Aiken's Artifact - PC Games

The storyline revolves around a cop with psionic abilities known as Cain, who has to take down a horde of other psionics in order to restore public confidence in these genetically enhanced super-beings, with the chief baddie being his brother, Abel.

Despite its futuristic setting, the way you collect other facets of your powers, graded into talents and detail stored in on-screen talent cards, reveals a more conventional role-playing game angle. This helps break up some of the action, and it doesn't reflect badly on the excellent graphics--and as the makers of the original engine are programming the game, you would expect nothing less.

It is here that the problems begin. Once you've mastered the quirks of the control system, going out and taking down your foes gets repetitive, as does wading through the responses of non-player characters (NPCs) to help you solve single puzzles.

Getting more powerful spells heightens the interest, but this game doesn't have the pulling power of either Diablo games, whose longevity of play make them chief challengers to this game. The plot would be less clichéd if The X-Men hadn't been a blockbuster movie with exactly the same themes. American Rapper Ice-T supplies the main voice of Cain's character and also helps the game's overall package, but not enough to make the game a sure-fire purchase. --Kenneth Henry