Minority Report: Everybody Runs

Published by Activision
Developed by Treyarch
Platform: PlayStation 2
Released - Out Now
Price : £39.99

Games based on films don't usually do too well do they? I don't know why this is. Whether it's because the developers think that you'll have seen the movie and your memories of it will compensate for any of the deficiencies of the game, I just don't know. You may remember that Treyarch also developed the Spider-Man game that was loosely based on the movie. Of course for some this might be a good thing but if you can remember that review, or indeed if you had the misfortune to buy the game, you'll remember that it wasn't very deaf gamer friendly. Well guess what folks Minority Report is exactly the same and completely ignores the deaf gamer.

The year is 2054 and you play Precrime Officer John Anderton who is in charge of a department who actually knows about a murder before it's committed and apprehends criminals before they commit the crime. It all sounds kind of crazy but anyway the system backfires on John Anderton when he's set up and soon he's on the run himself. The game comes with 40 levels which sounds impressive until you realise that the levels are somewhat repetitive. The game itself is really a poor beat 'em up and there is a certain familiarity to the Spider-Man game, except for the fact that Spidey's special abilities have obviously been stripped from the game.

As we've already mentioned the game is a beat 'em up. The move list you begin with is already quite long but as you progress through the game you can add to it. You'll often find dollar signs lying around waiting to be collected. When you've acquired some money you simply press the start button to pause the game, select Black Market, and purchase additional moves. You can also purchase weapons, permanent upgrades and temporary upgrades from the Black Market.

Visually the game looks like a first generation PS2 game. There is no anti-aliasing whatsoever and everything looks that jagged it's ridiculous. The game feels as though you are constantly playing in a ghost town. The scenery may be there but there is no sign of life anywhere apart from those few who are trying to kill you. Speaking of which, the enemy AI is rather bad and when faced with a handful of enemies it's rather disappointing to see that they usually attack one at a time and then they are easy to beat. Clipping errors are prevalent too and you'll often see John walk through the defeated enemies. The game is also not without slowdown which, given the frugal nature of the detail in the game, is very surprising.

Deaf gamers are going to be in for a seriously hard time with Minority Report. There are no subtitles at all. In the tutorial you only receive text for the control instructions and a lot is missed out. In the main game you only receive a very brief objective at the beginning of a level. All verbal hints that are given, are not subtitled. Pressing the start button allows you to see the brief objective again as well as allowing you access to the move list. To be honest it's not worth bothering with for deaf gamers.

Of course it's just not on to completely slam a game in a review but there is precious little to highlight. The non-existent support for deaf gamers, the poor beat 'em up quality of the game, the below average graphics and the repetitive levels in the game all bring us to the conclusion that this is definitely the worst game we've seen so far this year.

Overall Game Rating: 1.5/10
Absolutely no redeeming features exist in Minority Report.

Deaf Gamers comment:
Avoid at all costs.