Still Life

"Interesting premise, but the execution could have been better."

Having played The Longest Journey, Myst III, both Syberias and both Schizms, and various other adventure games of the past, I'm inclined to consider myself pretty acquainted with the adventure genre. My first impressions of the game came with the demo, and I was quite impressed. The puzzle system seemed promising, especially with the use of forensic equipment to find evidence. I was looking forward to using that concept fairly frequently for the rest of the game, and hence found myself eagerly waiting for the release of the game.

When I finally got my hands on the game, I certainly wasn't disappointed - it was certainly an entertaining game, with a unique premise. However, I didn't feel as though the game lived up to the expectations expected of a well-known developer as Microids.

The initial storyline was quite well done, including the time-shift effect, which brought about a breath of fresh air every time the timeline changed from Victoria to Gus. Disappointingly, however, although Gus' ending was reasonably appropriate, I felt the Vic's ending failed to reach any sort of climax nor a satisfying conclusion. I feel that that is a prime requirement for the adventure genre, especially when an adventure game cannot possibly provide a 'final boss' to counter a la FPSs or RPGs, nor a final mission a la RTSs.

The gameplay (or the puzzles) itself seemed a little more simplistic than other iterations of adventure games. Very often the player would be guided to the correct locations not by clues or hints but by blatant statements by the characters in the game (e.g. "Perhaps I should go to the office now"). For the challenging problems that did appear, there seemed to be too much of an emphasis on puzzle-type problems, like shifting squares and pulling levers. That in itself is not a problem - the Myst series is based entirely on such problems. However it seemed a little inappropriate that a complicated door lock that required one to shift squares like a Rubiks cube would be found in 1930s' Prague. Consequently item-based puzzles more appropriate to the game setting (especially for a PI in Prague and an FBI agent in Chicago) occurred with less frequency than I would have preferred or expected. Lastly, the forensic puzzles that I had anticipated rarely appeared again - although, admittedly, that was a personal preference on my part.

Graphics: 7.5/10
There isn't much to be said of graphics in the adventure genre, to be fair - most adventure games do not employ cutting-edge graphical technology. In spite of that, the background images were beautifully rendered and contributed to the atmosphere immensely. In my run through I didn't see any graphical anomalies anywhere.

If there is something to criticise about the graphics, it would be the character motions. Walking is fine, and turning on the spot seems to have improved since Syberia II. However Vic looks dorky while she runs, almost like a duck. Fortunately Gus is fine. Apart from that, character actions during close-ups (e.g. speech) also seem a little repetitive and unnatural. Lastly, the movement during the FMVs also suffers from the same problem - the people look a little odd moving around, especially the masked murderer.

Sound: 6/10
The music in the game was generally quite fine, lending some atmosphere and tension to the game at appropriate times. However, nothing reaching the standards of Syberia nor of other genres like the Icewind Dale series here.

The major criticism I have of the game is the poor voice acting. The Chicago half of the game had okay voice-actors, but occasionally failed to reflect the emotion at that time. Claire (the forensics specialist, if i got the name right) seems eternally cheerful, and the husky, breathy, Liv Tyler style of speaking by Mia doesn't suit someone who's been through quite a bad shock. The Prague half is quite disappointing. Gus is the only American in the area, yet all the prostitutes speak with an American accent, as do the inspector and the policeman. The two thugs sound like painful stereotypes of muscle-bound idiots, while Gus sometimes seems a tad disinterested. Very often, the voice acting detracts from a potentially immersive game experience. That said, it isn't as though the characters speak like soulless robots. At the very least, the voice acting is just acceptable.

Gameplay: 7.5/10
As previously mentioned, the puzzles seemed a little too simple at times, and the challenging ones a little inappropriate for the situation. In spite of that I had fun playing the game, and I suppose ultimately that should be the final judge of gameplay. There is definitely room for improvement, however. Anyone who wants an example of appropriate puzzles and challenges should check out Lucasart's Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis. It's more than a decade old, but the adventure aspect is seamlessly integrated with the plot and setting.

Plot: 8/10
The original premise of a series of murders related across time and generation was highly promising, and I had expected some creepy, intelligent link between the two series, or an earth-shaking revelation during the climax. Alas, those failed to occur, although the ending possibly suggests a sequel. Regardless, the plot was still entertaining and coherent, and the use of visions, time-shift, and various scripted sequences kept the tension up.

Interface: 7/10
The basic Microids interface of right-clicking for a menu has not changed greatly in any of their games. However it is still moderately clunky. Some have suggested a right-click type of menu, or a King's Quest style interface, which would certainly add to the in game experience. At the moment the Microids interface suffers from a 'scanning' problem, i.e. one just needs to sweep the mouse across the screen and look out for changes in the pointer icon. It is, to say the least, distracting.

The new conversation system is unique, and has much potential. However the 'personal' half of the system seems practically useless, considering that adventure games rarely have any replay value (so far, the only one I have seen with replay value is the abovementioned Indiana Jones game). It would be more useful if the personal half of the system had some effect on the responses on would get - e.g. chatting up a person might make the person unwittingly reveal some important information or hint.

Overall: 7/10
In spite of the various above criticisms, Still Life still remains an entertaining game. As I have said earlier the premise still possesses plenty of potential. Hopefully a sequel that further expands on the plotline will be released. Final words: An entertaining game, but unless you're an avid adventure game fan, or can afford to pay for and play four or five games at a time, I'd say Still life wouldn't be first on your list of priorities.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 05/24/05