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I gotta tell you, I've been having a blast doing this video series
playing all these old games just gives me such a nostalgia trip
like I'm unlocking little bits of my past.
whether it's games I played as a kid. games I missed the first time around,
whether they're laughably bad or surprisingly good, just... whatever I cover
it's been great to relive the past and I really look forward to raiding the vaults
for more old gems to talk to you about down the line.
for more old gems to talk to you about down the line.
...so let's jump ahead about seventeen years!
Since the title of the video blatantly gives the game away, I'm just gonna take
a minute to talk to you about Wadjet Eye Games.
It's an adventure games company founded by a married couple
...sounds familiar
pretty much specializing in point 'n' click adventures
...sounds familiar
and they've since gone on to not only making their own games, but publishing third-party works
and they've since gone on to not only making their own games, but publishing third-party works
...sounds familiar. Which is where Vincent Twelve comes in; developer of some
strange and fascinating indie games.
I mean, what other indie game do you know of that has an optional 5-minute intro sequence?
I mean, what other indie game do you know of that has an optional 5-minute intro sequence?
It might seem like Wadjet Eye is merely publishing this, but
company founders Dave and Janet Gilbert both show up a bunch of times in the game's credits
along with some of Wadjet Eye's regular stable of voice actors. The commentary-
Yup; this game has a commentary.
Awesome, no?
reveals that Mister Twelve have been working on this for years with minimal
progress until he finally teamed up with Wadjet Eye.
Janet Gilbert programmed half the game herself and was the only person to have
been working on Resonance full time at any point
so it seems like it's been a real collaborative effort to get this one out,
and the Gilberts still credit the games to their authors.
Christ, that makes a change from the old days.
Okay okay okay, enough stalling;
Resonance is a fantastic game taking the best of point 'n' click adventures and adding in
a little emphasis on puzzles you'd see more in Myst than Monkey Island
if either of those things appeals to you, go and buy it...
...like, right now.
But if you need to hear more about it
I suppose I could rattle on for another six minutes or so.
I suppose I could rattle on for another six minutes or so.
We begin with a brief news report cataloguing a series of catastrophic
attacks around the world before rewinding sixty hours to find out how *** went down.
attacks around the world before rewinding sixty hours to find out how *** went down.
And it all starts with a mathematician named Ed, sleeping in his dingy apartment.
I want to spoil as little of the plot as I can, but I feel like I have to explain how
the four characters get together. I mean, they are on the promotional artwork after all.
Cover your ears if you want, it's nothing you wouldn't see in the demo anyway.
Ed heads into work to talk his boss out of destroying all their research,
on the way he bumps into Anna; a doctor just happens to be the niece of Ed's boss
Detective Bennet heads straight from an early-morning stakeout to the site of
a reported explosion; the Juno laboratory
which just happens to be where Ed works.
And finally, there's investigative journalist Ray, who follows them because he smells a story
Once they find out what the thrust of the main plot is, they form
a merry band and go forth to
[INDECIPHERABLE]
Okay, that's enough; I'm not gonna spoil the plot for you because my rule is that
if I think the game is worth playing
I won't spoil the plot - that rule still stands
so instead, I'm going to tell you how the game plays,
so instead, I'm going to tell you how the game plays,
how it differs from the usual point 'n' click adventure
and hopefully explain to you why it's worth playing.
It may look and mostly play like a traditional point 'n' click adventure
but Resonance does do a few things differently, which are as follows;
there's the memory feature, some of the segments are more interactive the usual
'click on things, make things happen' deal,
being able to control multiple characters and the fact that it boasts actual puzzles
beyond the item combination and dialogue trees you're used to.
Starting off, you play four separate sections with one character each.
then you're up to controlling two characters at once
until they all finally meet up and that character selector fills up like your old
Casio watch got a Pokédex app.
Once you've caught 'em all, things can get a little bit fiddly
especially when one person has an inventory item you need, but you've left them in a different location.
especially when one person has an inventory item you need, but you've left them in a different location.
That's where the 'follow me' feature comes in handy.
Thankfully the learning of information doesn't have this problem because
one person learning stuff means everyone else learns said stuff too
like they're a Borg hive mind or something.
Personally, I'm happy to dispense with realism if it means less backtracking.
Resonance isn't the first game of this type to attempt using multiple characters
Resonance isn't the first game of this type to attempt using multiple characters
nor even the first to allow those characters to interact with each other directly.
but using multiple characters at once to solve puzzles feels fresh for some reason.
Whilst no-one has unique abilities as such,
each character has their own unique use;
Bennett has access to the police station,
Ray has his password cracker and smartphone,
Anna can access all areas of the hospital and Ed can... um...
...he can unlock a terminal.
Just one.
To change characters, you'll need to use this little widget in the top left-hand corner
with which you also access short and long-term memories as well as your inventory,
but it's done by mouse hovering.
This means that to, say, change characters
you need to move the mouse over the corner,
wait for the widget to appear, then mouse-over an area of the widget until those faces pop out
wait for the widget to appear, then mouse-over an area of the widget until those faces pop out
then select your character. But if you happen to nudge your mouse the wrong way
it slinks off back to it's corner
and you need to start from scratch.
This is probably just the keyboard lovin' sumbitch in me, but some shortcut keys would've been good
This is probably just the keyboard lovin' sumbitch in me, but some shortcut keys would've been good
Just to get the last negative out of the way, there's a section which takes place in a vent
which only works as a good set piece the first time you play it.
Even then, it's entirely skippable.
Going back to the widget,
this is where your short and long term memories are lurking.
Long-term memories are important story events which are added
automatically and using them plays a short animation.
The short term memory is different in that you can drag any object from the environment in there
The short term memory is different in that you can drag any object from the environment in there
but either set of memories can be brought up in conversations.
It's a pretty cool feature, somewhat similar to the Discworld Noir notebook
that tracks conversation topics for you, except now you control what goes inside it.
Oddly enough Blackwell Legacy, one of Wadjet Eye's own titles, actually uses Discworld Noir's notebook feature as is.
But those are other games for other times.
The main difference short-term memory makes is that brute-forcing your way through the game by
using everything on everything else becomes a lot harder
and I'm not sure that's necessarily a bad thing for a genre where you're
supposed to use your brain meat.
Now, just before I forget about traditional point 'n' click games entirely,
I'd be remiss to omit that I really like the pixellated art style.
You know the type;
the resolution of a SNES game but with an exponentially larger colour palette.
And considering how low that resolution is,
some of the effects they use here look really nice.
I'm also suddenly struggling to recall a game of this type where the camera moves vertically,
or at least as smothly as it does here.
Granted, this would have been a tad more difficult for my old 486 CPU to pull off
but it's surprising for me that more modern titles don't do it.
And it's odd to think that the kind of point 'n' click games I imagined would come out in the future
would be all smooth lines and high-definition...
would be all smooth lines and high-definition...
...something a little more like this. Resonance, with it's retro graphics,
achievement system, great voice acting, commentaries and blooper reels -
that's just part of the course was a Wadjet Eye game is concerned...
...and that's a hell of a good starting point. What I really appreciate about this game
is that it makes you think.
Point 'n' click games have a similar problem to real-time strategy games. You can just build
a big ***-off army and zerg-rush your opponents into a puddle of anguish.
In the same vein, most point 'n' click games can be beat by taking every item you have
and using it on everything you can find.
But not only does Resonance make you work out the puzzles for yourself, it kind of deserves it too.
I usually need to look at UHS or some walkthroughs a couple of times a game
I usually need to look at UHS or some walkthroughs a couple of times a game
but with Resonance, I only had to do it once and even then I really didn't want to.
It felt far more like cheating than usual because
the game wasn't doing anything wrong. but Resonance isn't cruel;
getting yourself into a game over scenario results in time rewinding to the point
before you made the fatal decision. it's an interesting way to have death in your game without
actually having game over screens.
The README file says you can earn Fate Points during the game which deplete if you have to rewind time,
The README file says you can earn Fate Points during the game which deplete if you have to rewind time,
ending the game if they drop below zero.
Interesting concept,
but even getting Bennet killed over and over and over again didn't seem to make this happen
So what else can I say other than it's a really well-put-together game?
There's no stand-out bad moments, no bad voice acting, no puzzles that shouldn't be there,
There's no stand-out bad moments, no bad voice acting, no puzzles that shouldn't be there,
Hell, I played through the entire thing and found two things I didn't like about it - TWO!
This might be the best game Wadjet Eye's had a hand in
but we'll find out for sure when I get to the others.
Well, hopefully that's all the information you need and I've already said it's absolutely worth buying
so I'll just leave you with this bit of advice:
See this puzzle here? This one?
This puzzle is optional.
Just bear that in mind.