Cognition: Game of the Year Edition

Let me tell you that you will not be dissappointed if you choose to give this game a try (assuming you like this style of gaming experience, of course). I really think I played most of the recent graphic adventure games that came out in the last 10 years (the older ones too) and this is, in my opinion, one of the best. Hands down. It's an easy choice if... you liked Gabriel Knight, Gray Matter, Broken Sword, Syberia or The Longest Journey? chances are that you will love this one too. It has that "feel" of older adventure games, with that great atmosphere that we used to love. I've already played the first 3 episodes, and I cannot wait to finish the last part! Many people complained about the first episode for being a bit buggy or slow paced. But, please... things will speed up sooner than you think and by the time you are finishing the second episode and starting the third one, trust me, you will be all about finding the truth about everything in Erica's life! And Jane Jensen was somewhat involved! what else do you need? Crime? paranormal activities? a serial killer? a big, deep, and pyschological story/plot? Well! in that case... you just found your game! I give it 5 stars because I just want more of these games to come out and I really, really want to support them! From a guy who has played the 75% of the game.

Cognition tells the story of Erica Reed, a policewoman who secretly has supernatural powers. The story is full of compelling characters, and the actual story is interesting, too. Unfortunately, the script leaves much to be desired and is full of idiotic moments, much of which involves breaking police protocol. Cops drawing loaded guns on their colleagues, touching evidence with their bare hands and breaking and entering to aid them in their investigation. The puzzles leave much to be desired as well. There are MANY moments where you have to finish one puzzle chain, after which another puzzle chain pops up somewhere else completely unrelated (for example a new guy pops up somewhere completely out of the blue). Sometimes you're given multiple goals at once, only one of which you can actually accomplish (after which the other quests are solvable), and sometimes you're given no goal at all and merely have to mess around without aim for a while Interesting this isn't. There are also puzzles which you have to solve in a particular "wacky" way, even though you have the means (and items) to solve them in a much more logical way - and that from a game which, despite its comic graphics and supernatural skills, is pretty much grounded in gritty realism. The Interface is buggy as hell and often requires multiple clicks to register your input, or sometimes registers you clicking somewhere else entirely. Fortunately, the story is so compelling and full of twists that you won't be disheartened by the many flaws of the game, at least until Episode 4, which is easily the weakest of the bunch, since it's just a sequence of LITERAL puzzles and Game Over sequences (you can die in the game, but usually only a few times during an episode; Episode 4 has many ways to die). The last "puzzle" is a heavily scripted "fight sequence" composed entirely of still pictures. I still recommend this game as it's not really bad, but don't expect a game on par with the glory days of the 90's.

While the Story is interresting(if a little over the top), the game itself is a disaster. Numerous bugs, including a game-breaking one after a lengthy unscipable cut-scene, turn this game into a glitch-fest. Characters walk into the air, through objects, face the wrong direction when talking to each other and other bugs destroy much of the immersion in this game. If you are a fan of supernatural mystery adventures, like the Gabriel Knight series, then this game is for you, IF you are prepared to wade through one buggy, immerion breaking scene after the other.

I enjoyed this game very much for it's story and atmosphere, puzzle solving was interesting too. There are technical problems such crushes and freezes (adding -force-gfx-direct to short cut helped), some unskipable dialogs and sometimes unresponsive controls. Nothing deal braking overall but could be annoying. Also it’s very “adventure gamey” game. Your FBI agent Reed will be stealing evidence from crime scene, trigger fire alarms to get small favor from colleague and use Luigi board to find screwdriver. But if you suspend your disbelief most puzzles are logical and interesting to solve. Psychic powers also add a lot of variety. If you forgave game its problems there is a great story about FBI agent with psychic powers hunting serial killers and serial killers hunting her. It gets very emotional and heartbreaking sometimes. It’s twists and turn land very well on episodic storytelling. And game often revealed it’s mysteries moments after I realized them which is sing of good storytelling, I think.