Criminal Expert

A cute little detective game if you set your expectations low in terms of the ability to solve the crime through good detective work. I bought this during the detective game sale because I like to play point-and-click games while I eat. Big mistake with this game, as while it's a point-and-click game with FMVs, you're on a timer starting after you complete the first piece of detective work. I'm grading this on a curve assuming that this is a small studio that's newer at games. If this were a huge studio, I would grade it poorly for all of the mistakes it makes and frustrations it brings, but I always lean on the side of, "If this is just a few people working together, then this is an amazing accomplishment." First of all, it's not in English. That explains the most generic title ever written, the weird translations (I always love when a character talks for 10 seconds and it just says two words in English—you know more was said than that), and the increased difficulty when playing the game because you need to learn little things like how they format location names in other countries. If you're like me, you'll fail a few times because the game explains nothing and so you just click on any new piece of information you get and hope for the best. I eventually got through it by recognizing patterns in how the game listed the dialogue options, but I did have to look up the search scene combinations because, if you get them wrong, you have to replay THE WHOLE GAME to try again (I suffered it three times, then just looked it up). I am a sucker for FMV games, though, and creative gameplay, so I enjoyed it overall even though the game part of the game isn't great. The Positives: -I was pleasantly surprised at what they put together—while the art style is wildly inconsistent (FMV combined with comic, point-and-click 2D screens, and weird animations like clock hands spinning...none of which go together graphically), it's definitely interesting to look at. You get to do investigation work and use it to progress the story, which was a ton of fun to use the system based on your own knowledge to find the next thing. -I enjoyed the story. It is pretty adult, so I wouldn't recommend this for kids per se (e.g., sexual descriptions galore), but I found myself engaged. The translation makes the dialogue pretty bland in some parts, but I think some of that is intentional (so you don't know which details are pertinent). -The FMVs were fun. Other than the script overselling the looks difference between the female and male (I thought they were much closer in attractiveness than the script said), it all made sense and was interesting. The acting was fun. The prisoner clothing was clearly ridiculous and reduced the production value, but everything else was fine (a few dapper outfits in this game :) ). I found myself writing down the information I'd learned to try to play the game straight, so it kept my attention. -I liked the varied gameplay elements, from the evidence to the documents to the database and the scenes. It kept it engaging throughout. Also, playing the game again and selecting things in a different order or just selecting one different option dramatically affects how the story unfolds. I don't know if I've ever seen that before. It is pretty wild. The Negatives: -I tried using an XBox controller, but the sensitivity of using it like a mouse in-game is way too high and impossible to calibrate in-game. So, I had a controller and a mouse right next to me for anything involving point-and-click gameplay. Annoying, but I worked around it. -The combination of just throwing you into the game, throwing 100 red herrings at you, and only giving you a few tries at the mini-games/puzzles or limited time to do the detective/puzzle work was the worst part of the game. I didn't know what I was doing, and then all of the sudden I have three tries to investigate a scene correctly or lose that information forever (I can't tell for certain, but it seems like if you don't win them, you're basically going to lose the case). Detective games are supposed to engage your brain by having you read documents, find clues, and put together what happened. Instead, I have a timer, am clicking on things, which unlocks new things, picking from 3 dialogue options, and then have to complete a mini-game that doesn't explain more than, "You have 3 tries to figure this out, or you're ****ed." I don't mind any one of those elements, but all three is wild. If you do too much detective work and select too many red herrings, the game just ends on you out of nowhere—no matter how long you have left on the timer. When I found the right path, I found that like 30-45 minutes of gameplay from my first playthrough was completely useless and, in fact, skippable (the game even skips it for you!). I've never seen anything like that. While each of those decisions is interesting, combining them just turns this game from a methodical detective game into a guessing/memory game (with the lone exception being the dialogue seems to have a pattern where if you balance professionalism with a dash of empathy, you can select the right options most of the time). Kind of like how Resident Evil at harder difficulties is you just guessing where to go, dying, and then knowing where to go next time. But, at least in RE you get to save and reload every 15 minutes. Not this game...get used to restarting from the beginning like you're doing a no-save RE speed run. -There are many little annoyances that make the game frustrating. I've already mentioned the no-explanation-and-done-after-three-tries issue, but to make matters worse, most of the gameplay is more puzzle than detective work. For example, there's the classic 15-piece puzzle you have to complete in 15 minutes that has nothing to do with being a detective. Then, there's the solution to the woman's apartment puzzle, which has no basis in logic (I still think the most logical is Fridge-Glass-Glass, which is incorrect). The farm search is just a hidden-object mini-game. All of the cool information you get doesn't really do much other than unlock database or dialogue options. I love when I get to see something I learned from the materials become the thing that helps me proceed, but I still have no idea where the girls' height was found after reading everything I could. It's more puzzle- than crime-solving, and the right order to investigate in you just learn through trial and error vs. investigation. -The game has some blatant rough edges. For example, some interrogations are FMV with audio and subtitles; others are just random pictures of characters with click-and-read dialogue. They must've run out of budget or time because it was clearly due to limitations and not a pre-planned development decision that they have several different ways to show the same kind of interaction in the game. Overall, I enjoyed the game and looked past its flaws to see what happened. It wasn't too deep or anything, but they did have a ton of finger-pointing and red herrings that made it surprisingly interesting. Though...I spent way too much time looking at things that didn't matter. If you like mystery, detective, or FMV games, you'll likely not mind all the problems with this game because it's an interesting take on the genre (though you might not find the story ground-breaking). But I don't think many others will like it, as the low recommendation score shows. So, I'm giving it a "Yes" for a very niche audience of mystery/detective lovers who like experimental stuff. Probably a hard "No" for anyone else.