Cognition Episode 1: The Hangman Review
Do Phoenix Online Studios kick off this new series with a bang?
In Cognition: An Erica Reed Thriller – Episode 1: The Hangman (let’s just call it Cognition from now on) you play FBI Agent Erica Reed, a name Phoenix Online are clearly hoping one day will be recognisable since they put it in the damn title, who’s investigating a murder where an unidentified man was hanged. Her brother was killed several months ago by a maniac called the Cain Killer who may-or-may-not-but-probably-didn’t die at the same time, and it’s in this scene where Cognition begins.
The party was going well until Derek hung himself. Then it kinda went downhill. |
I actually thought I’d missed a previous game in the series as it starts so abruptly. I love stories that start in the middle of the action, but there’s no explanation why disorientating visions occasionally flash on the screen or why Erica has a “Psychic Mind Powers Button”.
Yes, the big thing about Cognition is that at the press of a (really annoyingly placed) button Erica Reed can see a moment in the past connected to an item or location, and later in the episode can hone her powers to create interactive “ghosts” or dive into a person’s memories. As a way of differentiating Cognition from the millions of CSI/FBI/police adventure games out there psychic powers works quite nicely, and although they feel the teensiest bit like an excuse for the developers to bypass thinking up traditional adventure game puzzles in practice it does actually work.
I was particularly impressed by an interrogation scene where you could delve into the suspect’s memories but could only get information if the details were correct, like finding out a girl’s dress colour then correcting it in the memory. I had problems with this particular scene (why was I never simply allowed to ask “when is your Anniversary?”, for example), but Erica’s powers worked quite acceptably.
I was also pleased to see that all the innovations and conveniences in the adventure genre were present and correct, with even a few added. Pressing the space bar or the icon at the top of the screen highlights all interactive elements on the screen. There’s a simple hint system, cutely done through your smartphone in the form of messaging your Dad for help, which can be turned off in the options. Erica runs by double-clicking. Inventory item combining is kept to an absolute minimum, and objects that can’t be combined are actually greyed out when you click the ‘combine’ button.
The story is generally interesting, with a certain amount of twists that did keep me guessing, but there’s a lot of silliness too. If you’re in the lair of a killer who you know for a fact is armed and in the building, with very few places he can possibly be hiding, most normal people who aren’t Erica Reed wouldn’t stare at a wall while the guy snuck up behind you.
“Keep banging on about your brother Erica and you won’t need psychic powers to know where this finger’s going.” |
How does Erica ask for someone’s help? Massively insult their life and their profession first. Silliness went overboard however when The Hangman’s clues involved cutting a hole in a wall aligned so a struggling victim somehow ended up staring at it, covering it over perfectly, writing a cryptic clue on how to find it on the wall, painting over that clue so that a special piece of colour-seeking equipment is needed to see it, by which time the body has been cut down so you have to hope that the FBI agent you’re sending clues to has the psychic ability to create a ghost of that body in her mind so she can subsequently work out the clue and find the compartment. Also, there’s only one forensics guy, one doctor, and (at most) four agents in all of Boston. And why does no one ever call for backup?
The puzzles are all pretty acceptable (faint praise I’ll admit), with the majority not requiring you to go far to solve them – at most you’ll have to get a gadget from the forensics guy or some snacks from the vending machine. They’re entertaining enough, but more than occasionally lapse into maddening adventure game logic. Why do you have to use your Intuition powers to follow some footsteps then solve a puzzle to get a shovel embedded in a statue just to dig up a small mound of dirt you could easily do with your hands? Why does the homeless guy only take chips to eat after just stating that he’s hungry (which you have to get by searching for change in your desk drawer instead of just using your wallet on the machine), and Erica won’t even consider giving him the box of doughnuts she’s carrying. Furthermore, one time I had to talk to someone at the station before I could progress but the only way I knew I needed to see them was by looking at the Hint – the game gave me no indication that I had to see the guy.
Then there’s the smartphone. A nice attempt to go all modern, but Phoenix Online and Cognition are nothing on Wadjet Eye and The Blackwell Deception (where you could even type into a search engine for puzzle answers). The web search is all but useless, and the only time I was allowed to use it a major bug prevented me from doing so and almost stopped me finishing the game. You can’t access your computer remotely so you have to go to your desk every single time to do so, and worse you can’t call anyone in the phonebook so if you want to talk to them you have to go in person. What’s the point of having the damn thing?
Finally, the game has a few technical problems. Most importantly, it’s all so damn slow. Everything you do seems to activate the loading timer, and things that should take a few seconds in reality take minutes, like just getting out of the damn FBI station. It’s really to the game’s detriment since as just going across town takes ages you’ll always be in no mood to experiment, which is the backbone of the adventure game.
In Cognition, this is called “using psychic powers to find a trail”. In real life, it would be called “just bloody looking”. |
Graphics are generally okay, but some characters stare in a rather nightmarish way, plus I’m still not content with the acting. There’s also a rather infuriating “Regression” tutorial mid-episode where you have remember the jacket colour of a minor character who appeared for two seconds then died right at the beginning of the game. Fortunately there’s a hint for this. Also, please Phoenix Online – let us pause the game, and allow us to skip all dialogue if we wish, not just half of it. I don’t mind not being able to skip key puzzle details, but far too many irrelevant discussions are unskippable in Cognition.
There are a fair number of things to like in Cognition and it certainly represents a promising start to the series. While it’s not quite up to the “modern adventure” standard set by The Blackwell Deception at least Phoenix Online are trying, and I was pleased to see and feel how much thought and effort had gone into all the components. However there are a few silly bits in the story, some dastardly moments of “adventure game logic” and some cases where Phoenix Online’s reach exceeded their grasp (the smartphone) that unfortunately drag down the very dramatic tone. Still, room to improve and several episodes to improve in – let’s see how deep Erica Reed’s rabbit-hole goes. Um, just not in a rude way.
Delving into a broken man’s memories of the last time he met his wife, and fixing them. It was almost Inception. Or Psychonauts.
COGNITION EPISODE 1: THE HANGMAN VERDICT
There are a fair number of things to like in Cognition and it certainly represents a promising start to the series. While it’s not quite up to the “modern adventure” standard set by The Blackwell Deception at least Phoenix Online are trying, and I was pleased to see and feel how much thought and effort had gone into all the components. However there are a few silly bits in the story, some dastardly moments of “adventure game logic” and some cases where Phoenix Online’s reach exceeded their grasp (the smartphone) that unfortunately drag down the very dramatic tone. Still, room to improve and several episodes to improve in – let’s see how deep Erica Reed’s rabbit-hole goes. Um, just not in a rude way.
TOP GAME MOMENT
Delving into a broken man’s memories of the last time he met his wife, and fixing them. It was almost Inception. Or Psychonauts.