Its central premise of the created turning on its creator is nothing new -- indeed it has been a major theme running through the Bible, ancient Greek literature, Hebrew legends of the Golem, etc. -- but she also added to it the idea of 'science gonne madd' (and indeed the sub-theme of 'science without conscience') which was to prove very meaningful at that time in history, given that Darwin's scientific theories and world-view were beginning to take hold on the populace. Frankenstein had such an impact that it has subsequently held a massive influence on all media leading up to the present day; The Island of Dr. Moreau, Bladerunner, The Terminator, and IRL note how quickly genetically modified crops were labelled as 'frankenstein food'; all of this has its roots in this one novel which has provided such a rich seam of imagination to plunder.

Now Sanity: Aiken's Artifact is no different in this respect. The plot has an ancient mysterious artifact being discovered which allows a genetic scientist, Dr. Joan Aiken, to create a serum allowing people to be born with powerful psionic abilities. True to human nature a few recipients of these powers then promptly turn to lives of crime, preying on normal society, turning against their creators. From this the Department of National Psionic Control (DNPC) was created to combat the problem -- and combat it has been ever since. The psychic cops themselves have become just as feared as the criminals given the powers that get unleashed in the conflict. The story here lies with our hero, Cain, reinstated after a particularly bad incident involving many civilian deaths. The game starts in his quarters at the DNPC.

Now the original control setup can appear a bit awkward to begin with; not only are the arrow keys needed to move Cain around but the camera also has to be manipulated as well to allow you to explore the landscapes effectively, and then presumably a third hand having to be used to control the onscreen cursor via the mouse. Fortunately this is all re-definable via the excellent configuration screens and coming up with an easier two-handed setup for us non-mutants is easy enough with a little thought and experimentation.

The game uses the Lithtech engine to produce a detailed free-floating isometric view of the sumptuous landscapes you can wander Cain through -- though somewhat disappointingly, he cannot leap or crouch to circumvent basic obstacles; it being a strictly walkabout style of movement. The gameplay is quest based, with the player having to perform a set series of tasks in order to progress through the game -- there is a nice mix of action and puzzles which should have a broad appeal to a variety of gamers. The only problem here lies with some of the tougher puzzles -- the savegames can take longer to load than the sequence you're trying to play through and this can get quite repetitive and frustrating if you're constantly spending more time loading the last savegame than playing it. Some of the puzzles are very obvious in the way they are presented too. If you like a certain degree of realism in your level design then some parts of Sanity's single player game are going to disappoint you. Then again if you don't mind finding rooms entirely devoted to huge spinning wheels'o'death with 8ft swords coming out of the walls then you'll enjoy the ambience.

The plot itself advances at a good slowly increasing pace through the use of ingame engine-rendered scripted cutscenes -- which thankfully can be advanced through if you've seen it all before via those savegames. The voice acting is well done as is usual with the better quality releases these days. Ice-T's attitude is fully on display as Cain and he brings some welcome humour to the proceedings. At some points the standard 'wander around and kill' gameplay takes a welcome break as Cain is forced into situations he (and the player) isn't fully in control of: most noticeably in this respect, the gameshow, where he has to answer some questions correctly, or die; and a tour of Aiken Pharmaceuticals, where you just follow the tour guide to have several important plot points explained to you in excruciating detail. These parts do well interspaced in between the action set-pieces and stop the game becoming one long monotonous blast-fest.

Now to the magic^H^H^H^H^H psionic powers... As he proceeds through the various tasks and levels Cain can acquire more psionic powers. These are organised into eight totems of ten talents each. A totem is defined by the psionic character responsible for its creation -- and given that the discovery of psionics through this ancient artifact has spawned a new antiquarian movement in society some of the totems reflect the more traditional fantasy magical powers; Demonology, Illusion, Fire, etc., besides the more modern psionic applications (eg., Dr. Joan Aiken created the Science Totem). As a whole the psionic side of Sanity resembles that of the popular collectable game cards -- and indeed there will be downloadable 'booster' packs, costing US$10 each, of extra talents in the future, which can be used in multiplayer deathmatch action.

Each psionic talent has a different effect and costs Cain more depending on its power. The simple fireball he begins with costs him only four points of his sanity level -- and this is where the game derives its name. The constant use of psionics can drive the user insane and if Cain's ever sanity drops to a negative amount he becomes a lot harder to control -- the onscreen character writhes and stumbles around until his sanity reaches positive levels again.

The opponents encountered in the game get steadily tougher much as they do in standard RPG fashion; ie., more powers and harder to kill -- there's not much to speak of in terms of enemy AI as the gameplay doesn't really demand any. From the Redneck Rampage rejects of the first level to Cain's brother Abel, and on to some of the bigger blastable nasties there is a nice easy progression to allow the player to come up with new ideas and applications for the psionics. The same goes for the puzzle side of things with the player needing to learn to use each power in ways that might not be that obvious; it is easy to see that the levitation talent can get you over that pit, but it takes a little time to learn that a certain offensive fire power can also destroy unreachable things beyond otherwise unbreachable glass walls.

The multiplayer game is limited to deathmatch at the present but has a number of modes dependent on the psionics allowed. 'Empty Deck': where you start with no talents and have to pick them up in order to use them. 'Limited Deck': You start with a small number of talents to begin with and can pick up more. 'Unlimited Deck': where you start with a choice of all the powers. There's various server side controls too - one of the Fox Interactive servers is set up on 'instagib' rules: ie., you only have the Lightning Bolt talent, a mere 100 health, and no pickups on the maps...