Manny
Educated
- Joined
- Nov 27, 2009
- Messages
- 60
I just finished this game a couple of days ago and my impressions are similar to what I think about Kathy Rain: an average/ok adventure that shows promise, with some nice things here and there, but that in the end and as a whole didn't leave me a good last impression.
The story starts out really interesting with the investigation of the murders and the sci-fi theme of the AI, but as it progresses it becomes a bit predictable for my taste as to who the person behind all this is. In addition, there are some quite weak points, like the whole part of the church. However, the murders and the AI theme are the best side of the story in spite of its weak points. The other side, the sentimental one, on the other hand, seemed a bit mediocre to me. I like the designers´ ambition to try and tie the criminal and technological aspects of the theme together with the personal side of the character, even if I have ambivalent feelings regarding the use of the image of the lover to show the unconscious. But as with Kathy Rain, I feel like the writing is not that good in that regard, so it doesn't work that well.
Now, the puzzle design, the most important part of an adventure for me, has some pretty good points, which are sadly clouded by certain pedestrian decisions. First the good. In some puzzles, the designers dared to let the player join various elements to solve the puzzle without explicitly specifying the solution, such as
. Also very good were those parts where one must sonically or visually pay attention to the environment to solve some puzzles, as
. At such times, Whispers of a Machine is a pleasure to play. Too bad those excellent puzzles are accompanied by some that I would qualify more as interactions than puzzles. An example of this is when the protagonist stays outside the city. In that case, you are supposed to figure out how to take shelter for the night. But, being a single space and the objects so limited, the course of action to follow is so obvious that it ends up being pure interaction.
But perhaps the saddest thing in this aspect is precisely the most interesting thing about the game: the use of the augmentations. Some have mentioned that these are underused. My impression is that the problem is another: these serve, with a couple of exceptions, to solve obvious things. Thus, if there is something that cannot be moved because it is too heavy, then I use super strength; if there is something in the dark, I use magnified vision. That's so obvious that augmentations end up being a gimmick rather than a skill that allows you to creatively solve puzzles. I only remember two interesting uses:
. The use of the findings with the scanner is also interesting in some cases. So, in the end, the augmentations end up being more of a disappointment than anything else.
One more point that I want to highlight in a positive way is that the game does not fall into something quite common in many modern adventures: the fact that the protagonist comments on what you send him to do. It is really unnerving for me when I have my character join a stick with a blade to make a spear, to mention an example, and the character says "I have joined the stick with the blade."
Finally, I am very upset that the game does not let me save when I want to. I understand that this mechanic is trying to keep one with the decisions made. But the problem is that I would have liked to see other results without having to play the game again, especially if this one did not seem good enough that it deserves to be replayed.
Anyway, I'm sure I'll play the new version of Kathy Rain to see if they have improved its design.
The story starts out really interesting with the investigation of the murders and the sci-fi theme of the AI, but as it progresses it becomes a bit predictable for my taste as to who the person behind all this is. In addition, there are some quite weak points, like the whole part of the church. However, the murders and the AI theme are the best side of the story in spite of its weak points. The other side, the sentimental one, on the other hand, seemed a bit mediocre to me. I like the designers´ ambition to try and tie the criminal and technological aspects of the theme together with the personal side of the character, even if I have ambivalent feelings regarding the use of the image of the lover to show the unconscious. But as with Kathy Rain, I feel like the writing is not that good in that regard, so it doesn't work that well.
Now, the puzzle design, the most important part of an adventure for me, has some pretty good points, which are sadly clouded by certain pedestrian decisions. First the good. In some puzzles, the designers dared to let the player join various elements to solve the puzzle without explicitly specifying the solution, such as
the puzzle of "The Path of the Pilgrim" or the one with access to the incubator's computer
the one in the church or the one with the boys outside the junkyard
But perhaps the saddest thing in this aspect is precisely the most interesting thing about the game: the use of the augmentations. Some have mentioned that these are underused. My impression is that the problem is another: these serve, with a couple of exceptions, to solve obvious things. Thus, if there is something that cannot be moved because it is too heavy, then I use super strength; if there is something in the dark, I use magnified vision. That's so obvious that augmentations end up being a gimmick rather than a skill that allows you to creatively solve puzzles. I only remember two interesting uses:
the aforementioned of children outside the junkyard with special vision and, to a lesser extent, the use of health in the prison
One more point that I want to highlight in a positive way is that the game does not fall into something quite common in many modern adventures: the fact that the protagonist comments on what you send him to do. It is really unnerving for me when I have my character join a stick with a blade to make a spear, to mention an example, and the character says "I have joined the stick with the blade."
Finally, I am very upset that the game does not let me save when I want to. I understand that this mechanic is trying to keep one with the decisions made. But the problem is that I would have liked to see other results without having to play the game again, especially if this one did not seem good enough that it deserves to be replayed.
Anyway, I'm sure I'll play the new version of Kathy Rain to see if they have improved its design.
