Murdered: Soul Suspect

A few months back I’d bought Murdered: Soul Suspect, but with work and such getting in the way, I rarely have the time to play my console titles for more than a few hours at a time – save for weekends. I’d decided to start giving myself a bit of a schedule and focusing on one game at a time during the weekends, given my rather larger list of uncompleted games. The first on the list was Murdered: Soul Suspect.

To get this out of the way first, I did enjoy the game. It has an interesting premise, I like the location and its sordid real life history. But there are some major issues that hold it back from being anything more than an interesting idea.

For starters, the game has one of the most sputtering frame rates I’ve ever seen; constantly dropping down to like 10-15 frames a second. The laughably bad Colonial Marines frame rate was more consistent than this. While it’s not a game breaker, it is frustrating when the frame rate constantly takes a shit, making exploration quite disorienting.

The biggest issue really is the gameplay itself. It’s not that it’s bad, I have no problems with a title that focuses more on investigation and less on combat. L.A. Noire succeeded in that regard just fine, and honestly I think the game would have been better if there wasn’t an occasional high octane action scene. Problem is, while Murdered is basically L.A. Noire with ghosts, the game treats the player like a moron, which in turn, makes main character Ronan, look like he’s got the cognitive abilities of a small child. Even when all the information is spelled out to him, Ronan needs it spelled out some more, just in case the audience doesn’t quite get it. For instance, the obligatory twist is made obvious about a quarter of the way through, but Ronan’s surprise is understandable. The problem is, the twist comes and he kind of forgets it later on. He knows who the killer is, but then forgets who the killer is, blaming someone else instead.

The clues and answers are far too obvious. It’s less about deduction and reasoning and more like “put circle in circle.” Many of the clues are spelled out to the player, 10 times out of 10, you will find yourself clicking on the clue that the game already said is the relevant clue. The girl escaped to the church, what is the most relevant clue? The church of course. I get the feeling that it was either a developer or publisher decision to make the investigation/deduction stuff as simplistic as possible. Wouldn’t want to challenge the audience and make them think. No, it might scare some people away. It’s insulting how little respect the game has for its audience’s intellect.

In the end, the real crux of the game is the story. And while serviceable with some nice character moments, it’s mostly kind of forgettable. The plot is borderline Quantic Dream bad, complete with the signature David Cage narrative nosedive. For all of its interesting ideas and the grounded historical premise, it’s all very run of the mill.

Hero character Ronan is the most cliché of detective clichés. He’s got a bad past, has a lot of tattoos, is cynical, world weary and wears a trilby/fedora. While I appreciate his design, he’s, well he’s overdesigned. It looks nice, but the design feels like a caricature, he looks like he’s going to a Halloween party as an Irish gangster from the 1950s. He’s got the vest, the pocket chain, a button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up and a trilby to complete the look. It’s just dishonest. If the game maybe took place in the ‘50s I’d let it slide, but it’s got a modern day setting. Ronan looks like he just stepped out of a time capsule. It’s not like it would’ve been hard to give the guy a modern day design, but instead of going for a modern fedora/trilby w/ suit get up, they went for the classic old school noir anti-hero look. It makes Ronan look like a douche, a poser. Someone pretending to be this cynical chain smoking badass.

His design also isn’t helped by his dreadful monologues. It sounds like Max Payne fan-fiction at points. Like someone with no writing ability thought “man this sounds so deep” and rolled with it. It feels forced, false and dishonest. Max Payne may have had some cheese ball monologues and moments, but there was an honesty to it and a poetry to the prose. You can tell Sam Lake loved and understood the genre and had fun with some of its sillier tropes. That’s where Max Payne worked, it was an honest pastiche of the genre and while it had a serious narrative, it didn’t always take itself to seriously.

Murdered just feels like someone who thought the noir idea and tropes sounded cool, but had no understanding or love for it. It’s hollow, a cheap imitation. It’s less Robert Mitchum and more Christian Slater in Alone in the Dark.

And while the dishonesty and clichés really bring the game down a couple notches, the best parts are the characters. Both Ronan and Joy are quite interesting to watch. While they’re both overdesigned clichés –he’s the tough guy and she’s the rebel teen- their banter between each other gives the game some heart. Maybe it’s the performances or the writer is better at lighthearted dialogue than noir pastiche. Whatever it is I enjoyed every moment of their time onscreen together.

There’s some nice lighthearted moments such as his inability to pass over a puddle of tortured souls.

Joy: “Can’t you just fly over.”

Ronan: “Fly? I’m a ghost, not a plane alright?”

Not quite as funny in text, but you get the point. The actors really get into their roles and their lighthearted sarcastic banter brings some character, to an otherwise characterless story. Honestly, if the game just focused more on their relationship I would’ve been much more satisfied with the overall experience.

The whole thing feels like a lost opportunity and it feels rather rushed. There are little seeds planted throughout the story that never amount to anything and the final act is anti-climactic as they get and comes straight out of left field. You get the sense that they had more they wanted to put into it, but had to rush to meet a deadline. Especially with the ending. There was so much more story that could’ve been explored, but then, out of nowhere it just hits you and it’s over. And it wraps everything up as quickly as possible. We never see Ronan and Joy give their goodbyes, just some narration and a short montage to give the audience some semblance of closure.

I really feel bad about being so critical of this game and this review turned out harsher than I anticipated. I really do like it and what they were trying to do. But Murdered is a half a masterpiece. All the pieces are there, but most of the puzzle is lost.

Corpse Party

After recommendation after recommendation, and me mostly writing if off as some weird Japanese-Hentai-Horror hybrid, I finally gave Corpse Party a shot. After first purchasing the constantly recommended PS Vita of course. I gotta say, the man was right, the game is that good and I’m honestly a little sad knowing it’s something of a cult title and doesn’t get anywhere near the recognition it deserves. Corpse Party is a shoe in for one of the best survival horror games I’ve ever played. From the scares, to the story, to the characters, CP delivers in spades. Which I’ve gotta say is pretty impressive, given the absolutely huge cast of characters. Even the best of writers would have some issues keeping this many characters in order. The main cast is comprised of nine characters, at least four of which could be considered a lead. And that’s not counting the supporting cast, of which there are three primary players, as well as several others.

It’s impressive how well they jumbled these characters and how each one has their own fully fleshed out story and personality. It’s rare that you find this kind of sharp, complex character writing in, well in any fiction really.

Anyway the main game. Yeah, it’s survival horror, so there’s not much to it. Combat is non-existent and most of your time is spent exploring Heavenly Host, running from some ghost kids occasionally and solving the odd puzzle here and there. There are some neat moments that break up the monotony, mostly in the shape of the Wrong Ends, or Game Overs.

While they work as game over scenarios, there’s a little something to them that livens them up from the typical “You Died” screen present in so many survival horror titles. The game kind of fucks with the player a little bit with these, sometimes you’re not even sure you’re getting a game over. You’ll be marching around all fine and doing your thing, when suddenly the game’s like “yeah that choice you made back there, wasn’t the right choice. Now your friend's dead as shit.”

While it was an end I didn’t get, there was one I saw after my initial play through in which a main character is cut straight in half. Prior to that she gets possessed and decides to be a crazy lady for a few seconds. If the player chooses to ignore the character and continues on with a certain puzzle, right as you solve said puzzle, she will come out and the wire necessary for the mechanism to work, will slice her right in half, in Ghost Ship fashion. (Note: this game is not as stupid as Ghost Ship, it’s actually very good) It’s little touches like that that keep you on the edge of your seat, never knowing what choice is the right choice. Should I read this paper or will my character lose sanity if I do? Should I say this, or will it screw things up for me down the line? It’s like Mass Effect, only the choices actually matter.

I’d talk about story, but, I’ll at least lay out the basic premise of the story. During a going away party the students of Kisaragi Academy find themselves trapped in the “closed spaces” of a heavily dilapidated, super haunted, elementary school called Heavenly Host. Really though, I’d say just get a PSP, Vita, or PC (as it’s originally a PC title and this version is being released on PC sometime soon) and purchase the title. It’s more than worth the entry fee. Especially since the core game offers about fifteen hours of gameplay on the first run through, extending its replay value by offering what are called Extra Chapters, of which there are ten. On top of that there are several alternative endings, both for the whole game as well as the Chapters. And of course little pieces here and there, such as collecting all student ID tags, etc. There’s a lot of game here for the small price.

From the pacing, to the score, the game just gets everything right. Each chapter ends with a bang and a cliffhanger, getting the player pumped for the next sequence. Chapter Four’s closing and Chapter Five’s opening, were probably some of the most intense, twisty turny “oh shit” moments I’ve ever had the pleasure of witnessing. The game had me in a chokehold, I was glued to the screen.

There’s really not enough good I can say about this title. It’s just that good. If you haven’t played it, go out, buy it and play it. Don’t download it all illegal like either. This game was independently funded, all in house and shit. Even the VA cast is comprised of unknowns. Buy it! Buy it now!