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Dramatic, Moving, Appropriate, and Intuitive 2 hour break

  • Rabie
  • 03/11/2013 06:13 AM
  • 1716 views
First and Foremost
Anything I say in this review is (obviously) my personal opinion. My opinion could very well conflict with anyone/everyone else's. Also, beware of spoilers. My intent is not to tell the story in this review, however there are occasional references to story line, or theme. My positive remarks will be marked with a green (+) and my negative criticism will be marked with a red (-)

Concept
This unique game has ties to detective TV shows, eerie paranormal short-stories, and old inspect+interact games like king's quest. The black-out flash-backs do justice to the concept of role-playing without ruining the mystery. There are more than enough cliff-hanging plot elements to keep players glued to their 'z' and 'x' keys for a solid Two Hours. Great Concept, Well Developed, Props!

Graphic Review
(+)__The only graphics I recognized from the default set were icons for the clues, Nice Original graphic set! Tiles were well suited for the mood of the story. There was a nice contrast of lighting between rooms, the lit-tiles were a nice touch

(-)__Font could have been customized to fit the theme. Window was a bit bland, could have also been customized. Menu did not cover entire screen, was it supposed to look like a journal?

Audio Review
(+)__Music selection was quite appropriate. The exclusion of sound at certain points was very appropriate.

(-)__Sound effects occasionally clashed with somber tone, or were simply too loud. Music transitions between scenes were noticeable and distracting.

Game-play Review
(+)__Easy to pick up, I'm glad a tutorial wasn't included, as it wasn't necessary. I loved how involved I was with the main character's thoughts.

(-)__Direction was unclear during the first half of the story, I resorted to asking everyone about every clue before realizing I had skipped a discussion topic with the friend.

Entertainment Value
(+)__The discuss+collect clues+ask about clues game-play style is very entertaining, and made me retrace my steps in game a few times. Well developed, good for a single play-through. I'd love a sequel, direct or indirect. Satisfying, and not too predictable. I commonly feel like the detective is slow to realize the situation, however the detective was on track with my thought process.

(-)__I did a good bit of searching for clues, expecting to find something beneath every table, or in every drawer, but with little reward. I don't know how it could have been avoided, perhaps i'm simply to in-depth in my search for goodies.

Replay Value
(+)__I was glad I saved when I found there was going to be an alternate ending...

(-)__however the alt. ending was not much different from my original choice. A flash-forward to show the final outcome of my choice would have been interesting to see. Overall very-low replay value. Had I not saved, I would not have bothered to make the trip for the alt. ending. It was a good hour long, but I won't find myself watching someone else play it.

=+BUGS+=
*A glitch allowed me to jump on a table in the second half of the game. Some flower tiles on the left of the hallway close to the entrance on the desk were passable, not very distracting though.
*I remember there being a typo, however I don't recall where, so it was apparently not too important.
*The "Troubled Victim" clue duplicates instead of simply becoming "Troubled Victim (2)"
*You could open the menu during the "Dawnseeker Studio" picture pre-title. No apparent reason as to why you could do this, but you could save...

Ratings: Each category counts for 1/5 Overall score.
Appropriate Visuals +.5
Moving Music Effects +1
Intuitive Game-Play +1
Dramatic Entertainment +1
Little to No Replay Value +0


OVERALL: 3.5/5.0

Posts

Pages: 1
Thanks for the review!

I'm glad you enjoyed it. If I end up doing a new version I'll try and fix up some of the aesthetics (yeah, the idea behind the menu was a journal, but it actually probably would look better if it covered the screen) and audio effects a bit, as well as those bugs - I completely missed those during play-testing. I'll keep the critique in mind for any potential sequel designs, too. The feedback is really helpful and appreciated. :)
I'm probably about to review this title soon, but I don't think this game should get -1 whole point for replayability. That's not really the point of the game, because the story is told in such a linear fashion that it does not warrant repeat visits. However, I do agree with the review, just not how the score is rated. Good job.
Pages: 1