amateur fmv attempt, not necessarily a bad thing, and this was [i]so close[/i] to being recommendable. two languages, sometimes with missing punctuation, and a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ annoying and very strong 'you're watching an old vhs tape' filter that can't be turned off completely. language affects the ui and subtitles, but weirdly half the game has muffled gibberish, then they suddenly start speaking english near the end.
the game pauses at choices, which can't always be said about these games, and it autosaves after each with an on-screen indicator. checkpoints are necessary because you might not want or be able to finish the whole thing in one sitting, and [b]you can die by failing quick-time events[/b]. or even failing to notice them, like I did on my first attempt. then failed some more because I had no idea how they worked. tutorial pop-ups are pretty helpful but they completely ignore this part. some unsuccessful attempts lead to alternate paths though.
the problem is, [b]qte isn't indicated by arrows but a silhouette facing in a certain direction[/b]. fully erect is up, I'm pretty sure left and right are flipped (based on posture anyway, which is easier to make out than what actually matters here), and [b]down I still can't recognize because it's not a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ crouching one, looks just like the others[/b]. once an arrow is pressed, most likely the wrong one, it _will_ show the arrow itself, the correct one. I've seen some horrible implementations of qte (the only good one being no qte) but this ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up one might be top (well, bottom) 3 or so.
space pauses, esc there brings up the pause menu. right shift [b]fast-forwards even if you're watching things for the first time[/b], so it actually works like a vhs and it [b]automatically stops before a qte[/b]. again, can practically never be said about these games, even if they were made recently. not that it's bug-free, [b]sometimes stopping ffwd starts playing the scene again from the beginning[/b].
left shift [b]rewinds to the last checkpoint but only if it feels like it[/b]. can't change your mind or saved outcomes during a playthrough, just try not to die now that you know which arrows to press. at one point I thought it broke my save until I kept pressing space along with shift and eventually got back from a black game over screen. except I didn't really and [b]my save remained locked to that scene on the rooftop, right after failing a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ a qte[/b].
progress is lazily stored in the registry, so I edited the checkpoint value, randomly ended up on the other path (guns blazing instead of stealth) but at least I could continue without starting a new save and fast-forwarding everything to get back to where I was meta progress-wise (see below). except it was so qte-heavy that I had to try it a billion times and almost gave up there too.
otherwise it's more than a binary-choice interactive movie, as you can [b]inspect and interact with items and such and right click works for going back[/b], another basic feature many straight-up point & click adventures lack. [b]no hotspot indicator[/b], gotta mouseover the whole screen, but you can look for hidden alien snails, probably for an achievement. speaking of choices, there's a bonus accessibility issue: [b]arrows have to be held to highlight a decision before confirming with enter[/b], can't just press left or right.
unlike many fmv releases, this one has settings, only in the main menu though. resolutions, windowed mode, a single volume setting (it's a movie but also a game, so separate ones to soften the music would've been necessary), v-sync, brightness, and toggles for vhs grayscale, 2nd vhs layer and chromatic aberration. [b]turning everything off makes the visuals stomachable while keeping the nostalgia[/b] if you're old enough, though during ffwd it's still hard to make anything out. windowed mode randomly gets triggered when starting the game or a new game, or when backing out of the settings menu.
there's a summary at the end of a playthrough, showing playtime, number of deaths, choices made and the name of the ending (there are 10 total). after that some extras unlock as well, more as you keep playing. this is why I didn't want to start a new save after the game-breaking bug mentioned above, the 3 slots are only for keeping progress separate. there are photos, movies, the lengthy soundtrack with some heavy numbers, a retro rpg-looking minigame (just one battle after another), scenarios (whatever they are), achievement and ending lists and [b]a flowchart ('scene navigator') after the 3rd playthrough[/b]. pretty cool stuff.
the chart has single and continuous play options (both with ctrl and alt but only the former is shown), so you can start playing from whenever or just do that one scene. annoyingly, a single scene drops you back to the disclaimer and save slot choice after, then the main menu, not immediately back to the navigator. and weirdly, every scene is unlocked as soon as the navigator becomes available. works for me, saved on a lot of ffwd, qte frustration and youtubing what I wouldn't have bothered with. I even got the achievement for not dying because you simply can't during one of the endings. 3 full playthroughs, 'not dying' after and 4 more endings unlocked from the chart and in the extras still didn't open photos, movies or scenarios, only the entire actual game, making it an even more curious design decision. and a bonus parting gift: [b]choosing daytime ending 4 in the flowchart results in a black screen, only resolved by alt+f4[/b].
the movie/game itself is what it is, some kids playing soldiers in a forest and one of them has dad's camera, but I expected a lot worse and was pleasantly surprised in most aspects. I have a high tolerance for cheese and jank though, prefer it in fmv, in fact. so much so that [b]I enjoyed the experience until the above-mentioned qte ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ broke the camel's back[/b]. for the low price of 1 eur (or half that on sale) you could do worse, including some free fmv titles with zero functionality or quality of life, and if they'd fixed ffwd/rewind, game-breaking bugs and added arrows to qte, it would've been an easy [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-SGszxSxMw]cheesy peasy[/url] recommendation (paul whitehouse is the best).
