Score
Gameplay:	9
Graphics:	8
Sound:	8
FunFactor:	7
PlasmaFactor:	9
Overall:	8.2

Still Life Review
April 29, 2005 by Ron Williamson

by Ron Williamson - April 29, 2005

Will it ever end? Will the killing ever stop, or more importantly, will they ever catch the murderer? It has been almost a century of motiveless murder and mutilation and it shows no sign of stopping. FBI Agent Victoria McPherson, a criminal profiler, is on the case trying to predict what the killer might do next, but she is meeting with great difficulty. Prepare yourself for an immersive and intriguing look into one of the most baffling homicide cases of the twentieth century. If you are into a great story line, detailed environments, humorous dialogue, and insane puzzles then this game is for you.

Reading, Writing, and Point & Click

Still Life is an adventure game in every sense of the word. You guide your character on a quest to solve a problem, causing the hero to travel, while talking to many different people, and doing many different things. There really isn't too much that is revolutionary about that by itself, but the game does manage to be distinct in many ways. You will find yourself controlling either Victoria McPherson of her grandfather Gustav McPherson. You will be controlling Gustav while Victoria is reading the old notes he took while working on a murder case. Your time with Gustav will only be while Victoria is reading, but it adds a great dynamic to the game and really helps advance the story. In this particular adventure you will control your character by one of two methods: the mouse or the keyboard. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. The control may be one this game�s best features. Since it is a point and click adventure game there isn�t a lot you can say about the control of the actual character model. The way you move through the game with the mouse is you simply place the cursor where you want your character to walk and click. The character will then walk to the designated point. In Still Life double clicking will cause your character to run to that point. Also since this game is an investigatory thriller you will have to scan the environments with the mouse cursor to find clues. When a clue is found the mouse cursor will change, indicating that you can interact with that object.

Each action is symbolized with a different icon, such as a word bubble for characters you can talk to or an open hand for items you can take. One obvious concern with this style of control is that the character must get around obstacles by itself, trying to reach a designated point. This is not a problem in Still Life. You will see your character hang briefly on a wall corner or box but they usually can quickly get around it without getting stuck. One simple click and you don�t have to worry about character navigation again until the next screen. There is some very impressive AI at times and it almost seems as if the character can see the obstacles he/she is navigating around. The only problem with this is that it doesn�t really offer much player involvement while walking around. So if you are a gamer that needs constant stimulation this might not be the mode for you. The best thing about the control in this game is how simple it is. You can literally play the entire game using nothing but the mouse. This is great for those who don't typically play PC games due to their sometimes cumbersome control schemes.

If you happen to need a little more control of where you walk you can always switch it to keyboard mode where you will have complete control over your character. The control is pretty intuitive; left turns the character to their left, right turns the character to their right, down rotates character 180 degrees, and up walks forward. This mode may actually be a little easier than the mouse mode for one simple reason: you don�t have a cursor to scan the environment for clues so an icon will appear when you get close to an object. This can make finding key items much easier. The graphics in this game are so well integrated that almost every usable item looks like a part of the environment. For this reason you might not scan over an item simply because it doesn't stand out to you, and you will find yourself running back and forth between screens trying to find the item you need. This doesn't really happen with the keyboard control since the icon comes up automatically when you walk by. Keyboard navigation tends to be a little slower than the mouse since with the mouse you can run to any point in an efficient manner. Both modes have some things in common though, such as when you are speaking to another character in the game. You have two options while speaking to people; you can either ask specific questions, relating specifically to the matters at hand, or you can just small talk. If you are using the mouse you click left for relevant topics and click right for small talk. On the keyboard you use the left and right arrow keys.

The small talk feature of the game is really interesting. You almost always have the option to skip the small talk, but you really shouldn't. It is an interesting addition to the game and it does a great job of making every character in the game so much more rich and real. This brings up one of the most fascinating and enjoyable aspects of the game: the realism. The backgrounds are beautifully detailed and help create an atmosphere. All of the characters are diverse and unique. The story itself is even much more realistic than most other media of the same subject. The basic story is that a masked copy-cat killer is murdering young women in a very creepy and defined manner. The one thing that is most noticeable throughout the game is the distinct lack of suspects. Playing through the game you meet many different people, and in theory each of them could be the murderer, then again, none of them could be the murderer. There is no way to be sure who it really is. There are a few suspects and there are always a few people that might seem more likely to have done it, but as in real life, there isn't always a clear cut suspect. The story is very well thought out and they do a great job making it interesting and complicated.

While we are on the topic of complications it would be a good time to mention the puzzles and problem solving. The puzzles in this game are simply mean. They vary from simple, fun things like fingerprint dusting to the sadistically difficult lock picking. There is even a really fun, though tough, puzzle where you must navigate a bomb disabling robot through a laser field. All of the puzzles are very clever and well designed. While solving some of these puzzles you will find yourself returning to the same areas over and over again, but each time you come it is for a different reason and it actually never gets old. You will spend a lot of time in the office, but you never feel dread about having to go back to the office, again. Still life does an amazing job at keeping you engaged. In fact, some of the puzzles m might be a little too hard for the average gamer, and you will be sure to be upset at your inability to solve them from time to time. They really do require patience and ingenuity. Consider yourself warned.

Though most of this game is simply walking around, talking to people, and collecting clues it doesn't really ever get boring. Those people who despise RPG�s might not like this game quite as much. You never actually perform any action yourself and there is a lot of dialogue to listen to. To quench your thirst for action there are frequent pre-rendered cinematics. This is where the chase scenes, gun shots, and breaking and entering occur. These are very well directed and reveal even more about the story. Though most of them are short, there are many, and they are all quite fun to watch. There is actually a considerable amount of suspense generated by the cinematics alone. Also one feature that more games need is the 'Cinematic Viewer' where you can actually go back and re-watch any cinematic in the game after you've seen them in the game.

Pre-Rendering is Back!

The most defining thing about Still Life graphically is the pre-rendered backgrounds. Every screen has a richly detailed and elaborate environment for your 3-D character to explore. Pre-rendered backgrounds have come a long way over the years, and this game exemplifies that. The backgrounds do such a great job adding to the realism of the game. The items that you can interact with are so well integrated into the background that you can almost never discern an item from random debris in a room. You can tell Microids took a lot of time, not only making them look great, but also making them interesting and tangible. Every part of the game seems like it could be a real place; nothing is too elaborate or fantastic. In fact the backgrounds look so good they really make you wish they had spent a little more time on the character models. Even with the graphics turned all of the way up and with anti-aliasing on, the model is par at best. They tend to be too polygonal and they never move quite right, especially while talking. Talking tends to look more like chewing with your mouth open than speech. With the graphics turned down you have some more problems, especially with the aliasing. While they may not be the best, they actually do look like they fit in the world fairly well, and are not too distracting for that reason. The simple character models and pre-rendered backgrounds do, however, lower the system requirements substantially. You can pretty successfully play this game on a rather outdated PC. The cinematics, on the other hand are great. They aren't anything ground breaking, but they are well done and they do look polished enough. Probably the most impressive thing graphically is the shadows. They aren't cast by real lighting or anything fancy, but they wrap around geometry perfectly and are actually affected by the distance between you the light and the wall. The shadows really add a whole other dimension to the graphics. If you can forgive the character models, the rest of the graphics make an honest effort to make up where the character models fall short.

Did you Hear That?

In a suspense game you need great sound. You can't set the right mood if your sound effects are terrible. Still Life delivers in the sound effects department. The thing you'll probably notice most is the foot step sound effect, since it is the most heard sound in the game. Foot steps vary greatly in the game depending on the surface you are on or even how fast you are moving. That level of detail really makes the entire experience seem so much more real. Almost all of the other sound effects in the game are great and all sounds exactly as they would in real life. You might even start to forget it's a game and think the sounds are actually happening around you, until someone speaks. The voice acting in this game is pretty terrible. These days so many games have good voice acting; it's a wonder they didn't take more time perfecting it. Hearing people talk will, on occasion, make you laugh, but it's not because of a joke that was told. Now some of that also has to do with some of the writing, but even bad writing can be delivered well by the correct voice actor. Admittedly some voices work much better than others, but overall they just aren't that good. If you play the game for any period of time, you do begin to get used to them and you don't really notice anymore, so they aren't distracting, but there is still a lot of room for improvement. Something you won't hear a lot of in this title is music. Music is only used at certain specific moments in the game where you are either approaching something ominous or to set the atmosphere. Most of the game you will be left with just the sound of your own foot steps. It isn't a fault though, since usually when you are running around solving murder mysteries there isn't a PA playing creepy music where ever you go. The music is good, but it too needs just a touch of work. It does a great job of being creepy and adding the desired atmosphere, but it is somewhat generic.

Point and Click. Repeat.

Typically when you hear someone describe a game as fun words such as 'fast' or 'intense' may come to mind. To be fun different games need different things: racing games have a need for speed, fighting games need killer combos, shooters need a lot of, well, shooting. This game isn't what most people would call 'fun'. That isn't to say it's not enjoyable, however. It takes a certain type of person to really enjoy a title such as this. It is more likely that an RPG player will find this game great than someone who strictly plays Halo. The game takes a lot of time, and there is a lot of reading and dialogue. If you don't listen to what people say you won't know where to go and the game will lose every bit of entertainment value it had. If you are the kind of person who need explosions and guns, this game isn't for you. If you can stand a slower pace in a game then you will definitely have a good time with this. It is actually a lot of fun, but you have to be the kind of person who can appreciate it. So the fun factor here is purely opinion.

She was Found Lying in a Pool of Plasma

Still life certainly has some issues, such as bland character models and bad voice acting, but they really don't detract from the experience. If you can get past the negative superficial aspects to the game, you will find a deep and enthralling story. You'll spend time away from the game trying to rationalize things in your head, trying to label someone as a suspect. There is actually a lot of potential here, and I think with a little bit of work a sequel to this game would be amazing. Microids has a good solid base to work from if they could fix their few problems they could easily have a hit on their hands.

 

Case Closed

Still Life is a great game. If any of you are fans of Post Mortem you should pick up this title as well. If you are a fan of any other point and click adventure you should check it out as well. If you like RPG�s at all then you should also give this game a shot. If you only play first-person shooters, or fighting games then this might not be the title for you. It really depends on what you like, but if you give a shot you�ll probably find that you like it more than you thought you would.