Resonance

A few months back when I previewed Resonance; I had high hopes that the final product was going to be every bit as good as I'd anticipated. Having played all the games developed by Wadjet Eye, I value the endeavor they put into each title, and can distinguish their limitations and short comings rather well at this point.

Resonance feels as if they've hit a snag and struggles to meet their usual high standard; lacking a little in direction, even though it is one of their more adventurous efforts to date.

Resonance kicks off with the news of a scientific catastrophe all over the world, and places four separate controllable characters in past scenarios, as they progress and get along by solving puzzles with an aim to get to the bottom of what has happened.

The game follows the basics of the point and click genre, and it’s based on two key activities, dialogue exchange and pushing the story forward. These two acts are supported by puzzles and mostly a very complex gameplay which centers around key character developments.

After a certain point it's up to you to figure out each of the potentials strengths and weaknesses of each character and determine which particular area of expertise is right for the given situation. One of the characters, for example, is a mathematician; trying to save his life-long research, another a doctor who wants revenge for his uncles murder, and with those motives each one brings a particular skill-set and level of desire to the table needed to solve such an intricate case.

While controlling each character, you’ll have access to three different types of inventory. One is the regular inventory, which is used for keeping functional materials. The other two inventories are STM and LTM. STM standing for short-term memory and this inventory allows you to drag and drop substance or sight from the surroundings; which can be used for analyzing or discussing with other characters. LTM referring to long-term memory which has similar purpose as STM, but the use hasn’t been vastly practiced throughout this version of the game. STM has limited slots for placing substances, where LTM will work automatically for any character whenever any such memory is unlocked during play or discussion.

The gameplay can be a little monotonous at times. Not in a sense that you are doing the same thing again and again, but everything you’ll be doing will seem predictable and too easy-going. Nothing ever really excites you or makes your brain work overtime. Whereas a game not in its best graphical presentation, should come with more complex and appealing gameplay. There are still one or two surprises to be had during the game as the story isn’t entirely ordinary, but they're too few and far between.

Judging by the past history of Wadjet Eye games, they usually plant a good amount of humorous and exciting conversations in their games. But Resonances lacked in this department too, with barely one or two conversations catching the attention.

While playing through the closing stages, I felt it could’ve gone better. It wasn't that it didn't fill me with a sense of completion - it did - but it lacked that certain 'je ne sais quoi'.

Other than certain points in the story I frankly didn’t enjoy game. Perhaps a sequel or a remake with a good blend of better dialogue, hefty puzzles and improved presentation quality could recover what's missing. Then again, the thought of playing through it once more is a case I'd rather leave well and truly closed.

Sarwar Ron, NoobFeed