John Cain is pissed off, confused, disoriented, and in a blazing RAGE! One could quite possibly be “one” of the best, most intense action games released this year. And, while the graphics engine is smooth, detailed, and full of spectacular lighting effects, the game itself is tarnished by inaccurate gameplay elements.

The level design in One is splendid, making good use of spatial relationships, object interaction, lighting, textures... all that. Suffice it to say that One is beautiful to look at from any angle.

While I found the camera angles in One to be well placed overall, I seem to think that some of the game’s acute problems stem from a lack of a tighter zoom feature. Jumping in One, which is a major aspect of the gameplay, can be as easy as one (run), two (press jump), and three (land). On the other hand, when levels become more serpentine in nature, especially at junctures requiring good jumping skills, One can become “one” frustrating game. John Cain does have a shadow of sorts to use in aiming landing points, but with the intense on-screen action, and incredible lighting effects, the shadow can become washed out, and therefore, undetectable. If the camera would allow you to zoom in closer to the action, the advent of the occasional absences of the shadow would be balanced out by the ability to “see” your way through areas.

John Cain can jump, roll, flip, slide and even hang. He will need all these abilities to navigate his way through the unfamiliar territory he finds himself in, while copious numbers of enemies hunt and attack the wounded soldier. What the hell is going on? Cain does not yet know. But he damn sure is determined to find out, and he’ll kill anything in his path to attain the answers and stay alive.

The “Rage Meter”’ concept is also one of One’s more glorious features. The more things John Cain destroys, the more “Rage” he develops. This Rage is then used to make John Cain less vulnerable to attacks, and provides additional abilities beyond those which he normally possesses. This also causes the player to attempt combating various foes and elements in an attempt to increase his Rage. You could just run through certain levels, or portions thereof, without destroying anything; but, you would remain at your highest level of vulnerability, and would not have access to certain attacks. ASC Games has effectively created a very usable risk reward feature with this addition to the gameplay.

Intense? Absolutely! One is fast, furious, and full of action. The enemies are many, the hazards are great, and the on-screen action never stops. You will frequently find yourself smashing the pause button just to catch your breath. Yet, despite all of the excitement One generates, there are areas of the game that are inherently suspect.

Contributing to the frustration is the somewhat less than accurate control mechanism that is in place. Many times you feel that something just is not quite right with the tactile aspects of the game. As a result, the urge to continue on is frequently overshadowed by the desire to smash your control pad into pieces.

Saving in One is another area where the developers seemed to have missed the mark. There are both password and memory card features built into the game, but you must complete long tedious segments of levels before you can actually save your progress. This is unforgivable, mostly because the gameplay in One is just as “unforgivable.” You will die many, many times just trying to figure your way through certain stages within levels. This is sad because One is really a lot of fun at times.

After having played One in excess of 12 continuous hours, (six the day of the release, and another six the following morning), I realized more than a few gameplay issues adversely injured a pretty good game.