MindsEye Review - Not Like This
One of the earliest missions in MindsEye tasks you with tailing a car. Get too close and the person driving will spot you; fall too far behind and you’ll lose sight of the vehicle. It’s the exact kind of mission structure we all decided was tired and needed to go away over a decade ago. The only difference in MindsEye is that you’re piloting a drone instead of driving a car, so even the relatively small stakes are diminished by the fact that you can just fly really high to avoid being seen. It’s not a positive first impression, especially when you factor in the confluence of concerning events surrounding the game and developer Build a Rocket Boy–from the studio’s co-CEO stating that anyone sharing negative feedback about the game was being funded by an ubiquitous source, to the chief legal officer and CFO both leaving the company a few weeks before launch.
Neither is a great look, yet I still went into MindsEye with an open mind. There’s some pedigree behind the scenes, after all, with former Rockstar North lead Leslie Benzies handling directing duties. Benzies was a producer on Grand Theft Auto III through V before leaving to found Build a Rocket Boy, and you can clearly see elements of GTA’s DNA in MindsEye. Unfortunately, the comparisons end there.
MindsEye is not good. That early tailing mission is sadly indicative of the rest of the game as you slog through roughly 10 hours of dull and creatively bankrupt third-person action, combining driving and cover-based shooting within a linear framework. The story isn’t completely terrible, at least, with a few entertaining moments sprinkled into what is otherwise a mostly forgettable tale. You play as Jacob Diaz, a former soldier with selective amnesia caused by a neural implant in his neck: the titular MindsEye. What initially begins as a personal quest to uncover his past gradually becomes a mission for humanity’s survival, as familiar sci-fi tropes come to the fore.
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