Until we actually got our hands on MindsEye, we weren’t clear what kind of game it even is.
Is the game an open-world or a linear one? How does the user-generated “Everywhere” project integrate with the overall structure? Let’s delve into these aspects, but first, it’s crucial to understand that MindsEye is a chaotic and melancholic gaming experience. It seems like the creators of Build A Rocket Boy were in a bind, having forgotten about a school assignment, and this hurried project is what they managed to produce under pressure.
The video game called MindsEye takes place in a futuristic city named Red Rock, which resembles Las Vegas and is brimming with robots, drones, and vibrant neon lights, including the famous Sphere. Contrary to its expansive setting, MindsEye is not an open-world game.
Instead, this narrative unfolds as a sequential account centering around Jacob Diaz, a veteran with a fragmented recollection due to his MindsEye device. His mission is to infiltrate Silva Technologies, the entity behind his implant, seeking answers about past events. The ensuing plot involves corporate intrigue, military ambitions, and perhaps elements that lean towards the realm of science fiction beyond mere robots.
The narrative isn’t awful. It boasts a few intriguing characters and hints of an engaging plot, although it seems like portions are missing from the overall storyline. Despite this, its cutscenes present high-quality character models and acting, resulting in visually stunning cinematics. The main concern lies with everything else.
To begin, let’s discuss the gameplay and graphics. Although it has impressive cinematics, the actual gameplay in MindsEye is poorly optimized. It’s limited to running at 30 frames per second, even on the PS5 Pro, and it frequently struggles to stay above 20.
Perhaps if MindsEye were visually appealing, the game’s blurriness might be more tolerable, but the poor visual clarity makes it feel like you need an eye exam. There were instances where we doubted the quality of the graphics due to their lack of sharpness. It’s unfortunate because the game does show potential, particularly with its lighting effects, but it’s evident that it needed more time in development.
In essence, the gameplay feels heavy and unrefined, overly simplistic, and simply not engaging. It’s a cover-based shooting system, similar to GTA’s weapon wheel, but unfortunately, you’re mostly confined to your cover, meaning there are no evasive moves like dodging or rolling. Furthermore, there’s no melee combat option either. The AI is rather basic and lacks complexity, with only a few enemies being slightly stronger as the main variation. However, credit where it’s due, it does have some impressive haptic feedback and adaptive trigger technology.
Among the standout features of this game is its exceptional vehicle handling. While there’s a slight issue of cars being somewhat light and prone to flipping, the control over vehicles always feels responsive, offering thrilling cinematic arcade-style drifts. Moreover, it boasts impressive burst tire physics that add an extra layer of realism to the driving experience.
Fortunately enough, MindsEye has ample driving segments due to its expansive game map. Although it’s not an open-world game, it offers a vast play area. This implies that during gameplay, you’ll frequently find yourself behind the wheel, possibly pausing for a cutscene or a shootout, and then continuing your journey to another destination.
In this game, I find myself spending quite a bit of time behind the wheel for more than five minutes at a stretch, and there’s not much happening along the way to keep things interesting – no exciting events or even a car radio to jam to some tunes. However, they compensate by having most of the story unfold through phone calls that happen during my journeys.
Frankly speaking, numerous games share similar mechanics, but they frequently provide a sense of immersion associated with an expansive open-world environment. However, when there’s little or no content within this vast landscape, one must ponder if it was worthwhile to design such a sprawling game map at all.
The game’s expansive map might require more than 10 minutes to traverse, but surprisingly, only a few spots are used in the narrative. What’s more, you may find yourself battling through the same places repeatedly. There seem to be no shops, no interactive NPC events, no hidden collectibles, and veering off the designated path could result in mission failure.
Indeed, to fully traverse the urban landscape of Red Rock City without restrictions, you’ll need to progress far enough in the game to access the Open World Exploration (Free Roam) mode. However, if it’s empty, what’s the purpose of that?
In this game, you’ll find playable missions scattered across the open world, and these are typically considered as additional content. You can recognize them as portals that you can walk through. These missions usually last around five minutes and could be skirmishes, races, or mini-games. Once played, they can be replayed at your leisure. The best part is, you can access all of these from the Play menu whenever you want, so there’s no need to go on a hunt for them.
As a gamer, I found myself utterly disappointed when I realized there’s no progression system or rewards for leveling up in this game. No new weapons or vehicles to unlock, only the “fun” factor. After finishing the storyline, we ventured into free roam, speeding around the city, but upon completion, it just kicked us right back to the start of the campaign without any warning.
The play missions in MindsEye appear to be the main aspect of their post-launch user-generated content, but if this is the base they’re building upon, it doesn’t spark much enthusiasm. It seems Build A Rocket Boy had different ideas with their Everywhere platform – a Fortnite-like platform that MindsEye was supposed to join – so what we have now feels like a shadow of the original plan.
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2025-06-12 16:36