Posted on: November 22, 2012
Romulus
Games: Reviews: 5
Visual Masterpiece, Character Nightmare.
I want to like The Dark Eye:Chains of Satinav. I feel I'm almost opening myself up for a barrage of comments that pull into question my points, but dammit, I can't help the truth as for all its stunning visual elements. Chains has blown its load on style and left clichéd content and infuriating characters. I was drawn towards Chains because of the coherent style; each scene is a wonderful digital painting and that never loses its way throughout the game. This is its strongest suit and it plays it very well. The intricacies of each place are a wonder to examine; the characters and props all meld into each other producing a consistent canvas. The work is on par with that of such CCGs as Magic the Gathering and D&D Books. The viewing feast is never a disappointment and I cannot stress this enough as really that’s all the positive things I'm going to say about Chains. My number one gripe is the two main characters – a pillar upon which adventure gaming must support its plot and quite simply engage the player to care, or feel something towards them. I'm not saying you have to produce a likeable character, but just one which stirs a mixture of emotions would help. Geron is a complete Mr. Potato Head, and a whiny, irritating, unremarkable one at that. He manages to whinge and bleat his way from start to finish with an attitude attune to a child dragging his heals at an amusement park. Geron’s opener is that he is a down-trodden unlucky bottom-feeder whose rank and job in the world is the most low and despised. When he is thrown into a world of disarray, responsibility and the unknown, he does not expectantly throw off this mantel of adolescence, no, the git continues to do the bare minimum to keep his head off the chopping block. This includes acting in the most despicably selfish way to Nuri who, yet again in video games, is a female who nannies (with child-like innocence) a jaded male. This means once again a female character taking upon themselves a submissive role – and submitting to a weak male; one which is such a cliché it makes your head hurt. Nuri in her own right is annoying because of the air-headed, doe-eyed nature of her decisions, which are nothing more than an excuse to make the oh-so-world-weary Geron just HAVE to go save her. This does nothing progressive with a female character; she is the carrot on the end of a stick which slow-jerks the story along ‘til its dribbling conclusion. If you thought that this game contained a choice to avoid such events; think again, Chains has only the gossamer thin illusion of choice. Most dialogue trees all end up folding back in on themselves and you find yourself clicking text which you would have never chosen to deal out. The voice acting is delivered in what I call ‘character tone’. That meaning, the actor was ‘in character’ therefore that is the only way a line can be delivered. This renders all variation of emotions non-existent – you get one tone for each person regardless of what they’re saying or how they feel. My last point is the fractional budget spent on animation. I cannot fathom why you would bankroll so much on visuals and have basic, jerky animations that have one or two frames. Example in point – the mouths of the protagonists are probably the thing you see the most flapping out their lines. So why not give them a few more frames of animation for their lips? It looks identical to adventure games of the 90’s, except they had the excuse of lacking technology – Chains certainly does not. In conclusion, expect to be disappointed, but try and enjoy the look of the thing along the way. It’s a shame even the puzzles are as bland and predictable as Garon.
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