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Reviews:
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Whether or not it resembles its cinematic inspiration I can’t say, but after a rocky start it does at least prove interesting
I hesitated, at first, to take on this title since I’ve never seen the movie and was afraid that could be a liability. Upon realizing that perhaps that may not be terribly uncommon, given how long ago it was released, I took it on anyway. So first and foremost I obviously am unable to make any comparisons, I’m only able to comment purely on the game’s merits. I’ll admit that, for me, it gets off to a bit of a rocky start, being unable to tell precisely what’s going on, why, and how much of it is real versus imagined. Once things settle down I’ll at least admit it got me intrigued though. My issue is there are both things that work pretty well and things that rate a “not so much”. On the positive side, the character interactions and dialogue have a certain “authentic” feel to them, with some cautious flirting in particular that made me wonder what everyones’ motivations were, which serves as a solid hook to keep me coming back to see how things play out. On the less positive side I’ll first just say it… the people’s eyes are weird and a distraction. Not quite getting to the Uncanny Valley, the characters here got a flat tire in Wonkyville and appear to have settled in to stay. In the middle is the game’s tendency to pull you into what’s happening with action prompts that seem to serve little to no functional purpose aside from making sure you’re paying attention. I guess it mildly engages me, but if you’re going to include some mechanics like that a little more substance would be nice. Much like a movie, my last observation (and a mild criticism) is that though you’re able to take control of conversations and some actions it doesn’t generally give the impression that you’re really significantly influencing outcomes with your choices. It’s certainly a step above a fully passive visual novel, but robbing you of some agency does rob the experience of some potential for gravity and consequence.
Justin Nation, Score:Good [7.3]