Top-tier '90s computer game vibes. The talking heads are superb. This feels a lot like The Last Express (especially since time moves on regardless of you; I feel like I need to take notes of where everyone is going to be at all times). I don't have a clue what I'm doing (there're SO many leads and threads to follow) but by golly am I having a good time. I'd DEFINITELY refer to a guide if I wanted to actually get a good ending, though.
Absolutely impeccable Blade Runner aesthetic; a cooler-than-cool run-down, dirty cyberpunk city to travel around and explore, with pre-rendered 3D backgrounds looking cooler than they've ever looked. It's a good thing, too, because the presentation makes you forgive some frankly horrible point-and-click design: teeny-tiny clues that it's easy to miss, random elements meaning that you can do all the right things and still not progress past certain sections until the game decides it's time... I can't hate this game because it's just the absolute pinnacle of (1997's idea of) cyberpunk chic but only play if you have a LOT of patience for running back and forth and trying things over and over until they click.
This is leagues better than some of the previous Frogwares Sherlock Holmes games and is genuinely a fun time but I found it super buggy. It's prone to hanging/crashing on loading screens and for me it always crashed before the fifth case so I literally can't complete it.
Frogwares games can be charmingly janky but when I have to go under the hood and mess around because by default the game doesn't let you *save* then something has gone really wrong.
Not a bad little game at all if you like the vibe of those 2000s European point-and-click adventures (e.g. Secret Files: Tunguska et al). It's not exactly going to win game of the year but it's a fun diversion for fans of the genre. It does have that issue where it's very 'video-game-y' to an absurd degree i.e. no-one has a bloody normal lock on their door(!), only one that requires a series of riddles and jigsaw puzzles and whatnot. If you *need* a bit more realism in your point-and-clicks then maybe stay away.
It's a neat little retro-styled point & click adventure that absolutely oozes charm. Not too challenging and not very long but you'll have a fun time.
It's a decent little diversion for point & click fans but it's crazy how short it is; about the length of one act of one of the other games in the series.
This will definitely scratch your itch if you're looking for a decent point & click adventure experience but it also features some wacky-as-hell puzzles. They're not illogical or poorly designed, they're just weird. 'Put the roller skate on the ufo and then put the marzipan on the ping pong ball' sort of thing where you wonder why characters don't just send messages or lock their doors in a normal, human way.
They really don't make 'em like this any more.
The consensus seems to be that this is a 'flawed classic' and even after just a couple of hours of play I'd say that seems fair. It's very much emblematic of a certain era of action adventure games that tried to mix elements of stealth, gunplay and the like. Imagine exactly the half-way point between True Crime: New York City and the Tomb Raider reboot (which is exactly where this game falls chronologically, even). The main issue is that the moment-to-moment gameplay is actually pretty frustrating; with a constant "oh god, I messed up the stealth and now I'm having to scramble" feeling even when you're not trying to be stealthy! I never once felt like I was very in control of any situation I found myself in. Also this seems very much to be optimised with controllers in mind so everything from navigating the menus to moving the camera during gameplay seems more difficult than it should with a keyboard & mouse. Is it good and worth checking out? Absolutely yes. You will definitely need more patience than I have if you want to play it to completion, though.
