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Still Life 2
The original Still Life was by no means a great game but the tale of Victoria McPherson, a FBI agent on the trail of a serial killer was an intriguing one. The game had its moments but was a chore to play at times and I was hoping that the inevitable sequel would improve on all the rough spots. However four years down the line Victoria McPherson is back and still chasing a serial killer, dubbed the "East Coast Killer" but instead of eradicating the flaws it would appear that it was all the good parts from the first game that got the chop.
The interesting pre-rendered locations from the first game has been replaced by pretty much one big dull 3D location that has more in common with the SAW movies than anything that happened in the last game. If your idea of fun is exploring a creaky old mansion that seems to consist of a endless series of doors and stairs for your character to slowly mince through then this is the game for you. a second character, journalist Paloma Hernandez, has been introduced and you'll take turns controlling her and Victoria but this just means that the same locations have been re-used. As if the boring, recycled locations weren't bad enough the two lead characters are probably the most annoying ones in the history of adventure gaming. The atrocious voice acting was enough to make me wish that the killer would just put them out of their misery and the terrible animations that render them as appeal as puppets didn't do anything to endear me to their plight either. If you can somehow look past all this you are still faced with a slow, tedious game of clue collecting that is about as exciting as racing snails. Finding all the clues is one big chore and even if you manage to persevere you can still get hit by one of the games many bugs. To see a game in such a sorry state four years after the originals release is truly a sad sight. Apart from the ear grating voice acting the game has some somber tunes which can escalate into nerve jangling chords whenever danger rears its ugly head. The ambient effects are ok but sometimes feel overdone and out of place. The whole game is mouse controlled but between the glitches and horrible inventory system only the very patient will see it through to the bitter end. The plot is initially quite gripping but due to the characters and locations I started to care less and less about the killers identity and motives. It's nice that there are multiple ways to achieve certain objectives but the tedious glue hunting quickly goes from mildly interesting to a pain in the ass. Some situations in the game is also laughably pathetic and while I can't say anything without spoiling things you'll see what I'm talking about if you play this title. Four years is a long time to wait for a game and I really pity everyone that got this as a reward for their patience. The game had a lot of potential but in the end can't even hold a candle to the ageing original. I was very disappointed with Still Life 2 and if there are any plans for a sequel I would probably not even be interested. Unless you are a hardcore adventure gamer with a ton of patience you'll find a lot of better games to waste your hard earned cash on. |
System Requirements
TAGS: Still Life 2, Victoria McPhershon, Paloma Hernandez, East Coast Killer
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