Not to say that the original home of adventure gaming – the PC – has been slacking. Sure, the major software publishers may not touch them with a bargepole, but the independent scene has been a hotbed of activity. Since the beginning of the “episodic content” revolution it has been made a lot easier for budding developers to distribute their games in bite-size chunks which suits the format of adventure games just as well as the DS does.
 |
 |
|
| You'll spend a lot of this game 'figuring stuff out' | Moti - the cutest pixelated dog you've ever seen |
‘Lucasarts’ escapees ‘Telltale Games’ have recently brought back the much-loved Sam & Max series to high critical acclaim whilst game directors such as Ragnar Tørnquist (The Longest Journey/Dreamfall) or Benoît Sokal (Syberia) have penned tales that create rich, enjoyable experiences – far beyond the gaming staple of “you are a big man with a gun that kills aliens” plots that make up the backing for most top selling titles. Granted, the gameplay hasn’t changed at all from the glory days of the Lucasarts classics Day of the Tentacle, Monkey Island, Grim Fandango et all, but then it didn’t have to. Everyone loves a good story, and if you’ve got one of those, you’re on the way to making a good adventure game.
Enter Dave Gilbert. Clearly a man who can spin a good yarn, as he has been collecting various awards and nominations for his game created using the AGS (the obviously abbreviated ‘Adventure Game Studio’) software for a few years now. His previous project – The Shivah – was loved up by critics and genre fans alike and should be noteworthy for its story based around Judaism and for being the only game that springs to mind where you play as a rabbi.
The Blackwell Legacy is actually a remake of one of his earlier games – The Bestowers of Eternity, which itself won the AGS Story of the Year 2003 – only it has been fleshed out, expanded upon and given a complete graphical overhaul.
It is the story of a young writer named Rosangela Blackwell who lives alone in New York. After the death of her only family member – her Auntie – who had been in mental health care for twenty years, she starts to discover a few things about her families past. Rosangela is also assigned to write an article on some mysterious suicides at a local campus, so as you can probably tell, the story is quite dark. The script is tight, well written and gives all of the characters you meet depth and charm, backed up by the stellar voicework throughout the adventure.
It’s no slouch graphically, either. There is the odd room that is a tad bland and angular, but on the whole they are exceptionally detailed, with some of the shots of the city being standouts, despite being low resolution. The various characters you interact with have their own animations and have close-up faces for conversations – a little smile or a wink making all the difference between an on screen sprite being an in-game post-it note for information and a character.
The gameplay is pretty much what you expect from an adventure game in a world post-SCUMM. Left mouse moves Rosangela around the various locales, picking things up and using them where appropriate, while the right mouse examines things. A clever device is the notepad our heroine carries with her at all times. When doing some investigation work for the newspaper, each bit of information uncovered is jotted down and can be used as a conversation option with characters. You can even find pieces that contradict each other and use them both to create new questions.
It sounds a little complex, but it is actually incredible simple – just like the interface – so it doesn’t distract you from the things that are most important – the wonderful story and solving the puzzles. It is completely free of all that horrible chaff that some adventure games use to “pad out” certain scenes (the slightly frustrating driving minigame in the latest Sam & Max spring to mind). No timed sequences, no dialogue loops, no silly leaps of logic.
An extra bonus is the inclusion of a full “directors commentary” audio track, which stops your progress at various points to explain locations, references and goes into detail about the development process. It is genuinely interesting to listen to, but worth finishing the game without it first as, unsurprisingly, it is full of spoilers.
As the first episode in what is set to be a ‘mini-series’ of games, this pilot episode can be deemed a success. If this were a TV show, one watch of this and any TV network would commission a full series – much like any adventure game fan who tries this will almost certainly follow this series throughout its run - provided it sticks to a somewhat regular release schedule.
 |
 |
|
| This has all gone a bit 'Twilight Zone' | Pft. At least she's not a blonde |
If you yearn for your adventure gaming fix – and you’re already done with this months Sam & Max - this is definitely your next port of call. Roll on episode 2.
Top Game Moment:
TOP GAME MOMENT
The first time you speak to… actually, I can’t tell you that! I’ll spoil the story, which is definitely the best part of the game!
