Reality Bytes (if life was reviewed like a computer game)

Pros: Best graphics engine seen ever, Unique character, Can pretty much do anything, Has great multiplayer potential.

Cons: Lots of boring sections, Harsh penalties for deviant behaviour limits how you'll play, End up with a useless character? Too bad, Getting laid is really frustrating.


The first thing you'll notice when you start playing Reality is its graphics engine. It can only be described in one word: AWESOME. It's probably the most powerful seen to date, and certainly captures the world you're playing in. Everything is worth doing once just to see how it looks. Sunsets, sunrises, full moon at midnight on the beach, sex while swinging on a chandelier, etc. Every city you visit looks down-right amazing, every character you meet looks unique. It's simply outstanding. There's no lag, no freezes, nothing. And if graphics were all that counted for a review, this game would receive a 100% score.

Unfortunately, it's not. The actual game play is far more mixed. Let's start off with the worst element of the entire game: boredom. There are long stretches where not that much happens that's fun. This can be a motivating factor, however, to actually explore the game world. The sandbox nature of the game is very well implemented, and you can pretty much do anything you want to. This is somewhat limited by your character though.

Your character is completely and utterly unparalleled. Which is both good and bad. The good is, every game is a different experience, played in a different way. The bad is, there's not much scope for change. Your character's nature is based on an engine called The Genetic Lottery, which is predetermined. You could get great stats, but if you get crap ones, you have to live with it. Which means you won't even be hoping to be a Sex God, you'll just be happy not to have an extra chromosome! There are a bunch of the usual stats seen in Role Playing Games, such as Strength, Intelligence, Looks, etc. But stats are way more complex than any other game you've yet played.

Intelligence, for example, is made up of both IQ and EQ. Emotional Intelligence is just as important for doing well as IQ. If your character is high on IQ but low on EQ, you could end up as a game programmer, earning a lousy salary and working insane hours. However, you could have a moderate IQ but a high EQ, and you could be working as an executive for a game publishing house with a top salary, and plenty of champagne lunches.

And yes, there's scope for change. You're a 90-pound weakling, so what do you do? You go to the gym. This takes a certain amount of commitment that the average gamer probably can't fulfil. GYMING IS BORING. You could try steroids. This is way faster, but could lead to some interesting happenings: You could very well start taking on sexual characteristics of the opposite gender... Not very amusing for you, but definitely for the rest of us (did we mention this game has the ultimate multi-player capabilities?).

And speaking of “multi-player”, you want to have sex, right? Bummer, dude, because it's waaay harder in Reality than in other games. The Looks attribute is important for scoring in the Romance Missions, but they're not the most vital thing. Plenty of characters have gone and done “whoop-ee” with far hotter characters by having a high Charm score. Still, it's a lot of work, and your chances of success are pretty slim without making use of a variety of strategy and luck if only your mother thinks you’re handsome. Chances are you'll have to settle for someone as ugly as you are, although probably worse. This is where the Brown Paper Bag item comes in handy.

Alternatively, if your character doesn't have any good attributes, you can always go on the Prostitute (and Gigolo) Side Mission. Unfortunately implementing a firewall known simply as “Protection” is not always enough to keep from getting nasty Malware programmes. Do this at your own extreme risk. Remember: in Reality, Life is not plural. In this game, you only get one, and there is no save-game function (which we take serious issue with).

Yes, like us, you'll probably find the lack of save-game function a severely limiting factor to playing the game. You want to tell your boss off and hopefully earn his respect? You could just get fired and spend three months hunting down food in trash-cans. There's no way to know for sure how things are going to work out, and no way to undo any damage you cause as a result. So you'll probably end up playing the game cautiously, which takes out half the fun.

Which leads to the most compelling yet limiting aspect of the game. The capacity for getting in touch with your own criminal mastermind is huge, far bigger than in games like Grand Theft Auto. If you have the necessary attributes (such as a decent IQ/EQ and some good old fashioned criminal insanity), you could try becoming a Czar of the Criminal Underworld. Yet, this is not without excessive risk. In GTA, you get caught for mass-murdering countless innocent civilians, you get your weapons taken away and have to bribe a few officers, that's it. Here, just try it and watch them lock you up and disintegrate the key. Then you're stuck in a little cell for the rest of the game, which could be a good 30 to 40 hundred thousand hours of game-time.

In conclusion, Reality has a lot going for it, but in terms of actual game play, you'll find yourself hardly doing anything to avoid nasty consequences. For all its beauty and scope, you'll find you're confined to monotony and boring activities through your own self-imposed limitations. You could make an interesting life for yourself if you're lucky enough to have the necessary attributes, but chances are you'll just lead a mediocre existence with mediocre game play, like most of the others playing it.

Reality is only recommended for people with nothing better to do.