Dan Geeks Out: Video Game Review #442: The Callisto Protocol

The Callisto Protocol

PlayStation 4

Nostalgia Factor:

This is it. Mop Up Duty wraps up with my review of 2022's The Callisto Protocol. That's 40 years of gaming officially in the books!

I knew relatively nothing about The Callisto Protocol coming into it. I knew that it was a spiritual successor to Dead Space, and I knew that it received mixed critical reviews. Other than that, I was completely in the dark when it came to this game.

Read on for my full impressions!

Story:

It's the distant future. You take control of Jacob, a space pilot who transports cargo back and forth between human colonies on Jupiter's moons. Jacob's craft is boarded by a terrorist group known as the Outer Way. His ship crashes on Callisto, where he is mistaken for one of the Outer Way and thrown in prison. Things quickly go downhill from here.

The prison colony is overrun by zombie-like creatures. Power systems go in and out. Everything is on the fritz. Jacob is released from his cell and goes on a mission to escape Callisto, where anything and everything is trying to kill him.

You meet other survivors along the way, including Dani, the leader of the Outer Way - and the reason you're in this mess to begin with. Jacob works with the other survivors in order to escape. Some of them die, and some of them make it. The game throws some interesting twists and turns at you as well. But I won't spoil them for you. As always, there is more going on than appears to meet the eye.

Honestly, this game's storyline was secondary for me. I wasn't that interested in it. I was more interested in exploring Callisto and soaking in the game's immersive environments. And fighting monsters, of course. This game does throw things like audio journals at you that give more depth to what is going on, but oddly you can't walk around when listening to them. You have to open your pause menu and sit there and listen to them. Odd design choice. I just completely stopped listening to them after a while, as they were too disruptive to the game's flow. So I am sure I missed out on a lot of important plot details. Oh well.

Gameplay:

There's a bit of a learning curve when it comes to this title's gameplay. Basic movement is easy enough. Walking around, running, exploring, climbing ladders, picking up items, etc. It's the combat that's a little unusual.

Unlike most games of this genre, it is mainly melee based as opposed to long range weapon based. You pick up long range weapons as the game goes on, sure, but for at least the first half of this game you're going to be spending most of your time swinging at enemies with a crowbar. It's not the attacking that is tough to pick up, it is the dodging. This game has a very specific dodge system in place where you have to hold down the opposite direction on the control stick from where the enemy is attacking. So if the enemy is swinging at you from the right, you want to hold left to dodge the attack. Enemies can swing at you pretty rapidly in this game, so going from left to right and right to left can be a little frantic at times. And this isn't a game where you can just forget about defense. If you don't master this mechanic, you won't make it far.

If you're planning on playing this game, please don't make the same mistake I did. When you defeat an enemy, STOMP ON ITS BODY. When you do, they drop a helpful item almost 100% of the time. I didn't realize that I should have been doing this, so I kept running out of health and ammunition as I played through this game. I was like "dang why did no one tell me this game was so hard!?" I definitely got put in some near no-win situations. It wasn't until I realized that you have to stomp on enemies to get extra items that the game started to become a lot more easy for me. This revelation came about 30 percent into the game. I can only imagine how much better I would have had it if I had realized this sooner.

The game itself is fairly linear and straightforward. There is no map, so I was a little lost at first, until I realized that the game indirectly guides you where you need to go. You can't backtrack to old areas, so you just kind of have to wander around until you get on the right path. The game will nudge you in the right direction. You will know where you back on track.

My biggest gripe about this game is the load time. When you die (and I died A LOT), it takes about a minute or two for the game to load your last checkpoint. There are some very tough areas to fight through, so this game is no walk in the park. Sitting through all those loading screens gets old after a while.

The game also makes some weird decisions with its checkpoints. They often put them before you upgrade your weapons or make purchases at the in-game kiosks. So if you die after spending time upgrading your equipment - guess what? The game will reload the checkpoint from before you did this, and you'll have to do it all over again. Same goes for picking up items too. Gotta go around and collect them all over again. Just like the loading times, this also gets old fast.

I've read some reviews that the game is too short, but I honestly feel the opposite. I expected to beat this in a couple of days based on what I was reading, but I ended up spending several weeks with the game. It starts to get to the point where it overstays its welcome. Well, in my opinion anyway. Maybe I accidentally made the game tougher and longer by not stomping on enemies the first 30 percent of my playthrough!

I do have to say I liked this game overall. I don't get the mixed reviews. If you like Dead Space, you should like this. Then again, I haven't played the original Dead Space since 2009, so maybe I'm not remembering things very well. It's definitely not as good as the Evil Within games - that is for sure. But it is still good.

Graphics:

This game truly looks great. The locales are stunning and immersive. The characters look fantastic. The high flying cutscenes are box office blockbuster quality. The game does suffer from slowdown and framerate issues from time to time. Usually I am not one to complain about such things, but it can be quite bad at times, particularly towards the beginning of the game. Some sections were so choppy they bordered on unplayable. The issue seems to clear up pretty quickly though. If you're a first time player and this happens to you, don't let it scare you off.

Sound:

This game sounds great too. It really is movie quality in its presentation.

I have to give the game props for creating such a dark and immersive world. The sound design plays right into that. Aside from a few jump scares, however, the game fails to consistently create a scary environment. Dark and ominous, sure. But I never felt any kind of dread or tension as I played. This is the least scary scary game I've played. I think that more chilling music and sound effects could have helped in that regard.

Overall:

Due to its mixed reviews, I came into The Callisto Protocol with relatively low expectations. I'm glad to say that this game exceeded those expectations. I had a fun time with this game. Sure, there is a learning curve. And sure, some minor things like loading times and inconveniently placed checkpoints are a detriment to the game's quality. But I still had a good time.

If you're into this type of game, I can easily recommend checking it out. It's not perfect, but it is a welcome addition to the genre and a game that I can say I am very glad to have played. It's not a perfect title by any stretch of the imagination, but it certainly is nowhere near as bad as some people are making it out to be. If The Evil Within and the Resident Evil series have taught me anything, however, it is that games like these have the capability to be so much better. This one is simply good, but not great.

THE GRADE:

B-

And with that, Mop Up Duty has come to a close! I'm going to post an official "look back" on Mop Up Duty very, very soon. It was a fun, if somewhat exhausting ride. Still a real treat though to witness firsthand the rapid evolution of gaming throughout the years; from Satan's Hollow all the way through The Callisto Protocol. What a long way we've come, and what a long way still have in front of us. I can't wait to see where gaming takes us from here.

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