gamesecosse

Still Life

Still Life is really a whodunit in video game form, it was originally a PC game but console versions followed. This is certainly a dated title, and even in it's day, it was a budget game, but one specific aspect of it makes it blog worthy, to me, at least...

Throughout the game, you control 2 central characters, a female detective in modern Chicago, and her grandfather in 1920s Prague. The game is structured with 7 chapters alternating between Chicago and Prague but both tie in nicely with each other. The basic plot revolves around 2 serial killers. Victoria McPherson is the modern day detective who reads an old report from a case her grandfather Gustav McPherson was working on back in Prague. It becomes apparent that the modern killer is in fact a copycat and this is the main factor which drives the game forward.

I'm sure you can imagine what makes up the bulk of the gameplay - finding items, talking with other characters, puzzle solving, etc. However, it's the climax which I want to talk about...
You'd hope that after playing through the game you'd get some answers to the mystery, kind of like every detective tale. Not Still Life though...

Before I complain any more I will say that the 1920s killer is actually revealed, but this was very much a secondary objective for the player. It was blatantly obvious who it was! I assumed this was to add flavour to the story, building up to a shocking revelation at the very end.
The real crime of this game was the fact that it encompassed a masked villain, whose mask was even knocked off at one point, although his head was turned (the first thing that came into my mind was "It's gotta be someone we know"). It built up to an unmasking at the end, then decided not to bother. Quite possibly the most unsatisfying ending ever!

posted by qmchaz64 @ 8:15 pm