By John Walker on June 13th, 2012 at 7:00 pm.
Resonance, the forthcoming adventure published by Wadjet Eye next Tuesday, has already won over the heart of adventure hardcase, Richard Cobbett. Now you can see if the quad-charactered sci-fi adventure might appeal to your stoney heart too, via the magics of a demo (direct link). Thoughts and a trailer below.
You know what – I went into this thinking, “Yeah, but I’m pretty much done with this whole retro pixel AGS adventure thing. Sure, it’s a useful took for making amateur classic-style point n clickers, but when they’re released commercially is there really a reason to stick to graphics from 1993? Ten minutes into the game I’ve forgotten all that meaningless grumbling, and instead I’m just enjoying myself. That’s a pretty good thing.
The plot immediately reminded me of NBC’s ill-fated Flash Forward. There was a reason that show was ill-fated – it was rubbish. But the premise was not, and it seems not to be here too. At a certain point, explosions go off all around the world, caused by some mysterious device. You play as four different characters, whose stories run simultaneously in the build up to that moment (and maybe after it – I’ve only played the demo so far), in a combination of near-future sci-fi and just general everyday life stuff. Which is a splendid combination.
It’s also a surprisingly big demo, going on far longer than you’d assume. There are some real high moments in here too, especially the mainframe hacking scene. Definitely one to check out.
13/06/2012 at 19:05 Demiath says:
FlashForward had its moments, it wasn’t just the premise. Granted, I was not the least bit sad to see the series go under but “rubbish” is a tad bit too harsh in my opinion (and if FF is trash then I wonder just what words we have left in our vocabulary to describe most of what passes for TV “entertainment”).
14/06/2012 at 00:03 roryok says:
Joseph Fiennes is just not a good actor.
17/08/2012 at 09:32 perruci says:
Wow! Thank you! I continually wanted to write on my blog something like that. Can I take a portion of your post to my website? togel online
13/06/2012 at 19:10 whexican says:
Looks pretty slick, but the audio voices don’t resonate with me.
13/06/2012 at 19:52 grundus says:
Agreed, but I wonder if the voices would work better with different music and ambient sounds. Yeah, I do.
13/06/2012 at 22:36 JFS says:
They sound strange, yeah.
13/06/2012 at 19:24 Jamesworkshop says:
Should have been called Naff Forward
http://static.fjcdn.com/comments/badum-tish.com+_5e1f7bf07da81488652e6a362cefafad.jpg
13/06/2012 at 19:39 Hodge says:
“Yeah, but I’m pretty much done with this whole retro pixel AGS adventure thing. Sure, it’s a useful tool for making amateur classic-style point n clickers, but when they’re released commercially is there really a reason to stick to graphics from 1993?”
I agree somewhat that the whole retro pixels thing is well past saturation point by now (in a bunch of genres), but that’s not really AGS’s fault. It supports modern resolutions, so there’s no reason why it couldn’t be used to make something that looks like The Dream Machine (or anything else, really). It’s just that people overwhelmingly choose to stick to 640×480, for whatever reason.
The usual justification given is that the developer isn’t a great artist and the low resolution helps mask their sins, which makes me wonder why there hasn’t been a resurgence in video-captured stuff in the Tex Murphy/Darkseed/Toonstruck mould. Especially when you can spend around $100 in any camera store and buy what is effectively a 1080p video digitiser.
/rant off.
13/06/2012 at 19:51 kalirion says:
I, for one, would much rather have quality lowres pixel graphics than amateur live action video.
14/06/2012 at 00:27 Sleepymatt says:
Come now, that really is a little harsh on Flash Forward… ;p
14/06/2012 at 15:03 Fomorian1988 says:
Zing!
13/06/2012 at 22:29 leokhorn says:
Pixelly things / lack of resolution also means less details… thus more room for imagination. I don’t think it means it’s *that* much easier to create such art since you still have to put all the essentials for the imagination to soar, but at least you won’t fight with lack of photorealism and such I suppose.
14/06/2012 at 09:56 SurprisedMan says:
Some people are just very good pixel artists but not so good hi-res artists. The reason I make most of my games with pixelly art is just that practical thing: I can make pixels look pretty good, I can’t make high-detail art look nearly as good using most techniques (I’m toying with a sketchy look for one project, though). The other consideration is that it’s easier to get away with fewer frames of animation if your resolution is low, which dramatically cuts down on the amount of artwork that needs to be created, especially if you’re not really set up for skeletal animation and such
13/06/2012 at 19:55 db1331 says:
I’ve recently become a fan of Richard Cobbett after he shared his experience with QFG 4 1/2 on PC Gamer. Anyone willing to endure the hardships of Homosexual Pirate Island for the sake of a column is OK in my book:
http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/06/09/saturday-crapshoot-quest-for-glory-4-12/
13/06/2012 at 20:41 Bioptic says:
It really is quite long – took me at least a couple of hours, if it’s the same as the GOG.com preview! I too was initially unenthused by the look of the thing, but the scenes have all been crafted with astonishing care – certainly much more detail than Gemini Rue and the like have. And I both got through AND enjoyed all of the puzzles without a guide – a rarity.
Regarding the voice work – I think it’s great in context, much better than I’m used to for indie titles. Just perhaps not suited for dramatic trailer voiceovers…
13/06/2012 at 21:55 mr.ioes says:
Reminds me of Bi-fi: Action in Hollywood: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUJ0r8K1mJQ
Haven’t seen such a humorous adventure in a long time, ignoring Daedalus’ releases.
14/06/2012 at 00:21 Yargh says:
we just finished hacking the mainframe, was fun and actually required thought.
14/06/2012 at 02:01 mechabuddha says:
Does anyone know if the GOG pre-order for this also comes with a Steam key?
14/06/2012 at 02:04 Vinraith says:
It would be a first, if it did. I’ve never seen a GOG game come with any key, actually. They take that “DRM free” thing seriously.
14/06/2012 at 02:42 epmode says:
It does, actually. But you have to email the administrator of the Wadjet Eye Games site (Dave Gilbert) after Resonance launches.
http://www.wadjeteyegames.com/forum/index.php?topic=1337.msg6856#msg6856
Wadjet Eye is good people.
14/06/2012 at 10:17 G-Lord says:
They are good people indeed. You can also get a voucher from the GoG preorder for the retail version.