Updating my previous review...
Despite reading Metacritic for years, this is my first review here as I wanted to point out an FMV game that I thoroughly enjoyed from start to finish.
No Spoilers!
First, as noted, the game was fun. I mean, I played it and then my wife (who never makes it more than an hour into a game without being bored) played for probably 8 hours straight beforeUpdating my previous review...
Despite reading Metacritic for years, this is my first review here as I wanted to point out an FMV game that I thoroughly enjoyed from start to finish.
No Spoilers!
First, as noted, the game was fun. I mean, I played it and then my wife (who never makes it more than an hour into a game without being bored) played for probably 8 hours straight before falling asleep with the iPad in her hands. When I woke up she was playing and then finished the game. We were tripped up once or twice by the game using British terms (such as outhouse) which are commonly used in American English as well, but with different meanings.
Gameplay: It's FMV! I would call it a mix between the old DVD adventure games and point-and-click adventure games. The game rests heavily on the video/audio sequences so I'm glad the acting and the imagery were spot on. You play a detective searching for a murder suspect and each hour is a new chapter (though at times it can take a few real world hours to complete an in-game hour). You interview people and do your best to point out contradictions. You also find or are given various items that act as clues and you often have to ask around to find out about them. Very often you will find contradicting statements from two different people but you need to do more searching to figure out which is lying.
As my wife stated, it would be hard to like Sherlock Holmes mysteries and not like this game.
I would like to point out that this game (along with most in this genre) doesn't have much in the way of replay value. Once you solve the crime, you may not feel the need to go back and do the same again. Responses won't change (much) so the game is fairly one dimensional. Then again, if they did change, it would be a very different game.
Pros: Beyond what I described about (fun, great acting), the game has a good, believable story and memorable characters. There are essentially two different hint systems. There is the actual hint button which can be helpful at times. Phone calls to the "chief" can also be helpful at other times. As mentioned, the characters are very memorable and somewhat dynamic despite this being a game. Also, the game is longer than I expected. There are times when you spot contradictions right away but I think that most of it requires a good amount of reviewing statements.
On a related note, the iPad is a great platform for this game, and this is coming from someone who usually only sticks to PC games.
Cons: The hint system fails at times ("Someone is lying," isn't that helpful). I don't like to use a hint system, but if it's going to exist it should probably be a bit more helpful.
Overall, I think the Pros very much outweigh the Cons and found the game to be a blast. My wife and I felt pretty accomplished when we finished! (Oh, and it's one of the only video games we've ever played together so that was a plus.)… Expand
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