Doesn't sound too bad, does it?
There's a slight problem, though. The Mafia own every Casino in the fictional Snake City – except John's, and a motley crew of typically brain-dead goons have been sent after our eponymous hero to 'eliminate' him and claim the Casino for their not-at-all stereotypical boss, Don Macaroni.
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| The bartender was distraught when John stole his bottle of Vimto | Is that Syed from The Apprentice? No, it's Luckless John |
Akella's title has taken the well-worn 'inheritance' story and transplanted it into Prohibition-era America for a game that manages to include aspects of several genres: adventure, arcade, driving and action games all lend a hand to illustrate John's tale of woe and there, instantly, a problem is discovered: whilst it is commendable that developer Centauri has tried to shoe-horn most of modern gaming into a comedy adventure, there's the constant nagging feeling that being called a 'jack of all trades' is never a good thing.
This reputation for stunning mediocrity across many different gaming categories is fostered in the many mini-games that litter your journey through Snake City. Arcade-style whacking challenges are used to help break out of your cell, and a first-person-shooter segment is required to demolish some scaffolding. Car chases are included later on but, unfortunately, are rendered incoherent and tedious thanks to atrocious handling. There's also been an attempt to create a stealth section that, however, falls flat on it's face due to the lack of any tension and ludicrous behaviour of the guards who can spot you down a corridor but won't hear you lugging open a drain-cover from a foot behind them.
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| This 'stealth' section is excruciatingly bad | New York City, 1920. King Kong also makes an appearance |
The bulk of the gameplay is within the confines of a traditional adventure game and consists of puzzles that can range from both basic to baffling – you'll be pushing crates into obvious gaps and then escaping a prison with the help of a teddy bear. Control, however, renders most of these sections frustrating and needlessly difficult – in a stark contract to Luckless John's puzzle, most of which are at the 'round peg into a round hole' level of difficulty. The mouse and keyboard, as usual, control your character's movement, but that's where any similarities to the traditional adventure game end. Mouse movements alter the direction John faces, but this is relative to the camera angle. The left button interacts with the world, and the right button either jumps or walks. The arrow keys or WASD also move the hapless adventurer, but they're fatally flawed: dodgy, claustrophobic camera angles hamper movement by inhibiting your vision, and any minor twitch or the keys or mouse results in John dancing around the screen like a epileptic on an ice-rink.
Despite the controls doing their best to ruin any playability this game has, the graphics fight back for the forces of adventuring with a strong, atmospheric showing. All of Luckless John's environments are crafted in 3D and present a unique graphical style that takes inspiration from the Monkey Island games as well as generic cartoons: faces, features, objects and characteristics are expanded and exaggerated, with all of the game's cast – around 25 individuals in all, so not a huge number – exhibit overgrown features and a distinctive look.
Graphically, though, there's a few dodgy shadows, occasional texture overlap and clipping problems lurking around many an oddly-angled corner to catch you out and remind you that, despite appearances, Luckless John has rare graphically disappointing moments to remind you that this isn't a new piece of genius LucasArts adventuring, despite it's protestations to the contrary.
Despite this, there's a certain charm to the graphics that's borne out of a firm vision as to what Centauri wanted their game to look like and a decent amount of effort that's gone in to create the world around the perennially hopeless leading man. Sound is an area where an obvious effort has, also, been made. Voice acting is mostly fine, with John himself sounding enthusiastic about his meandering quest and the various exchanges between characters being timed well throughout – an especially satisfying aspect since so many adventure games try to be funny but are utterly ruined when loading times between lines of dialogue ruins any immediacy and spontaneity the comic delivery would have had. Incidental music is also used intelligently, providing suitable backing thanks to the era-specific tinkly pianos and cheerful melodies.
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| Get your mind out of the gutter. It's not as dirty as it sounds | It's alarming that a burly Prison Guard keeps a teddy on his desk |
Evil Days of Luckless John is, despite the decent aesthetic elements of the title, a pretty poor adventure game. The premise is, initially, fine: a generic, if solid story with puzzles that are easy enough for even a beginner to solve, but it soon falls apart when you try to move your character and take part in the puzzles that, despite their simplicity, show little knowledge of logical thought or behaviour to solve. It's a barely adequate introduction to the genre, but the infuriating controls and sub-par design will annoy more than entertain.
Top Game Moment: .
TOP GAME MOMENT
Stepping into a new scene and gazing and the attractive 3D environment about you. Savour it – the feeling will be ruined as soon as you move
