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Charophyceanchrissie

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Adventure Game Scene of the Day - Friday 2 December

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Total Posts: 5035

Joined 2004-07-12

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Casual Friday

The above screenshot is from Dead Reckoning - Death Between the Lines. The game was recommended by cluelass and chrissie, and it’s a
game I probably would not have played otherwise.

I’ve written in the past about games that, in their 11th or 12th iteration, bear no resemblance whatsoever to the original games that spawned the franchise. And it’s the reason I’m no longer tempted to play the a new Puppetshow,
Grim Facade or Grim Tales game among others.

In this case, it is the erratic nature of the design company, EIPIX, that gave me pause. The last game I played in the series, Dead Reckoning - Silvermoon Isle, didn’t appeal to me all that much. So, based on my experience with franchises that are on a downhill slide, I never gave this game a second thought. That would have been a mistake, because the game is quite good. Another EIPIX franchise, The Secret Order, suffers from the same problem. It’s frustrating from a players point of view when a design team seems incapable of turning out a consistent product.

While it is an entirely different market, and you may not like their food, but when you walk into a McDonald’s store you know exactly what you’re getting. No matter where you live, each french fry is going to taste exactly the same as a french fry bought anywhere else in the world. It would be nice to see that type of quality assurance in the gaming world.

The game starts simply enough. You are an author who has been invited to join four other authors in a writing competition. If you win the competition you will be hired to write the biography of a very wealthy businessman who seems to be facing death due to illness. You arrive at his mansion and are introduced to the four other writers. You are the author of the “Dead Reckoning” series of novels. The others are authors of the “Phantasmat”, “Hidden Expedition”, “Off the Record” and “Danse Macabre” novel series respectively. All of which you will recognize as well-known casual game series titles. (Several of which have been the subject of a Casual Friday post.)

Almost immediately the game takes on the flair of Agatha Christie’s “Ten Little Indians”. One-by-one the author are murdered. You and the mansion’s caretaker attempt to find out what is going on, as well as finding a way to prevent your own murder. A good storyline with some interesting plot twists toward the end of the game.

Most of the puzzles were fairly easy, although there were three that I would rate as challenging. There was considerable variety in the HO scenes, and there were only three of four instances where I thought an object was unfairly hidden. There are four difficulty levels. On the easiest level the Hint and Skip buttons refresh in about 30 seconds. There is an interactive map, which is quite useful.

I had two minor complaints and one is quite petty. At the beginning of the game you are asked to sign in as Player. At that point I didn’t really know whether our protagonist was male or female, so I signed in as Tim. It didn’t take long to get tired of being called “she” or “her”, so I restarted using my dog Lacey’s name as player. Much better. My other peave is in the pacing of the latter part of the game. It was extremely fast. Very little time for exploration. It seemed to me to be an unending series of “find object-use obect to find new object - use object” sequences. I think I counted the “find object - use object” sequence repeated twelve straight times. It was almost as if the designers said “We’ve got to wrap this thing before Friday. So let’s eliminate anything we don’t really need.”

All in all, a good game.

     

For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.

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Total Posts: 1573

Joined 2003-09-10

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I recently purchased it, after seeing it recommended, so it’s now high on my list of to-plays.

     

Total Posts: 343

Joined 2012-03-13

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Agree about Eipix. Their games seem to be characterized by a high degree of polish but with the substance behind the polish being quite variable. Unlike Tim I liked Silvermoon Isle and thought it had a solid plot behind it, decent gameplay and length and interesting atmosphere. Sadly the series after it deteriorated and I am happy to hear that Death Between the Lines is good. Based on the recommendations I bought it on the last sale but haven’t played it yet.

     
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Total Posts: 5035

Joined 2004-07-12

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I just reloaded Silvermoon Isle. I know that it didn’t appeal to me. But I really don’t remember why that was the case. I will play the game in the next few days an post the answer. It really isn’t fair of me to say one game one game appealed to me and another didn’t as evidence of erratic design. It’s much easier to make that statement with the Secret Order games. (The graphic style changed. The Griffin/Dragon conflict was moved to the background. Time travel lost it’s importance. And the fleet of flying ships as the primary method of transportation disappeared entirely. But even within the games I did like, mostly the first three, there were some erratic design choices.)

     

For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.

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Total Posts: 5035

Joined 2004-07-12

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Well, I started playing, and I remember why it didn’t appeal to me. It was boring! That doesn’t mean any of the good points furgotten mentioned aren’t valid. But I remember this being a slog fest. I couldn’t wait to get to the next stopping point. Which, for me, is the start of an HO scene. And then I would wait a day or two before playing again. There was no sense of urgency. There was no sense of danger.

This as opposed to Death Between the Lines. There is a strong sense of urgency. You want to find the murderer before he/she murders you. There is a sense of danger. There are fellow authors dropping one by one around you. There is also an addictive quality to the game that wasn’t present in Silvermoon Isle. While in the latter I was looking for a stopping point, in the former I was looking for a way to play one more puzzle while my wife was yelling at me that dinner was on the table.

OK. That’s the difference between the two games, and why I liked one while the other didn’t appeal to me. And having said that, I can think of any number of ways EIPEX could have amped up the excitement level of Silvermoon Isle. But they didn’t. Which is why I think their game design is erratic.

     

For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.

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