Review by: Chris Harding
Published: November 5, 1998

Perspective is an unusual and often peculiar thing at times. Each person’s thoughts, actions, opinions, feelings, and general make-up are contrived from a multitude of factors that, when put together, give us all one similar quality — we are all unique. Perspective seems to be a big part of computer games nowadays, and in more ways than one. The most obvious connotation of perspective in games relates to a player’s vantage point. Our Editor-in-Chief Emil Pagliarulo recently looked at this issue and the plethora of third person perspective games in his editorial entitled “Gaming’s Out of Body Experience.” The other form of perspective is a tad more ambiguous, just like my experience with SegaSoft’s latest title, Vigilance.

You’re probably familiar with the game, and might have even toiled with the demo. You’re also probably somewhat familiar with the hype that surrounds it, and if so your hopes are high. Before I go any further it’s important to make an important distinction. I have no intention of raising a debate on how accountable games should be when compared against the pre-release promises associated with them. I do, however, wish to point out that where you stand on that issue will dramatically affect your opinion of this game. While you’re reading this review have this thought in mind; doing so will definitely make your perspective more clear.

An introduction to Vigilance can easily be made by watching True Lies. Both are big budget productions with a lot of hype that are marred with flaws, but still entertaining; and neither one seems to take itself too seriously. If you’ve read our preview then you’re aware of the game’s basic premise. As the player you are part of an elite anti-terrorist organization known as S.I.O.N., or Special Intelligence Operations Network. Almost a combination of Rainbow Six and the Nintendo 64′s Goldeneye in format, the game has you take on the role of an antiterrorist agent in a series of missions against a conspiracy to overtake the world. Vigilance, like Rainbow Six, gives you multiple agents to choose from, however you can only control one operative at a time.

Getting started playing Vigilance was a traumatic experience for me. When the game arrived I tore into it like a five-year-old opening presents on Christmas morning, and likewise was asleep an hour later: not because the game is boring or anything like that, but because once I had freed up the 650MB of hard drive space the game needs to install I was too tired to actually play. Once I recovered, still in a mild shock that half of my “D” drive was gone, I started the game. Becoming familiar with the story is very easy to do, as the introduction sequence does an excellent job in introducing you to each of the eight operatives available for single play. Once I had the options configured (3Dfx, high-res, etc.) I loaded the first mission. I’m not sure what happened next, but all I remember was looking up at my screen and seeing that Windows had adjusted my clock for daylight savings time…. Okay, I’m exaggerating a little. But if you got the idea that it takes a long time to load missions in this game, then you’re on the right track to understanding my sarcasm.