Project Eden (video game)

Project Eden is a 2001 action-adventure video game developed by Core Design and published by Eidos Interactive. It was released for Microsoft Windows and PlayStation 2. The planned Dreamcast version was cancelled. The plot involves a squad of four law enforcement agents investigating the disappearances of people by working their way downwards through layers of a towering mega-city. Project Eden's gameplay emphasises puzzle-solving, requiring the player or players to control each of the four characters and use their individual abilities to make progress. A single player can control any one of the characters, and jump between them at will or up to four players can play simultaneously as different members of the team.

Project Eden
Cover art
Developer(s)	Core Design
Publisher(s)	Eidos Interactive
Designer(s)	Heather Gibson Neal Boyd
Programmer(s)	Gavin Rummery
Artist(s)	Stuart Atkinson Joss Charmet
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2
Release	Windows NA: 8 October 2001 EU: 26 October 2001 PlayStation 2 NA: 22 October 2001 EU: 2 November 2001
Genre(s)	Action-adventure
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

Plot

The game starts with Urban Protection Agency agents Carter, Andre, Minoko and Amber heading below city limits to find two technicians missing from the Real Meat Company (a corporation that ironically produces synthetic meat). The suspicions of the team revolve around a local and dangerous gang named The Death Heads. The UPA team tracks the gang down to their base in St. Lucia's Church; but on their way, the gang members and many animals also start mutating into strange creatures. Clearing their way through the Church, battling the mutants, the UPA Team finally get close to the technicians, only to see them being taken far below city limits, possibly to ground zero (the term used for the ground level of the earth itself). The UPA Control instructs the UPA Team to recover a creature, a live one, for analysis; which shows that it has been a regular dog which had been tampered with using an old Gene splicer (this hints at the fact that genetic technology has advanced greatly). The analysis also reveals that the creatures they have been attacked by are being controlled by a signal; which is their next job, to both find and if possible, recover the technicians, and locate the source of the signal.

On their way the UPA Team encounter little girls who are blonde, wear a red dress and call themselves Lucy. After some talk they mutate into dangerous beasts. Minoko, while going to another sector of the city by a high-speed railcar, mentions that she once had a sister named Lucy, but that Lucy had died due to a genetic illness she and their mother suffered from. As they continue, the team starts to question if Minoko's family was involved in their situation. The train crashes before reaching its destination, and leaves Minoko trapped in by a group of cannibals. Upon their arrival, Carter asks Control to check out Minoko's father, Dr. Joseph Molenski, who was once a skilled technician and a biological engineer, and who was sacked from Real Meat for stealing machinery for his own research. As a fugitive, Molenski was never acquired by UPA, nor was Lucy. Minoko was taken to the UPA Recreation Program, and thus became a UPA Agent.

After traversing a former zoo that is now inhabited by cannibals and mutants, the team arrive at Ground Zero, the nominal ground level of the city. The team continues to levels below sea level. During their investigation, they stumble upon a video of Dr. Molenski, saying that he has found a nuclear bunker underneath, and has also rigged up a basic gene splicer. He also mentions that using it, he hopes to cure Lucy.

The UPA Team enter the Eden Bunker, and upon their entrance, they discover that Dr. Molenski was trapped in a time dilation field, a field that which stops time around a given area, or slows it down immensely; similar to the effect of the team's Timeshock weapon. Molenski appears to be reaching out towards a computer. After deactivating the time dilation field, Minoko is kidnapped. Lucy tells Minoko that she has been creating the creatures, and the girls that mutated (in attempt to find a new body for herself) were her failures due to the different DNA of those girl victims that were too much to deal with. Since Minoko is her biological sister, Lucy wishes to take her body.

Meanwhile, Molenski is told that fifteen years have passed, and asked what has happened. The answer is simple; in order to keep Lucy alive, Molenski had linked her mind to the computers, running half of her brain with them, while keeping her body in a time dilation field. However, since the computers were networked, Lucy took them over and tried to solve things her way. The other three UPA Team members rescue Minoko, and they deactivate Lucy's time dilation field causing her death. Molenski removes the computer connected to Lucy's head and inserts it into a robot body he has built for her to try to keep her brain alive. Mission accomplished, the UPA Team returns to the surface.

Critical reception

Reception
Review scores Publication Score PC PS2 CGM [1] N/A CGW [2] N/A Edge 7/10[3] 7/10[3] Eurogamer N/A 7/10[4] Game Informer N/A 5.5/10[5] GamePro N/A [6] GameRevolution B−[7] N/A GameSpot 7.8/10[8] 7.6/10[9] GameSpy 81%[10] 70%[11] GameZone 7.8/10[12] 7/10[13] IGN 9/10[14] 7.8/10[15] Next Generation [16] N/A OPM (US) N/A [17] PC Gamer (US) 59%[18] N/A Aggregate score Metacritic 72/100[19] 71/100[20]

Project Eden received "average" reviews on both platforms according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.[19][20] The Electric Playground gave the PC version a favorable review and said, "A few minor annoyances like poor enemy AI and some puzzles that seem almost too difficult keep it from a higher score, but if you’re looking for a game you can invest some time in and not feel like you came away with nothing, welcome to Eden."[21] AllGame gave both console versions three stars out of five each, saying of the PC version, "Playing Project Eden at least once is worthwhile, but the linear puzzles, bad combat engine, and a multiplayer component that utilizes it limit hard-drive life considerably. Once finished, it's doubtful any gamer will return to the city depths";[22] and of the PlayStation 2 version, "It is designed specifically for those who enjoy using their minds, and it will occasionally even frustrate the best of those players."[23]

Kevin Rice reviewed the PC version of the game for Next Generation, rating it three stars out of five, and stated that "This game needs a coat of wax and a buffing, but the creativity in its design and execution warrant playing through."[16]

IGN ranked it as the 87th best PlayStation 2 game.[24] Project Eden was a nominee for GameSpot's 2001 "Best Adventure Game" award, which ultimately went to Myst III: Exile.[25]

References

1. Todd, Brett (9 January 2002). "Project Eden". Computer Games Magazine. theGlobe.com. Archived from the original on 12 August 2004.
2. Babler, Jason (February 2002). "Project Eden" (PDF). Computer Gaming World. No. 211. Ziff Davis. p. 100. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
3. Edge staff (November 2001). "Project Eden". Edge. No. 103. Future plc.
4. Bramwell, Tom (27 November 2001). "Project Eden (PlayStation 2)". Eurogamer. Gamer Network. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
5. "Project Eden (PS2)". Game Informer. No. 105. FuncoLand. January 2002. p. 83.
6. The D-Pad Destroyer (1 November 2001). "Project Eden Review for PS2 on GamePro.com". GamePro. IDG Entertainment. Archived from the original on 7 February 2005. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
7. Joe (October 2001). "Project Eden Review (PC)". Game Revolution. CraveOnline. Archived from the original on 10 September 2015. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
8. Wolpaw, Erik (25 October 2001). "Project Eden Review (PC) [date mislabeled as "May 17, 2006"]". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
9. Radcliffe, Doug (26 October 2001). "Project Eden Review (PS2) [date mislabeled as "May 17, 2006"]". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
10. Rice, Kevin (17 November 2001). "Project Eden (PC)". GameSpy. IGN Entertainment. Archived from the original on 19 November 2001. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
11. Hodgson, David (8 November 2001). "Project Eden". PlanetPS2. IGN Entertainment. Archived from the original on 18 December 2001. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
12. Lafferty, Michael (6 November 2001). "Project Eden - PC - Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on 3 October 2008. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
13. Parrotta, Dylan (19 November 2001). "Project Eden - PS2 - Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on 10 February 2008. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
14. Sulic, Ivan (16 October 2001). "Project Eden (PC)". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
15. Smith, David (2 November 2001). "Project Eden (PS2)". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
16. Rice, Kevin (January 2002). "Project Eden (PC)". Next Generation. Vol. 4 no. 13. Imagine Media. p. 90.
17. "Project Eden". Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine. Ziff Davis. January 2002. p. 132.
18. "Project Eden". PC Gamer. Vol. 9 no. 2. Future US. February 2002. p. 69.
19. "Project Eden for PC Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 29 November 2013.
20. "Project Eden for PlayStation 2 Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 29 November 2013.
21. Harris, Neil (25 October 2001). "Project Eden (PC)". The Electric Playground. Greedy Productions. Archived from the original on 20 June 2003.
22. Thompson, Jon. "Project Eden (PC) - Review". AllGame. All Media Network. Archived from the original on 15 November 2014. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
23. Thompson, Jon. "Project Eden (PS2) - Review". AllGame. All Media Network. Archived from the original on 15 November 2014. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
24. "Project Eden - #87". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved 6 December 2013.
25. GameSpot staff. "The Best and Worst of 2001 (Best Adventure Game, PC)". GameSpot. CNET. Archived from the original on 2 February 2002. Retrieved 29 August 2019.

External links

• Project Eden at MobyGames