Innocent Until Caught 2: Presumed Guilty

"Not as good as the first..."

Well, I really liked the first Innocent until Caught, and I was really looking forward to the sequel. Well, I'll say right off the bat that I was kinda disappointed in Guilty, and didn't enjoy it as much as I did the first game. I'll go through a list of the different area, and offer my opinion on each.

MUSIC/SOUND EFFECTS
Why this area first? Well, I can't comment on this area, because my PC's sound card is playing up at the moment.

GRAPHICS
The in game graphics are unchanged, and while this is good, because they haven't made the characters look stupid (As sometimes happens when you move from one artists to another) it's also a bit pathetic. I mean, the original Innocent came out a while before guilty did, so you'd think the in game sprites could have been updated, even if only a little. (Well...they do have more animation, but I'll get to that later)
Next I'll move onto the speaking graphics. As in the first game, when you talk to an important character, your shown a close up view of both your characters' face and the face of whoever your character is talking to. These animated portraights are pathetic. Jack's especially is horrible compared to the excellent still pics he had in the first game, and he's one of the main characters! Thankfully, most of the other character faces aren't as bad as the one poor old Jack T Ladd has to put up with...but they aren't much better.
Lastly, I'm disappointed by the lack of a full body picture for the status screen, a pretty cool feature from Innocent 1 that was omited from this game. (All you have is a simply little bar telling you your character's name and how much of the game you have completed)

ANIMATION
The game has actually improved on the first in third aspect, with the sprites having more frames of animation (Albeit, in the form of my ''idle standing'' animation for the two main characters.) as well as having animated faces when talking. While the animation IS improved, it's not improved THAT much.

GAMEPLAY
Ah, we come to the most important factor here. Guilty plays almost exactly like the first game. Nothing wrong with that, as the first game was pretty good. Also, when you first start the game, you have the choice of playing as one of two character: Jack T Ladd (The main character of Innocent Until Caught 1, and still just as sneaky as ever) and Ysanne Andropath (The female copper that caught Jack during the intro). So far, I have only played Jack's game mostly, but from the small amount of Ysannes' game that I have played, they seem to be different enough to warrant a play though as each character.
One thing that I find annoying is that the cursors were toned down with one being removed altogether.
The inventory is much improved in IUC2, with the option to have your inventory organized present now. Very handy when your items start to build up, or just get jumbled about.
As far as the puzzles go, they on par with the first game, so there isn't much difference there.
Lastly, I was able to complete almost 30 percent of the game (as Jack) in the space of only an hour, having only visited a few small areas!

WRAP UP:
While Innocent Until Caught 2: Presumed Guilty isn't a bad game, it suffers from the same fate as all sequels, in that it isn't as good as Innocent Until Caught. The starting puzzles are ALOT easier the story just doesn't seem to be as interesting, especially after you get into the game. All in all, Innocent Until Caught 2: Presumed Guilty is a disappointment. If you liked the first game, or are starved for adventure games, get it. Otherwise, steer clear.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 05/27/01, Updated 05/27/01