Secret Files-Sam Peters

A great character can make an average game very  good. Enjoy this game starring Samantha Peters, a sassy Science reporter.

This is the second game in the Secret Files series to be  ported to Android recently. It's a rather old game but there are many things about it that I like.

Of course I have to begin with Sam herself. Straight away at the start of the game she makes it clear that she is beautiful and smart, modesty is not her style as she says so herself. She might add that she's resourceful and fearless too. I mean how many lone woman would trek through the African jungle in pursuit of a story?

Sam is definitely a modern  woman. She doesn't take any crap from anyone. She has no qualm about climbing over walls and, scaling buildings  and going  into caves to get what she's after.

Don't mess with her! If you try to  make her do anything stupid she will put you down with her feminine wiles. Yes,, she actually did that to me.

The story has three acts..In the first act, Sam is on an Indonesian Island after escaping from terrorists and has to go back to the mainland to get help. In the second act, she is in Germany to interview a professor but finds that he has gone to Africa. She has to find out where he has gone to. The third act is in Africa where she must  find the professor and this is where the real adventure happens.

I don't want to give anything away, but I must say that the story is very linear and doesn't have much drama. It would be nice if there were suspense and excitement in it. Well it's not the worst story though.

This is a point and click adventure game so you need to make the right combination of actions and using items in the inventory to proceed  through the game. So the usual affair.

If you get stuck, you can always look up the cheat sheet.

The game scene is in a window covering most if the screen. The left, right and bottom of the screen are reserved for action buttons. When you tap the inventory button, the inventory window pops up.

For those playing on a Note device, the S-pen only works on the main window, you have to use your finger on the inventory window.

The graphics is very good so is the animation. Sceneries  are very realistic. Sam's movements too are true to life. The camera work is unfortunately rather old fashioned. It is mostly long shots. Newer games would have more closer shots.

Overall, it is still a very good game. It's quite entertaining.  Like I said  the character of Sam Peters makes up for its flaws. Just for her, it is worth playing the game!

The game is short but for 99cents it is definitely worth the buy! 

Get it from the Play Store.

Gemini Rue

What makes a game great? The look or the content? Gemini Rue will give you the answer.

These days we of course expect our games to have amazing graphics but sometimes a great story trumps everything else at least for those who like plot driven games such as myself. This is a game with somewhat "artistic"  look coupled with a truly compelling story.

First about the graphics . It has a low res pixilated retro look to it. Even the texts are pixilated making them rather hard to read. This look cuts down on the file size I guess. But it also goes nicely with the noir storyline.

Similarly with the animation. It's not very smooth or realistic. However it has pretty good voice acting and music. The sound effects too are very good.

The camera work is also old fashioned. There's no close ups just long shots. But with such low res graphics, a closer shot wouldn't make any sense anyway.

It's a point and click adventure game so its all about making the right combination of moves to progress in the game. You talk to characters, go to different places, or pick up items and use them out of the inventory.

The controls are rather difficult to use at first but you get used to it. Drag your finger or stylus across the screen to find actionable things and click the action or items from the pop up menu. Just tap other places to move your character there.

There are also shoot outs. However the controls here are quite difficult to use as well. And it's not about aiming and shooting either. It's really about timing.

Just forget  all of that! This game is all about the story. It's a noir story with sci-fi elements. The sci-fi part is actually very important here. But that is not obvious immediately.

You begin with our main character, Azreal, on a dirty gritty Street in a city on a horrible mining planet that seems to rain all the time. Looking for his brother, he runs into the gangsters controlling the place

You then switch to a second character named Delta Six. He's in  a strange facility that carries out mind control on the occupants. Delta Six may well be Azreal's brother but we don't know. He seems to be trained as an assassin. However, he appears to be part of a plot to escape

Early in the game, you are able to switch between one character to the other and later in the game, you will play a third character.

Like any good noir, there are twists in the plot. This is where the sci-fi element of the story comes in. The twists are very cleverly inserted too. Without giving too much away, the story explores the nature of memory and what makes a person who he or she is. How often do you get philosophy in a video  game?

The game requires you to slowly uncover clues on what to do next. You have to investigate everything in your environment to find these clues. But there are not that many clues. So you must pause and think very carefully putting together the few clues you get.

There's really no point in trying different combinations of actions and items because you will quickly find yourself deep in the weeds and get very frustrated. It's best to think hard to find the right solution.

So it is a thinking game. I like this kind of games because I'm not forced to rush things but I'm able to  take my time to uncover the answer. .

When I started playing, I thought that the low graphic quality would put me off very quickly so accustomed to great graphics in the games I usually play. But it wasn't long before I began to ignore the less than impressive graphics and got sucked into the story. Ultimately, great characters is what makes a great story great. In the end, the retro style graphics actually fits nicely with the type of story it is.

I definitely recommend this game. It relies almost entirely on the story it tells without trying to be flashy with the look. It's what on the inside not what's on the outside.

Get it from  the Play Store.

Republique.

If you like a game where you do a lot of thinking and be immersed in a very compelling story, then this is the game for you.

This is an episodic interactive story in which you play a character participating in the  story. In  this game, you play an unseen character who interacts with the heroine of the story.

You are a hacker who has accessed the communication system of a very high tech facility. You are in contact with a girl who you find out later is named Hope although she is known by a number. She says that she has to escape because they are doing some weird things here and she is in trouble.

You are able to access all the cameras and electronic devices in this facility through something called omniview which pauses the game when you enter this mode. You find out that a worker named Cooper and somebody called the Librarian will help her. This is when Cooper contacts you and will help you to help her.

From this point on, you guide the girl to various locations to ultimately escape. She has a phone through which you indicate where she should go. Along the way, you hack doors to open, body scanners to turn off and most importantly, switch to other cameras so you can see around corners and behind closed doors.

You need to guide the girl avoiding guards and go to the right locations. Here,  you can access a map with the destination clearly marked. However, the map is deliberately made simplified and rather confusing. This is where you need to go into Omniview and think about things carefully.

Along the way, you discover more about the facility and other characters in the story. You find out about the megalomaniacal leader called the Overseer. And repeatedly you hear about something called "The Arrival", clearly a big event to come.

As for the characters, they are all voiced by obviously professional actors. The acting is quite simply at Academy Award level. They are that good!

Its really great that's there's no text to read anywhere. Who wants to read when playing a game? If I wanted to read, I'd  buy a book!

The game is really a point and click game. And like all point and click games, you collect things which you can trade for new abilities for your Omni view.

The graphics are simply top notch! It is  beautiful to look at. The movements of the characters are incredibly realistic. There are frequent close ups and at no time did it go into uncanny Valley territory. I think this is because the developers took care to include flaws on the characters' faces.

The sound effects and music are among the best I've ever heard! When you turn the Camera it makes that familiar sound evocative of Hollywood movies. They really pay a lot of attention to details..

At the point of writing, I have completed episode three with episodes four and five coming soon. It took me hours to complete each episode! I'm not exaggerating. The reason is because you have to frequently go into Omni view which pauses the game. So it's not one of those shoot'em'ups but  a thinking game. This is especially true when you are confronted with a puzzle to solve.

Like any good story, there's a real development from one episode to the next. Episode one concerned simply guiding the Girl to the Library. Episode two has mostly puzzle solving challenges. While episode three is more psychological. At the end of each episode you get a big twist with the biggest twist of all at the end of episode three that will  dramatically affect the remainder of the story.

This is not a cheap game and it shows in the great graphics, sound, acting, music and above all the amazing story. It also gives you hours of entertainment. It is definitely well worth the money!

Get it from the Play Store.