Contradiction - Spot The Liar!
This is a FMV detective & mystery game developed by Baggy Cat, created thanks to a kickstarter campaign. Since I love detective games and tv-shows I decided to give this one a go. This is a lovecrafted masterpiece, great from start to finish. I’m gonna try to explain why.
You play as detective Jenks, investigating a girls suicide in an english village. Mysteries surrounding the suicide quickly leads to a murder investigation. Jenks only have a day to solve the mystery. He quickly finds out about a private school for adults called Atlas that uses some questionable methods, and you learn more and more as you go. Every chapter is an hour in the game, but every chapter took me more then an hour each. It’s a pretty tricky game, but you can use clues if you get stuck.
– Real player with 15.2 hrs in game
Read More: Best Crime Atmospheric Games.
TL;DR: It’s a very fun and interesting game,
! with a very, very, VERY bad (and extremely) unsatisfying ending
I’m probably very late to the “reviewing contradiction” party (what a weird party), the game being almost 6 years old now and having been talked about in the ExtraCredits YouTube channel (the reason why I bought it in the first place!), but I’m gonna have a go at it anyways.
Contradiction is an FMV game where you must investigate in one night a supposed suicide in a small village. The investigation is done almost entirely by talking to people (i.e. watching small bits of questioning), though some evidence is found by walking and snooping around (in fact, I’m no lawyer or law-enforcement officer, but I feel like a quite a few of the evidence found wouldn’t be admissible in court!) But the main aspect of the game is asking people about things, which can directly lead you to new evidence, but will always lead to a set of statements from each person. This is where the main mechanic of the game comes in: you can select two statements (they must be from the same person though, hold this for later) that contradict each other and if they do, indeed, you get a new line of questioning where detective Jenks brings up the contradiction to the person in question, usually leading to new evidence. When you reach key milestones in the investigation, the time moves forward, and some new witness can become available (or unavailable), and going certain places can unlock certain events that can give you new evidence to ask around about.
– Real player with 13.7 hrs in game
Jessika
A detective story in which you must dig through various files on your laptop to identify the reasons for Jessika’s suicide. If you’re willing to look past the interface issues, you’ll find yourself engaged in a relatable life story about racism.
You might believe this is just another game with full motion video that allows you to browse through a person’s life. And you’d be completely correct. FMV is alive and does provide a truly enjoyable experience when combined with strong gameplay; in other words, when you are not simply watching a movie. “Jessika” is a nice example of the genre, with both positive and negative aspects.
– Real player with 13.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best Crime Female Protagonist Games.
Don’t expect much. It’s not a mystery to solve.The game just unfolds itself in very expected ways. So this is not much of a puzzle or a mystery game. The game is not quite about what it claims to be about. I expected some psychological stuff. Nah. Also expected some mystery solving. Nah. Boy have I got baited into buying this game or what haha. Somewhat spoiler. Jessika don’t have any nudes on her computer for good reason. It’s the only bit that made most sense about this game in fact. So sorry you won’t be digging into the panty drawer of a hot german blonde instead you will be reading a very boring diary of a boring chick. Which is a bit realistic in a way haha. Anyway. Appreciate the effort buy the game this is a nice genre I believe it is a promising game style.
– Real player with 9.3 hrs in game
Internet Court
I have to admit I found Internet Court really funny. It does have a lot of silly moments that make you go what but I loved it from beginning to end. You can beat this within 2 hours but it is really fun to get through. I love the acting being silly but worth it to make a good comedy. The Judge always makes me laugh at every turn. I love the silly ending that connects all 4 cases and my favourite case was the first one. I may not be a fan of the music in the game but love the credits song at the end.
– Real player with 3.1 hrs in game
Read More: Best Crime Cinematic Games.
Great writing, including fun dialogue when you make bad decisions (intentionally or otherwise). Clear video and audio with acting by Gamecola staff emeritus.
The judge once said, “I’m going to let you try again, but first I’m going to give you a strike!” giving me my third strike and ejecting me from the courtroom. I might have gotten carried away exploring dialogue options.
– Real player with 3.1 hrs in game
Her Story
My rating: 8+/10
Based on: one thorough 100% investigation
TL;DR: An interactive police procedural movie with purposely outdated mechanics, brilliantly written and well-acted, a slow burn and a time sink that offers an engaging story to be discovered bit by bit, an immersive, nostalgic experience of the times gone by, truly worthy of the awards it’s received.
Pros:
(+) a slow-paced, but enthralling open-ended story as told by Hannah Smith whose husband went missing, served up in a series of interviews with this unreliable narrator conducted by police detectives
– Real player with 19.6 hrs in game
Her Story is a little bit of an oddity. It’s a FMV game where the player has access to a police database and needs to find out what happened.
It’s actually rather good. The whole game is limited to an old-style interface where you’re able to type in words and search for records. I’ve seen a few games that try to emulate old OSes and they lack a feeling of being a working interface. Her Story feels like a proper old computer you’re viewing. Though I immediately turned off the glare filter, it has a great old charm to the aesthetics with it on..
– Real player with 9.7 hrs in game
Late Shift
There are a few really good FMV games around but in general there is a drought of this genre so people who love this kind of game just have to take what they are given. Late Shift is good but the lack of a skip function really drags the playtime out and I found myself 100%-ing this game with a grimace on my face towards the end. Don’t get me wrong, the story was good but it wasn’t good enough to keep me engaged and to play through it in fully 9 times. See the full review here
– Real player with 12.4 hrs in game
This looks great, and is surprisingly interesting as a movie. As others have said, it’s probably the most successfully implemented FMV game ever made, which isn’t really that high of a mountain to climb. In fact, it’s probably more successful as a movie than as a game. There’s not much “play” in it, and what there is is fatally undermined by the design.
The theme of the game, spelled out by the protagonist in the opening narration, is that choices define who you are. And more specifically they define who you are internally - your reason for making a certain decision is, in many ways, more important than what the decision actually was.
– Real player with 9.6 hrs in game
Killing Stream
Killing Stream is a feature-length, interactive thriller with horror elements, in which fate of the main character depends entirely on the viewer. It tells the story from a first person perspective to intensify the immersion and put audience in the main character’s shoes.
Try to survive… Killing Stream.
The List
“The List” is a mystery game where you search and watch video clips from a police database in an attempt to solve a cold murder case.
The mechanics are very similar to “Her Story”. You have access to a database of video clips showing the answers of a crime victim during several interrogation sessions in a police department. You can search this database by entering single words, and the database will show you the first 5 clips in which the person uttered that word. Finding new clips gives you new ideas for search terns, such as the names of people or places. As you find more and more clips, your understanding of the case grows, though you still have to do a lot of interpretation and deductive reasoning (partly because you don’t have access to the policeman’s questions). What’s nice and really helpful, is that each clip you have viewed will automatically be added to a timeline, where you can rewatch clips in their correct chronological order.
– Real player with 10.8 hrs in game
The List is another addition to the FMV mystery search type, where the player has to piece together a set of clips to ultimately solve the mystery surrounding the main character. If you liked games like “Telling Lies” and “Her Story” this is for you.
The design of the game itself follows those games in which you have some limited case information, a database, a search function and a series of videos of a one sided interrogation to piece together. This was decently done, with a few hiccups in it’s search terms (There was a typo in one of the clips) or the general vagueness of terms, where words might have a tense that you must acknowledge otherwise no results can show. I felt that maybe the developer could have changed some of the terms for a few of the clips.
– Real player with 8.3 hrs in game
Interrogation Files: Port Landsend
I for sure would recommend this game to you if:
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You have already played Her Story, liked it, and would enjoy playing a similar game
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You wouldn’t be put off by lower production values (the acting, in particular, can be distracting)
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You can look past and put up with some minor but irritating design flaws
If the above describes you then I feel pretty confident that you would enjoy Interrogation Files: Port Landsend. It is clearly a small indie game, but it has an interesting story and I was definitely invested in the investigation to figure out what had happened. For me the good very much outweighed the bad, and I personally wouldn’t hesitate to play future games from the same developer.
– Real player with 15.1 hrs in game
I randomly came across this little gem while browsing through FMV games and jumped all over it. I like FMV and I like crime, mystery, and detective games so naturally it was right up my alley. It follows the same format as Her Story by watching clips and searching for keywords, but this game manages to take things a step beyond by introducing multiple suspects.
The case that unfolds is interesting and keeps you invested. The acting ranges from pretty good to some characters who talk while constantly staring off camera to read their lines. I think my favorite part might have been the built-in ‘hint system’ for lack of a better term, where you can click a button to get a undiscovered clip unlocked for you. It’s a big help if you get stuck and it makes going for the 100% achievement much easier than similar games.
– Real player with 11.3 hrs in game
Telling Lies
It pains me to write a negative review for this game. I loved Her Story for it’s story and Viva Seifert’s incredible performance, even though the game play (you are a cop working with the world’s worst video archiving software) was maddening.
Telling Lies has much of the same strengths and weaknesses. The cast is terrific and the writing gives them a lot of meaty, emotional moments to work with. The plot is diverting, with multiple characters and scenarios popping up that you’ll want to spend time disentangling everything.
– Real player with 42.0 hrs in game
Telling the truth about Telling lies
I have a problem and I’m not alone. The whole game industry has the same problem: how to tell stories with games? A good story has its own laws. Ask any writer other than your 8-year-old little sister. The story has a build, thought out ups and downs, twists and turns, beginnings and endings. The game follows different rules. The player has to be an active doer, not just a listener, reader or a watcher. The players’ choices and actions will have to have an impact on the game, otherwise the experience is flat. Unfortunately these two collide. Where a good story demands a pre-defined route to work, a good game wants freedom and choices. It’s like marrying a feminist to a chauvinist. It simply does not work or at least has not worked so far and it’s not from the lack of trying. Sam Barlow’s Telling lies is another effort to marry the unwanting partners.
– Real player with 19.3 hrs in game
Lost Lies
Lost Lies is a true detective feature-length thriller movie game. Walk into the shoes of detective picking up a case of a missing officer:
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Discover a mystery of her disappearing and find the path to solve a case of series suicides.
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Immerse yourself into the thrilling story where your choices can lead to different endings.
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Analyze documents, find clues and interrogate suspects in your way to solve the case.
But be prepared, not everything is as it seems…