Inventive, sure, but not quite inventive enough to support an hour or so spent booking in-game flights and googling city names. The story here, of returning antiques from private collections to their countries of origin, is easy to get on board with, and the historical context for these antiques is a fun, enlightening read. Researching the cities that house landmarks depicted on rare stamps is easy enough, but identifying post cancellation marks by working out the language spoken in a then-colonised part of the world, for a cash bonus, is far more involved and ingenious – even if this same ‘case’ structure makes you feel more like a courier than a detective the third or fourth time the game repeats it, and even if Amira’s funds turn out to be far less of a concern than the early hours suggest. The first few times the game pulls this trick, it’s novel – absorbing, even. I know this because I used the huge button at the bottom of the screen to open up a browser tab and googled it – exactly as the game intended I do. “Of all men’s miseries the bitterest is this: to know so much and to have control over nothing.” Spoilers: It’s a Herodotus quote. Amira’s first task is locating a library book, and it’s here the game’s approach to many of its puzzles first reveals itself – one that’s admirably experimental but fundamentally flawed. Credit: General Interactive Co.Īfter a dramatic drone-assassination in the first minute, things slow down for a while, with simple stakes and puzzles to ease you in. “Didn’t think I’d see the day cloud storage would cost more than actual physical storage.”Ĭhinatown Detective Agency. Classic, comfy point-n-click meta-humour starts here, with Amira joking about the conceit of such a recognisably noir detective agency existing in 2036, all dusty books and metal filing cabinets. You play as Amira Darma, sole proprietor of the titular detective agency, nestled away in a rented, run-down space above a strip of restaurants.
Pulsing retrowave nests softy under the ambient din of the city – skilful audio mixing that helps to offset some jarring differences between spoken and written dialogue, although this is thankfully mostly frontloaded. An early case sees you overlooking botanical gardens at dusk, while the metropolitan skyline looms as if primed to devour this last holdout of natural beauty. Things start strong, with gorgeous pixel art vistas that evoke a remarkable sense of place. READ MORE: How ‘Ghostwire: Tokyo”s side missions breath life into a lifeless game.Chinatown Detective Agency is a LucasArts-style adventure game that forgoes pixel-hunting moon logic for Carmen Sandiego-inspired detective work, set in a noirish, cyber 2036 Singapore – one with too much terrifying state oversight for the ‘punk’ suffix to find any real footing.
0 kommentar(er)
