How do you make a game consisting of a string of puzzles interesting? You weave a plot around them, and use the puzzles as the means to progress that plot along. A hard thing to do, but Puzzle Agent somehow managed to do it. Sadly, it managed to do it so well, I cared less about the puzzles, which are repetitive and not very interesting, and more about the wacky plot. A wacky plot that doesn't get an ending. It seems you're a government agent, working in the puzzle department, and you're called to investigate strange happenings in a small backwater town. It sounds superfluous to a game that's a string of puzzles, but the animation and the great dubbing, as well as the mystery investigation, all draw you in. The dubbing was so great I rarely skipped a line of dialogue. But you don't really get to enjoy that plot. The town you're visiting is quirky & interesting, but you're not allowed to explore it at will, and what you do get to see is very limited. And towards the end of the game the plot seems to take a back seat to the puzzles. All of a sudden you can't take two steps without a new puzzle popping up, which makes things quite frustrating. The puzzles aren't bad, but they're nothing special, and some are repeated several times. I would have much preferred unique puzzles. Also, puzzles are either incredibly hard, or incredibly easy. Some puzzles took me mere seconds - some due to you being able to brute force them, and some took me minutes of head scratching & trial and error. You do get 3 hints for each puzzle, but the first one is vague, the second is a partial solution, and the third a complete solution. Which is a shame, since more often than not the instructions to the puzzles are what make the puzzles difficult. Also, for an interesting game, I was surprised at its lack of polish - lack of frames in the animation, audio badly recorded, and zoomed in graphics, leading to a screen so blurry, I had to look away. Which is sad for a game with so much potential.
Being a fan of horror literature, I'm rarely satisfied with horror video-games. They either go in the direction of gore and jump scares, drop you in an empty creaky old house, or rip-off ideas done much better elsewhere. And Machine for Pigs doing all three, I wasn't exactly excited playing it. I don't know how you can place someone in an empty house and expect them to get scared. I only got bored. It doesn't help that most of this game is on rails, and your interaction with it is very limited and set in stone. You can only do what the developers want you to do, when they want you to do it. Everything seems to be locked down, and the things that aren't, aren't necessarily interactable. The biggest interaction you'll get is with the doors in this game, which you need to physically open - you can't just click on them, you need to drag the mouse while clicking to move them. Making something as simple as opening doors an unnecessary chore. You can also move chairs around, but that's about it. The game does have a plot, but I couldn't care less about it. And the game constantly holding your hand, telling you where to go in as blatant a way as possible, I never felt I needed to consult the plot to advance. Especially since Machine for Pigs doesn't have puzzles. Rather you go around searching for hotspots. And once you discover the "run" button, you can simply sprint from room to room searching for hotspots to press in order to move forward. As for the visuals, they're severely lacking. I'm reminded of PS1 games as far as quality, and The Sims as far as design goes. Meaning you'll constantly see the same items over and over again. The same writing desks containing the same pointless items, the same levers you need to press, the same lamps you need to turn on, etc. I felt like I was in a 3D horror-themed Sims house, rather than a house built to fit a story. It doesn't help that the attempts at horror only hinder the gameplay - earthquakes, fog, dizziness & flashbacks.
The idea of a modern point & click game, especially a horror themed one, is extremely intriguing, but it seems like the "game" aspect of it was lost somewhere in development. Choices are extremely limited, and exploration isn't really rewarded. Instead, you're there to advance the story in as linear a progression as possible. In fact, this game goes against the standard point & click formula, where new revelations open new dialogue trees. Finding something new about a place I was exploring, I wanted to question the people in it about it, but I simply couldn't. It hardly makes you invested in the story. Rather it takes you out of it. Not that the story is that interesting to begin with. You simply start with a horror trope, and continue with some mysterious revelations peppered throughout. And although the trope interested me, everything beyond it didn't. You can get ten times the effect by reading an H.P. Lovecraft story - even the ones only a few pages long. As for the visuals, they leave a lot to the imagination - too much in fact. Things are so pixelated, what looked to me like a stain on a wall was actually a coat. It takes pixel hunting to another dimension. Luckily, it doesn't affect the gameplay too much, seeing as puzzles are either extremely obvious or the "try everything with everything" type. Sadly, both types hinder your progress. And since The Last Door is a movie masquerading as a game, that's a problem. It seemed that no matter how easy and straightforward a puzzle was, I was forced to solve it in a very specific way, and at a very specific time. Meaning some items you can't collect, despite knowing you need them, and doing something as trivial as cutting something becomes a chore, because you're not using the correct item to cut it with. All in all, The Last Door is a movie I'd be interested in seeing, if it got rid of the few gameplay segments it desperately clings to, to be able to call itself a game.
Having loved the genre, but hating most of what is made in it, I'm always on the lookout for anything half-decent. And Jack Keane being a modern comedic point & click game, it seemed halfway decent in the very least. Sadly, it's an example of what not to do in a point &click game. I shouldn't be surprised or disappointed, but the intro to this game got me so excited to play it, I'm saddened at how little effort went into this game (or rather interactive movie). First of all, the visuals. The visuals are decent enough, but for some reason everything is so flush with light, the screen is practically glowing, making it hard to look at it. And although the animation is good enough to be passable, I wish it was better. Talking with various people throughout the game, I felt like I was talking to mannequins. As for dialogue, there isn't much. You're very limited in what you can say or do, and the character's responses to a lot of what you do are generic ("I don't think that will work"). You can observe things in your surroundings, but it adds nothing to the game. You can speak with people, but that adds nothing to the game, besides bluntly telling you what to do next & trying very poorly to make you laugh. Not that you need that - each area is so small and confined, you don't have that many choices to begin with. And also what needs to be done is fairly straightforward. The only problem is figuring out the unintuitive way in which the game's creators want you to go about it. As for dubbing, it goes from being either lifeless to an over-the-top stereotype, causing me to skip most of the dialogue. But what really got me was the technical side. The game has very poor click recognition, and small & weirdly placed hotspots which drove me up the wall. It made going from point A to B a chore. It doesn't help that the character's walk is so slow, I forced him to run from place to place, causing more bad click recognition. And the game having crashed on me doesn't help either.
Risen is so like Gothic 2, it feels like an expansion pack. Problem is, enjoying it depends on you not having played Gothic 2. The maps & quests are so similar, I felt like they just took Gothic 2 & reskinned it. And playing it a second time doesn't make it more fun. In fact, as far as difficulty goes, Risen is more like Gothic 1 - stealing is easy (AI is mediocre), leveling up and improving stats is a breeze, collecting gold is as easy as breathing, & oftentimes I'd find myself biting more than I could chew, with no repercussions whatsoever. Because just like Gothic 1 & 2, you can use the environment to take on foes much stronger than you. You simply lure a monster from its pack using a long range weapon, pin it to a wall & whack repeatedly, or simply attack from afar. You can also climb some object you're not supposed to be able to climb, and use a bow or crossbow to mow down a dozen enemies at once. Plus, herbs & weapons are scattered generously throughout the map, making it easy to roam it. Oftentimes I'd finish quests before ever receiving them. I don't remember Gothic 2 being this easy. Graphics are nice, despite everyone looking the same, and having hideous faces, but I much preferred Gothic 1 & 2's outdated graphics - again, maybe because I played them before playing Risen. The monsters in this game are also rather uninspired, and it takes a while for the more interesting ones to appear. As far as plot, there isn't any. Risen is pretty much a game without a cohesive plotline - rather a collection of sidequests. You're a no-name shipwreck survivor, whose entire goal in life is giving A to B for gold and experience points. There isn't the large overarching story Gothic 2 had. Not only that, but somehow the map feels smaller, or at least as if less thought went into it. Nothing feels natural - you can sense the devs' influence throughout. But despite it all I was willing to keep going, until I finally decided to enter the town, & the game came to a halt.
