Title: Blackwell Epiphany
Released: 2014
Story: The final game of the series, and by far the longest. It takes place a very short time after the previous and we see Rosa's involvement with the police extending after meeting Detective Durkin in Blackwell Deception. What appears to be a normal job of freeing a lost soul winds up with someone getting shot right before Rosa's eyes, and the soul right after that being torn apart. This leads the Bestower, Rosa, and her spirit guide Joey on a chase to find out more before the same happens to others. The conclusion is heart-breaking and definitely seems to be a cop out, but at the same time, it is also a fitting end for the series as a whole.
Included with this is also a look into the past, as we finally uncover more about Joey's early moments in the afterlife and more about the Countess and Madeline, two characters introduced partially in the middle games and expanded upon, one game after the other. The Countess was actually a human well before she lost her mind, but we also see how madness befell her and the earlier Blackwell women.
One thing that I fail to see more of in this is the involvement of Police Chief Alex Silva, who was actually a vocal member at the end of the last game, but her involvement now is non-existent aside from a photo in the police station. There is also the inclusion of the Epiphany Experiment, which is only revealed to be named such at the end but spoken of throughout the entire game. One of the final ghosts that we interact with mentions this, but the reason behind it and the information of his prior life seems... like there could have been more there, but they decided against it over this other story. I do wish Dave Gilbert would have made the overall series a bit longer until the end, but there's nothing that can be done about it now.
Graphics: Everything's black, gray, and white in New York during the first month of 2014. Rosa has taken to bundling up for this blizzard weather, and while the character sprites haven't changed, the portraits have once more gone through a shift, though not as drastic as the change from the third (Convergence) and the fourth (Deception). There's not much to say about the differences overall, as it looks as best as it can for it being a retro pixel art form (think Laura Bow: Dagger of Amon-Ra).
Music: The theme this time makes a repeating process through all of the dramatic parts of the game. With the several areas to comb through, you can actually find that some of the music does convey the idea of the location quite well this time around. The emotions are released when it comes to the music for the final moments of the game, though.
Overall: I'd love to talk about the ending, but it's not necessarily something I'd prefer to do and spoil the experience of the game. Dave Gilbert and the rest of those involved completed the series acceptably within their powers without extending it over another game, and the experiences they learned from while making the previous games definitely shows off in this one. We see the conclusions of so many stories coming together, and at the same time, the way it ends also leaves it open should they ever decide to revisit it and make a new series off of it. In some way, I do hope they decide on this, as Abe Goldfarb (the voice of Joey Mallone) definitely made the game a pleasant experience throughout.
Wednesday, July 29, 2015
Thursday, July 23, 2015
Press Start: July 22nd, 2015
Title: Blackwell Deception
Released: 2011
Story: Continuing with the present team of Rosa and Joey, we start knee-deep in one of their cases. It is introduced through a letter asking for Rosa's help to investigate a yacht supposedly possessed. While the introduction doesn't serve any real purpose for the later part of the story. When you get past the credits and Rosa gets a phone call from a former colleague of hers, a reporter by the name of Jeremy Sams, this is when we actually get into the focus of the game. Jeremy asks for her assistance in a story he's working on, and it is through this line of work that Rosa starts to uncover something much deeper than she initially thought, involving her abilities as the medium connected to Joey.
Honestly, while the story of the previous two games were nice, I do wish they would've touched more on this topic back then as well. In a way, I guess they did, as you start to understand what happened to the Countess to make her the way she was, but it isn't properly noticed until you get to the end of this game. In this game, we also see some story starting to develop about Joey's background, but again, it's only hinted at lightly and doesn't satisfy entirely.
Graphics: Another game, another change in sprites and character portraits. Rosangela has resorted to a smart phone now, which seems interesting enough, but when you come to realize that it's nothing more than her computer and notepad in one, it does lose some novelty. She does acquire some numbers to call, but their use is very limited. More than anything, the change in character portraits really threw me off, as you continue to see this as a trend with the games, not in a positive way either. The features previously displayed for the characters get modified or twisted about, making it seem less like it was a proper sequel developed by the same people.
Music: One thing that the Blackwell series does is try to make the music memorable. For some instances, this is true, as there is one song in particular that does stand out to me, the theme that now stands out more. There is a dance club within the game, Munray's, that turns this theme into a techno dance song, and that's when it really started to stand out for me. Other areas, such as visiting Jamie's room at Columbia U really had a strange "suspicious" theme playing despite it not necessarily needing such. Some of the choices of music were questionable, but not too bad.
Overall: Coming close to the end is indeed not something I want, but at the same time I'm excited for. At the time of writing this, I have only started Blackwell Epiphany, but it is coming out to be quite gripping and is definitely expanding the story quite a bit from what the previous games have set up. More than anything, this is setting up the story for Epiphany and is establishing reasons for what happened before, while setting something new up.
Released: 2011
Story: Continuing with the present team of Rosa and Joey, we start knee-deep in one of their cases. It is introduced through a letter asking for Rosa's help to investigate a yacht supposedly possessed. While the introduction doesn't serve any real purpose for the later part of the story. When you get past the credits and Rosa gets a phone call from a former colleague of hers, a reporter by the name of Jeremy Sams, this is when we actually get into the focus of the game. Jeremy asks for her assistance in a story he's working on, and it is through this line of work that Rosa starts to uncover something much deeper than she initially thought, involving her abilities as the medium connected to Joey.
Honestly, while the story of the previous two games were nice, I do wish they would've touched more on this topic back then as well. In a way, I guess they did, as you start to understand what happened to the Countess to make her the way she was, but it isn't properly noticed until you get to the end of this game. In this game, we also see some story starting to develop about Joey's background, but again, it's only hinted at lightly and doesn't satisfy entirely.
Graphics: Another game, another change in sprites and character portraits. Rosangela has resorted to a smart phone now, which seems interesting enough, but when you come to realize that it's nothing more than her computer and notepad in one, it does lose some novelty. She does acquire some numbers to call, but their use is very limited. More than anything, the change in character portraits really threw me off, as you continue to see this as a trend with the games, not in a positive way either. The features previously displayed for the characters get modified or twisted about, making it seem less like it was a proper sequel developed by the same people.
Music: One thing that the Blackwell series does is try to make the music memorable. For some instances, this is true, as there is one song in particular that does stand out to me, the theme that now stands out more. There is a dance club within the game, Munray's, that turns this theme into a techno dance song, and that's when it really started to stand out for me. Other areas, such as visiting Jamie's room at Columbia U really had a strange "suspicious" theme playing despite it not necessarily needing such. Some of the choices of music were questionable, but not too bad.
Overall: Coming close to the end is indeed not something I want, but at the same time I'm excited for. At the time of writing this, I have only started Blackwell Epiphany, but it is coming out to be quite gripping and is definitely expanding the story quite a bit from what the previous games have set up. More than anything, this is setting up the story for Epiphany and is establishing reasons for what happened before, while setting something new up.
Press Start: July 15th, 2015
Title: Blackwell Convergence
Released: 2009
Story: We return to the present, a short time after The Blackwell Legacy. Rosa seems to have adjusted well to her new-found responsibility as a medium, and she just returned with Joey from saving another lost soul. What turns out to be a rather hectic night for her, catching back up with Nishanthi and making new acquaintances, ends up blending the past and the present together as the re-emergence of a character from the past starts to cause trouble. We see some previously established characters from Blackwell Unbound such as Joseph Mitchell being addressed in topic, as well as introducing Joe Gould. Due to this being based in New York, these characters are actual people from history. Inclusion of these characters lend a bit more of a historical anchor to the games and, at the same time, uses their involvement with the characters in such spirited ways that you can almost believe them.
Graphics: The style of the game has changed yet again. We can see the number one change being Rosangela's model, with the conversation portraits being changed too. The character portraits are slightly animated again, a throwback to the first game at least. While it is a bit disorienting to be playing the same series with so many changes to the classic features, it isn't that drastic to throw players of the series off. If anything, some of the sprites are actually much more animated, such as Joey and the antagonist, but there are still some slip-ups with the sprites shifting from the foreground to the background. Thankfully, there aren't many locations where this happens. Another thing of note is that they changed the notebook system again. One thing that I liked in The Blackwell Legacy was making connections between two different subjects. They changed this with the second game, and retained that change with the third. Sometimes, some of the connections made after discussing topics with people aren't that obvious, so when you go to leave your notebook, you find that there are new topics to directly speak about.
Music: Still slightly memorable, but not memorable enough to warrant recommendation. It does get better, but I had come across several instances where the map screen's music would carry over when I chose places to visit, which ruined the atmosphere I would come to expect from the separate areas.
Overall: The game still felt rather short, like the previous two, but thankfully it did stretch it out some. The locales were rather nice despite their small one-room locations, and the comments that the characters have on several items of interest continue to brighten up the stops we take. I just wish there were more puzzles and cases involving the spiritual duo, as that's what I'm coming to enjoy more and more with these games. Getting closer to the end, though, so this is a bittersweet idea.
Released: 2009
Story: We return to the present, a short time after The Blackwell Legacy. Rosa seems to have adjusted well to her new-found responsibility as a medium, and she just returned with Joey from saving another lost soul. What turns out to be a rather hectic night for her, catching back up with Nishanthi and making new acquaintances, ends up blending the past and the present together as the re-emergence of a character from the past starts to cause trouble. We see some previously established characters from Blackwell Unbound such as Joseph Mitchell being addressed in topic, as well as introducing Joe Gould. Due to this being based in New York, these characters are actual people from history. Inclusion of these characters lend a bit more of a historical anchor to the games and, at the same time, uses their involvement with the characters in such spirited ways that you can almost believe them.
Graphics: The style of the game has changed yet again. We can see the number one change being Rosangela's model, with the conversation portraits being changed too. The character portraits are slightly animated again, a throwback to the first game at least. While it is a bit disorienting to be playing the same series with so many changes to the classic features, it isn't that drastic to throw players of the series off. If anything, some of the sprites are actually much more animated, such as Joey and the antagonist, but there are still some slip-ups with the sprites shifting from the foreground to the background. Thankfully, there aren't many locations where this happens. Another thing of note is that they changed the notebook system again. One thing that I liked in The Blackwell Legacy was making connections between two different subjects. They changed this with the second game, and retained that change with the third. Sometimes, some of the connections made after discussing topics with people aren't that obvious, so when you go to leave your notebook, you find that there are new topics to directly speak about.
Music: Still slightly memorable, but not memorable enough to warrant recommendation. It does get better, but I had come across several instances where the map screen's music would carry over when I chose places to visit, which ruined the atmosphere I would come to expect from the separate areas.
Overall: The game still felt rather short, like the previous two, but thankfully it did stretch it out some. The locales were rather nice despite their small one-room locations, and the comments that the characters have on several items of interest continue to brighten up the stops we take. I just wish there were more puzzles and cases involving the spiritual duo, as that's what I'm coming to enjoy more and more with these games. Getting closer to the end, though, so this is a bittersweet idea.
Wednesday, July 8, 2015
Press Start: July 8th, 2015
Title: Blackwell Unbound
Released: 2007
The second in a series of five games, Blackwell Unbound ends up showing more of the past in the Blackwell lineage. Not long after completing the first, I dove right into this, having some slight knowledge on the character, but I wasn't expecting this.
Story: In The Blackwell Legacy, we come to know of Lauren Blackwell's fate in some sense. I mean, she's dead by the time the first game takes place. But this game is a prequel to the series, serving to show us what life was like for her in the 70s with Joey Mallone at her side. Despite what Dr. Quinten spoke of in the first game, you don't see any of her lunacy. Instead, her dry wit is quite the match for Joey's own sass. She's taken to aiding the ghosts of New York as much as she can with her guide beside her, and we are to address two in general.
In what doesn't necessarily seem entirely connected, we come to instead find that some of what Lauren has been tasked with doing one night comes together with a strange thread. Her night has been nothing but dead leads in finding spirits to help pass on, but two cases near the end, a ghostly song near the water and horrific accidents at a construction site, bring Lauren and Joey face to face with one of their own kind. I was not expecting this kind of twist when helping either, but slowly, the pieces began to fall in place and make this a much darker night than I had first anticipated.
Graphics: Once again, this game utilizes the same as before, only it doesn't rely on the facial portraits like the first one to help stylize who is speaking. Instead, we see the voices lend the difference. New characters lie before Joey and the chosen Blackwell. I think their way of handling the two poor souls this time around definitely lends more creativity to what can be in store as they try more things, so perhaps by the time I get around to the fourth or final installments, I will see some length to the story as well as a noticeable change in the graphics. But for what it's worth, it is nice to see how only a light touch was used in changing the scheme of things between time periods.
Music: One of the poor souls that Lauren and Joey encounter is a sax player, and a lot of the music definitely seems to fit properly to this theme. From the Johnny Ivory's club to the rustic charm of Lauren's apartment, the music really does stand out this time around with a blues theme. It fits quite well with the time period and doesn't detract any from the characters this time around.
Overall: The story is fragmented at best, giving you two different directions that converge, and thus why I think that the third game, Blackwell Convergence, is quite fitting. I am definitely interested in more about Joey's life, what happened between this point and time and when she... finally snapped, and so many other things that have gone on and will continue on for the Blackwell line. Only time can tell, but two games down and I'm hooked. I hope I don't feel too bummed out when I get to the end of the line.
Released: 2007
The second in a series of five games, Blackwell Unbound ends up showing more of the past in the Blackwell lineage. Not long after completing the first, I dove right into this, having some slight knowledge on the character, but I wasn't expecting this.
Story: In The Blackwell Legacy, we come to know of Lauren Blackwell's fate in some sense. I mean, she's dead by the time the first game takes place. But this game is a prequel to the series, serving to show us what life was like for her in the 70s with Joey Mallone at her side. Despite what Dr. Quinten spoke of in the first game, you don't see any of her lunacy. Instead, her dry wit is quite the match for Joey's own sass. She's taken to aiding the ghosts of New York as much as she can with her guide beside her, and we are to address two in general.
In what doesn't necessarily seem entirely connected, we come to instead find that some of what Lauren has been tasked with doing one night comes together with a strange thread. Her night has been nothing but dead leads in finding spirits to help pass on, but two cases near the end, a ghostly song near the water and horrific accidents at a construction site, bring Lauren and Joey face to face with one of their own kind. I was not expecting this kind of twist when helping either, but slowly, the pieces began to fall in place and make this a much darker night than I had first anticipated.
Graphics: Once again, this game utilizes the same as before, only it doesn't rely on the facial portraits like the first one to help stylize who is speaking. Instead, we see the voices lend the difference. New characters lie before Joey and the chosen Blackwell. I think their way of handling the two poor souls this time around definitely lends more creativity to what can be in store as they try more things, so perhaps by the time I get around to the fourth or final installments, I will see some length to the story as well as a noticeable change in the graphics. But for what it's worth, it is nice to see how only a light touch was used in changing the scheme of things between time periods.
Music: One of the poor souls that Lauren and Joey encounter is a sax player, and a lot of the music definitely seems to fit properly to this theme. From the Johnny Ivory's club to the rustic charm of Lauren's apartment, the music really does stand out this time around with a blues theme. It fits quite well with the time period and doesn't detract any from the characters this time around.
Overall: The story is fragmented at best, giving you two different directions that converge, and thus why I think that the third game, Blackwell Convergence, is quite fitting. I am definitely interested in more about Joey's life, what happened between this point and time and when she... finally snapped, and so many other things that have gone on and will continue on for the Blackwell line. Only time can tell, but two games down and I'm hooked. I hope I don't feel too bummed out when I get to the end of the line.
Press Start: July 1st, 2015
I'm going to try and make this as professional as possible, but I can't be entirely perfect. You have been warned.
Title: The Blackwell Legacy
Released: 2006
Blackwell Legacy has been under my radar for a bit now for its nostalgic appearance to the point-and-click adventure games I grew up with on the computer in the 90s. So, when I managed to get hold of a copy to play for myself, I was probably going in a bit biased as to what to expect. The introduction itself took a bit longer than I expected, but it was after I got to actually control and solve things on my own, in a familiar setting, that everything started falling in place.
Story: Welcome to the Blackwell family. Shortly after the game is booted up and a new game is started, we are introduced loosely to Rosangela Blackwell. The first stretch of the game, a minor bump on the road of its story, introduces us to this character and what she has recently gone through, that being of her Aunt Lauren passing away and being cremated. But there are underlying threads that slip through the cracks as you continue to learn more about this young woman and her late aunt, and it revolves around one word: Joey.
Paying no heed to this at the time, we see Rosa take up pen and paper as a part of her freelance gig with the Village Eye, a little niche of a newspaper that she writes book reviews for. "Bob", some strange character thrust down upon us, tells Rosa to take up her paper and investigate the suicide of a girl at NYU. There's not much we can uncover, but this does lead us to wrapping the night up with the introduction of the name from earlier. Joey Mallone, the so-called "Blackwell Legacy", appears before Rosangela and causes her to have quite the momentary mental breakdown.
"You're a medium," is force-fed to Rosa as she is dragged by the ghost to perform the duties of her late Aunt. She must help ghosts pass on from this world to the next. What better place to start than an area previously introduced in the form of the park, and it is through cycling around the map that Rosa and Joey uncover a much larger story than one girl's suicide. The story does drag a bit at first, and some of the points do make it hard to understand what you're supposed to do, but that's the beauty of these games, where you get rewarded for trying absolutely everything in your repertoire.
The light interaction with specific characters did kind of take away from the sleuthing, but as a whole, the story was decent for its length. Thankfully, there are four more games to go through, so I will be able to get a better sense of the whole thing soon enough.
Graphics: True to what I said before, the 90s was a time for point-and-click video games. Monkey Island and other LucasArts games were making their name known at the time, and there was also the efforts of Sierra with King's Quest, Space Quest, Police Quest, and probably others that I can't think of or name right now. So, to see this game adapt the same pixelation for their characters definitely does make it match right up with those big-name titles. In a sense, it does help to match it next to the others by having something in common with the difference in time.
Music: The music, on the other hand, really didn't make much of an impression on me. It could've been because of the fact that it had voice-acting that I just tuned out the music in place of listening/reading to what the characters had to say to my questions, but when you have to go to the same place several times just to make sure you have done everything you can just to move on, it blends and blurs into a inconsequential blur. That isn't to say that what I can reflect on was a negative experience; just not memorable to listen to it on repeat.
Overall: While the Blackwell Legacy does well to put its foot in the door, it definitely has me wanting more. Perhaps it was because the overall length of it wasn't quite what I was expecting. About halfway through, I could already sense that I was nearing the end of the game by the revelation brought out by some of the characters. I wanted to get to anchor my feelings and thoughts about these characters a bit more, but it just didn't give me a lot to work with after the initial introductions and brief back-and-forth throwarounds between Joey and Rosa. But I will say that the game does an excellent job in STARTING something, so I'll have to see if it can finish it as the other games are dealt with in the series. Next up: Blackwell Unbound.
Title: The Blackwell Legacy
Released: 2006
Blackwell Legacy has been under my radar for a bit now for its nostalgic appearance to the point-and-click adventure games I grew up with on the computer in the 90s. So, when I managed to get hold of a copy to play for myself, I was probably going in a bit biased as to what to expect. The introduction itself took a bit longer than I expected, but it was after I got to actually control and solve things on my own, in a familiar setting, that everything started falling in place.
Story: Welcome to the Blackwell family. Shortly after the game is booted up and a new game is started, we are introduced loosely to Rosangela Blackwell. The first stretch of the game, a minor bump on the road of its story, introduces us to this character and what she has recently gone through, that being of her Aunt Lauren passing away and being cremated. But there are underlying threads that slip through the cracks as you continue to learn more about this young woman and her late aunt, and it revolves around one word: Joey.
Paying no heed to this at the time, we see Rosa take up pen and paper as a part of her freelance gig with the Village Eye, a little niche of a newspaper that she writes book reviews for. "Bob", some strange character thrust down upon us, tells Rosa to take up her paper and investigate the suicide of a girl at NYU. There's not much we can uncover, but this does lead us to wrapping the night up with the introduction of the name from earlier. Joey Mallone, the so-called "Blackwell Legacy", appears before Rosangela and causes her to have quite the momentary mental breakdown.
"You're a medium," is force-fed to Rosa as she is dragged by the ghost to perform the duties of her late Aunt. She must help ghosts pass on from this world to the next. What better place to start than an area previously introduced in the form of the park, and it is through cycling around the map that Rosa and Joey uncover a much larger story than one girl's suicide. The story does drag a bit at first, and some of the points do make it hard to understand what you're supposed to do, but that's the beauty of these games, where you get rewarded for trying absolutely everything in your repertoire.
The light interaction with specific characters did kind of take away from the sleuthing, but as a whole, the story was decent for its length. Thankfully, there are four more games to go through, so I will be able to get a better sense of the whole thing soon enough.
Graphics: True to what I said before, the 90s was a time for point-and-click video games. Monkey Island and other LucasArts games were making their name known at the time, and there was also the efforts of Sierra with King's Quest, Space Quest, Police Quest, and probably others that I can't think of or name right now. So, to see this game adapt the same pixelation for their characters definitely does make it match right up with those big-name titles. In a sense, it does help to match it next to the others by having something in common with the difference in time.
Music: The music, on the other hand, really didn't make much of an impression on me. It could've been because of the fact that it had voice-acting that I just tuned out the music in place of listening/reading to what the characters had to say to my questions, but when you have to go to the same place several times just to make sure you have done everything you can just to move on, it blends and blurs into a inconsequential blur. That isn't to say that what I can reflect on was a negative experience; just not memorable to listen to it on repeat.
Overall: While the Blackwell Legacy does well to put its foot in the door, it definitely has me wanting more. Perhaps it was because the overall length of it wasn't quite what I was expecting. About halfway through, I could already sense that I was nearing the end of the game by the revelation brought out by some of the characters. I wanted to get to anchor my feelings and thoughts about these characters a bit more, but it just didn't give me a lot to work with after the initial introductions and brief back-and-forth throwarounds between Joey and Rosa. But I will say that the game does an excellent job in STARTING something, so I'll have to see if it can finish it as the other games are dealt with in the series. Next up: Blackwell Unbound.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)