Do you like exploring an environment, finding clues, examining evidence, interviewing suspects, and getting immersed in the story as an investigator? Well this game takes all that away and merely gives you a series of static scenes with retro graphics where you don't know anyone's names and click on objects to get clues. You then quite literally fill in the blanks by dragging words to the prompts and that's it. The scenarios tie together and tell a story but I lost interest pretty quickly after 4 or 5 scenarios. No action, just logic. The kind of game you would play in DOS in junior high to work your logic and deduction skills, with none of the thrill of a video game. You don't move around, you don't really interact with anything, you are looking from the outside and are far removed from the story. The game is pure logic and deduction, which means it can be really frustrating - as in you have to make some leaps and make some assumptions that sometimes made me shake my head. The scenarios get more and more complicated, to the point where you have dozens and dozens of clues to sort through on your own and misleading you to make the wrong deduction. It's annoying flipping between Thinking Mode and Exploring Mode, so you're constantly going back and forth between modes just to make sense and organize the clues to solve it. I tried writing things down and that helped a bit, but it's pretty dull and lifeless and abstract. Maybe there is a way to have the Exploring mode and Thinking mode run simultaneously on two screens, but I'm not sure. This game is probably really popular/liked because it's a new type of mystery game and has retro-style graphics, but I guess I'm old fashioned in that I like my Sherlock Holmes, Tex Murphy, Crimson Manor type games that have a more engaging interface, interesting characters and fun puzzles. If you love logic and deduction but aren't keen on investigation and interactive gameplay, then you might like it.
I played this recently, not long after playing Under a Killing Moon for the first time. I really like the interactive movie style of these games and there is some decent acting. Look for Tanya Roberts, who played Donna's Mom on That 70s Show, as she plays Regan in this game. The game continues Tex's story in the sassy noir detective style, complete with some cornball humour that I enjoy. The downsides: I find it virtually impossible without the walkthrough, even on Entertainment Mode. I played on my own at first until I got stuck, then realized I had missed so much - often times you have to jump up or crouch to find an item that is in 2D on top of an object, ie you would never know it was there if you don't have the camera angled exactly right. The labyrinth parts near the end are very frustrating and I had to find a cheat map online to get through it without throwing my computer across the room. The combining of certain items is not intuitive but essential to getting through the game, much like Under a Killing Moon. I wanted to play the Mission Street/Good Tex ending, but blew that without knowing it very early on. It's not always clear when you're talking to people what responses would be considered "good" vs "neutral" vs "bad" and so I ended up doing the Mission Street Walkthrough after completing about 10% of the game and I still ended up with a Lombard St/ Neutral ending. Some puzzles are fairly easy, others not so much. I didn't play in the other mode but I can't imagine having to do some of these tasks with a timer ticking down. There are a couple times when you do have to do things very quickly, and then the controls can be annoying. Fairly well written, well acted, mostly fun game if you are comfortable using a walkthrough (or the in-game hints which dock you points). If I had played this when it came out, it likely would have taken me months to complete and I doubt it could be completed fully without some hints.
Interesting mystery and beautiful scenes. Has that Syberia feel but with more mystery and clue-finding. Voice acting is fairly solid. Doesn't take too long to complete. The world is quite large when you begin, and you will do a lot of running back and forth from place to place.(though it's a beautiful backdrop). However, as the game progresses, your world gets smaller and smaller, making it easier to find people and get places. The worst part of this game was the amount of dialogue and repeated questions. I suppose it's like a real investigation, where you have to listen to long accounts of each suspect, but it makes the game slow and tedious. It would be better if the topics of conversation were more limited - not every charatcer needs to weigh in on every single clue! You have to look for clues very carefully and it's easy to do things out of order but for the most part it makes sense. There aren't many puzzles, and they are on the easy side compared to games like Syberia. I loved how when you loaded a game, it would give a quick recap of what you learned so far - really helpful since there's a lot going on in the story. One thing that was annoying is that many of the characters look the same - most of the men have brown hair and are wearing yellow-beige suits. It was confusing sometimes. One guy looks a LOT like Fred Armisen. Overall pretty good game, doesn't take too long. I think it would be quite intense to play the timed version.
