When you think of the FMV
interactive movie adventure genre several titles should come to mind. Most
notably several games in particular stand the test of time as classics. The Tex
Murphy series was one of the best, especially The Pandora Directive. The story
and pacing had dramatic flare. The 3D Graphics engine was gritty and really
helped to create a realistic world. An accomplished cast lent their talents and
made the characters believable and memorable. The Black Dahlia was another FMV
with incredible production values and it featured Terri Garr and Dennis Hopper.
The story was creepy and the movies were astounding, but the game elements were
insanely frustrating. Even Gabriel Knight 2: The Beast Within, as silly as some
portions were managed to attract attention from a large audience.
Unfortunately these games
were the exception not the rule. As a whole, FMV doesn’t work so well when it’s
incorporated into a game. It is very hard for a developer to focus on both
filming a movie that is worth watching and creating a game that’s worth playing
at the same time. Conspiracies is another example of a grand story being
hampered by unintuitive gameplay.
The story involves a down
on his luck detective who appears to be working for two different people. Drugs
and murder are at the very heart of this mystery, but the plot is so convoluted
and overwrought with confusing story progression that it’s hard to follow
through to conclusion. The cut-scenes were not filmed in English and the
voiceovers leave a bit to be desired. The overall atmosphere is supposed to be
futuristic. It seems there are several inspirational nods to Blade Runner and
even several things that resemble or pay homage to Tex Murphy Under A Killing
Moon.
At one point Nick the
central character you play will travel back in time and bring a scientist back
to the future. A large portion of the game is spent looking for him, however
that particular story arc peters out later in the game and it isn’t clear as to
the scientist’s relevance. None of the characters have much depth. The clues
offer little information so the people you question don’t have much personality.
Most interviews only have one or two specific plot progressing items despite a
whole list of things Nick can ask about.
Much of the game requires
you to search environments for clues. The mouse allows you to spin completely
around and the directional keys handle movement. Dragging the pointer across the
screen to find objects of interest is especially frustrating because there are
no hotspots. That is, if you do manage to run over something important the mouse
cursor does not change. So you must click on everything. The graphics and
environments are insanely sparse so this method of searching shouldn’t prove too
difficult. However some items are hidden very well and are so small that it is
hard to see them.
Once you do find
something it goes into an inventory that holds a limited amount of objects.
There are plenty of red herrings so you run out of carrying space very quickly.
When this happens you are forced to dump your inventory contents onto Nick’s
office floor. Each item stacks on top of one another so you must be careful not
to misplace anything because you might need it later. Limited inventory space
just means a lot of traveling back and forth until you have the necessary items
to complete a puzzle.
The puzzles in
Conspiracies range from silly to completely illogical. I haven’t seen solutions
this ridiculous since the cat mustache puzzle in Blood Of The Sacred, Blood Of
The Damned. Nick feeds vitamins to plants, uses fish bowl water to make coffee
and gets around attacking robot dogs with a giant rubber ducky filled with
water. Some adventure gamers may find all this humorous. It is a game after all,
but it is never made clear exactly what is going on or how one should feel about
the proceedings. Should the player feel sad at the conclusion or are we supposed
to laugh at the puzzle solution that required six pieces of gum to stick a
homing beacon on to a speeder. Or are we supposed to cry out of frustration
because tracking down those six pieces of gum was an irritating pixel hunt.
In short Conspiracies has
a complicated story that never seems to go anywhere. It has puzzles that I felt
were ridiculous, but others may find hysterical. The acting, voiceovers,
environments and puzzles seemed forced, inadequate and illogical. I’ve read
other reviews that praise it as charming and quirky. I’ve also read several
reviews that point out the games serious pitfalls. If you are a fan of the FMV
adventure genre then you know how few and far between these titles are as of
late. The price tag is encouraging, but if you’re looking for an engrossing Tex
Murphy type experience Conspiracies will disappoint.
Gameplay: 6
The limited
inventory is annoying. You must travel to certain locations to launch the travel
map. There are no hotspots so you must click everything on the screen.
Manipulating items within the inventory screen is a nightmare. Interviewing
characters feels pointless. The story is hard to follow and the puzzles just
don’t make a whole lot of sense in the context of the plot. The large hedge maze
inside the space station was completely out of place and not much fun to
navigate through. Go left (hint).
Graphics: 6
The environments
are bare and uninteresting. The objects in them are flat with very little
detail. Many rooms consist of several plain crates and that’s all. The movies
are blocky. The game supports higher resolution, but when I bumped it way up I
saw no difference.
Sound: 6
The music and
sound are both unremarkable with the exception of the time traveling device,
which is very loud.
Difficulty: Hard
Poor pathfinding,
weird graphic warps that can shoot you to the opposite end of a room. Tricky
unlabeled hotspots and small objects like tiny pieces of torn paper.
Concept: 6
I’m still not
sure what it’s all about. There are several plot points that never seem to be
tied together. The end is even more unsatisfying than Tomb Raider The Angel Of
Darkness.
Overall: 6
The story is grand indeed, but I haven’t a clue as to what it is. In my humble
opinion Conspiracies is lacking in several categories. If you simply love the
FMV adventure genre then you know there isn’t much to choose from. Maybe
Conspiracies will find a home in your gaming library by default. Maybe the story
is coherent and I just missed it. Maybe Conspiracies is so quirky that the
silliness went over my head. The funniest part of the game was watching the
outtakes during the credits. I’d rather replay The Pandora Directive or
reinstall The Black Dahlia instead. That’s just my two cents worth. In the end a
review is just that. A couple of adventure websites have written very favorable
reviews for Conspiracies. I recommend reading both pro and con articles before
committing to the game. If you truly are a FMV junky and can’t resist then by
all means go to town. And good luck.
