used if Scree's energy reserves are not enough and the player is at low health. These crystals are kept throughout the game, the only exclusion being when revisiting previous scenes, at which point they are reduced to a default amount. This means that the crystals function as extra lives, to a degree.

If Jen is in human form, her health replenishes automatically if she is not in battle (human form only; demon energy must be replenished by either drawing on Scree's reserve energy or, failing that, by using a crystal). While in human form, Jen's health represents her presence in the demon world. If she loses all her health while in human form, she is returned to the human world, where she is in a near-death state. When this happens, the player must direct Scree to the nearest rift gate within a time limit (not seen on screen, though the voice of Arella warns the player that time is running out). If Scree does not reach a rift gate in time, Jen dies, and the game is over.

Throughout the game, constant saving can prove onerous, particularly if the player wishes to backtrack and revisit certain areas. Provided a save game is present, the player may do so, and can revisit nearly all of the locations, once they have been unlocked via an in-game cutscene.

Development

The game had a marketing budget of $8.7 million.

In May 2016, the game was made available for the PlayStation 4 through the PlayStation Network with slightly improved graphics and trophy support.

Music

Primal features music by electronic rock band 16Volt. The combat tracks from Primal feature on their album SuperCoolNothing V2.0, and the band had a cameo appearance in Primal, where they played in a club in the opening cut scene. The "cinematic tracks" were composed by Andrew Barnabas and performed by the CCity of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. A suite dedicated to its music was performed at the historic Symphonic Game Music Concert in Leipzig 2003.

Reception

Reception

Aggregate score

Aggregator	Score
Metacritic	73/100

Review scores

Publication	Score
Edge	4/10
Electronic Gaming Monthly	7/10
Eurogamer	5/10
Game Informer	6.75/10
GamePro
GameRevolution	C+
GameSpot	7.9/10
GameSpy
GameZone	8/10
IGN	8/10
Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Primal received "mixed or average" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic. IGN said that the game was "Limited by an inconsequential combat system and basic wander-puzzles. What it does manage to do though is overwhelm us with high-quality production values, wow us with an excellent graphical presentation, and move us with one hell of a killer soundtrack." In the article "Overrated/Underrated" in their September 2004 issue, Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine cited the game's protagonist as an underrated "hot chick" in comparison to Lara Croft, stating "She's smart. She's funny. She hangs out in biker bars. She's good in a fight. And she's got a really nice butt." In the same article, Scree was likewise cited as an underrated sidekick, stating "This is the way to make a memorable sidekick: Make him dignified, make him funny looking, and make him useful." Eurogamer, on the other hand, stated: "A rank combat system, quirky camera and a lack of inspiration at the game's exploration/puzzle core make playing the game hard work."

Legacy

A large amount of development artwork from the game is held in the archive of The Centre for Computing History, and is in the process of being made available to view online as part of their video game preservation initiative.

External links

• Primal at MobyGames