Review By

Brad Gallaway

I'm sure that anyone reading Dan's review of Still Life would walk away from it and think that he did a good job of highlighting the game's flaws while also pointing out the few things there were to appreciate. After playing through the game and rereading his synopsis, I find myself agreeing… but I'm thinking that he went too easy on it.

The adventure genre is definitely an archaic and esoteric one, even moreso given today's modern state of game development. Still, I think these kinds of games can potentially offer experiences that are only now being experimented with in other genres. For example, the recent Indigo Prophecy starts with a traditional adventure game structure and turns it on its ear by adding real-time elements and an extremely sophisticated technique of dramatic storytelling. Conversely, I found Still Life to be the sort of adventure game that encapsulates the absolute worst of the genre on one convenient disc; it's the perfect candidate to prove the argument that this style should've disappeared years ago.

To put it simply, the puzzles are atrociously bad. Dan touched on this problem, but in my opinion he didn't even scratch the surface of how miserable and stupidly difficult they were. For a title that begins by rooting itself in reality—police procedure, evidence collecting, and so on—the speed at which it descends into stereotypical videogame absurdity is amazing. The gingerbread cookie puzzle that was mentioned in the main review was horrible. How could the developers expect someone to decipher "add 2 cups of commitment" and "a pinch of sensuality"? Even worse was a lock picking puzzle that was so horrifically complicated it took me multiple tries even while using an FAQ.

The puzzles were bad enough, but the way the game expects such huge leaps of player understanding is so far beyond the realm of possibility that I don't see how anyone could ever hope to finish this game on their own. For example, at one point I was supposed to survey a crime scene and compare it to a photograph. I got that far, but I could not figure out what was being asked of me because the mechanics were neither explained nor obvious. My pointer did not change into any telltale icon, and there was nothing apparent to the naked eye for me to do. I may not be the smartest person in the world, but I think it's ridiculous that someone who has as much experience playing games as I do could be so completely and thoroughly stumped so often.

It's too bad that so much of this game seems scraped from the bottom of the toilet because I think the premise is a good one, and I was occasionally drawn into the mystery. Quite the opposite of Dan, I liked the modern-day FBI heroine much more than the old-time psychic detective—though I will say that neither of the game's halves were constructed better than the other; in terms of gameplay they were both equally terrible.

I suppose it's somewhat fitting that the game does not have an ending or any sequel on the way since I doubt most players will bother getting even a quarter of the way through. And, for those that actually finish the game, I can't imagine that the lure of finding out who the killer is would be strong enough to make someone submit to another round of the torture and frustration that Still Life provides. If this were the first adventure game a person had ever played, I'm sure it would be their last.

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