A macabre adventure game of tag.
Graphics 6
Sounds 7
Value 7
Tilt 8
The Good
* A different take of adventure gaming (e.g. reliance of the internet and emails as apposed to 'point-and-click')
* Great acting, FMV and a well-written plot
* A decent ending
The Bad
* Some puzzles are extremely vague and challenging
* The reliance of 3rd party programs can cause major issues
* The game play style ages very quickly due the dynamic changes of the internet
Adventure games have gone through some substantial changes since the early days of PC gaming. From the legendary saga of Zork to somewhat true 3D mega hit of Myst to the Longest Journey, each of these games proved that adventure games, even though they're the 'poor cousins' of PC gaming, can still thrill many players.
The key element for any successful game is the development of the main character which for adventure games it's a necessity. Loose this is like loosing the action in FPS or 'experience points' for RPGs. The good news is that the vast majority of adventure games do have good character development hence attracted me to this genre.
Missing: Since January is an adventure game that provides a new innovative twist. Since most adventure games are either 'point-and-click' or 'action', Missing: Since January is, in somewhat a 'point-and-click' adventure however more on a 'personal' level. That said, the entire game play revolves around a 'publicised Black CD' produced by the famed serial killer 'The Phoenix' and distrubuted by SKL Network in order to free two people, Jack Lorski (a journalist for SKL Networks) and Karen Gijman; who are deemed kidnapped by The Phoenix himself. Your goal is to locate Jack and Karen hopefully alive.
To those who remember the 80s game 'Hacker', Missing Since January has a similar gaming style. There are neither instructions nor rules as the entire game play is like an alternate reality. Armed with the Black CD, the first screen you'll be viewing is from the agency asking for a real email account as this plays an integral part of your investigation. Once submitted, from here on in, it's a journey through the mind of a serial killer.
The early parts of the game seems a little too monotonous. Viewing 'alternative-gothic' screens with some lovely 'background' music trying to hunt for a password to unlock the next screen by passing a series of tests. Once a password has been submitted, you either be rewarded a film clip to narrate the demise of Jack and Karen or onto the next screen. Occasionally this breaks up and instead of solving a puzzle you play a little macabre game instead (e.g. dragging a knife through an intestine to cut the piece of string at the anus without touching its sides). I imagine this is to humour The Phoenix.
Yet, as the game progresses and the emails starts to flood in, the profile of The Phoenix starts to piece together like a jigsaw puzzle. This is where it's gets very interesting and because of the well-written emails, websites and FMV, this grabbed my attention as to continue the game to the very end. Speaking of which, the ending is one of the best I have encountered and actually made sense!
The puzzles themselves are a mixed-bag. Considering the game play is in the style of The Phoenix 'testing' the player (The Phoenix calls this the 'initiation' process), you either get some really easy puzzles or painfully hard. There is no in-between. To those who followed my Game spot profile and noticed how long this game was in the 'now playing' list, will get the idea of how long I have been playing this game. Some puzzles are so damn ambiguous that once I solved it, I need a couple of days rest. However the good news is that if you are unable to solve a puzzle within a 'reasonable' timeframe, your 'colleges' will email you for 'suggestions'.
Since I have played this game four years after the release date, when searching on the internet for that certain answer, you'll come across many, many walkthrough pages instead of the actual 'approved' page. Here I discovered, unwilling spoilers of the puzzle I tried to solve and changing the 'Google' search options not to include 'walkthroughs' is at times not a good idea. This can really spoil the fun of this game however it's neither the fault of the developers nor the creators of the walkthrough. It's just the nature of the beast.
The game does not have a build-in graphics engine. The entire setup relies on other 3rd party software. The must-haves are Macromedia and QuickTime so you are in the mercy of these programs. Why I said this is that there was a few times the game crashed as I'm unable to view the next puzzle. The error was in relation to some 'projector' error. At first I thought it was my QuickTime however upon investigations it was my graphics card (NVIDIA) that couldn't render the next screen. What made matters worse was this projector was embedded on the game's exe file hence it's technically 'game over'. In desperation, I booted up my other PC which has an ATI card and luckily the game purred. So players with NVIDIA cards you have been warned.
There is not much to say about the sounds of this game. When the music actually plays, it's quite pleasant to hear and will sooth the soul. A little hint as well, the background music can also play as a clue to that very same puzzle. On the other hand, the actors are quite good and very convincing. I'm not sure if they are professionals however it was nice to see that there were neither college students nor wannabes.
The entire game can last around less than an hour (if you cheat and not viewing any of the videos) however, according to the developers, the target is around 10 - 20 hours of game play. As a matter of interest, I think there's around 45 minutes of video footage. I clocked the game in about 16 hours and I'll be honest I'm no genius and proud to say knocked this game off without any assistance (other than the accidental ones as mentioned above).
The overall software package is presented quite adequately. Even though there is very little instructions, the entire game play is about self discovery. I was fortuanate enough to purchase the 'Game of the Year' edition which includes the '13th victim' expansion pack and the 'making of'. You can find this at a reasonable price through our good friends at eBay.
Missing: Since January provides a refreshing new way of game play for a disappearing genre. I always enjoyed a good adventure game as I enjoy a good novel. The main driving force for an adventure game is in its story. Like a FPS shooter is for action, RPG is for 'experience points', adventure games is about getting to know the main character. Considering I am some-what a veteran adventure gamer I wouldn't recommend this game to any newcomers of this genre or the impatient ones. Some of the puzzles can be incredibly challenging and off-putting at times however to those who have patience, understand what adventure games are about and a little time to spare, give this a go. For me, I wished I played this game back in 2003.