Contradiction: Spot The Liar

Contradiction is a very unique game. You can tell there was a lot of passion and thought put into this project and it can be very engrossing at many points when the vision comes to fruition. But the game does suffer from some design problems that can't be overlooked. But let's be positive first, as I do recommend this game and think people should definitely give it a go. The acting is great all around. The performances are either really serious, believably honest, or hammed up so much you can't help but fall in love with them. the stand outs easily being the characters of Paul and Ryan; Paul being the older and clearly more experienced actor, marvellously portraying the role of the old, evil British "gentleman" and Ryan, whose actor you can tell was having an absolute ball of a time playing this hammy, shady and larger than life character. Then you have the more subtler performances from characters like Simon or Emma who come across so honest in their roles that you easily believe these are real people you could meet in the real world. And of course, how can I go forward without mentioning the delightfully odd Inspector Jenks. As a protagonist he is endlessly entertaining to watch. his weird quirks and mannerisms make him someone you doubt would ever become a police inspector but you are so glad that he has. His weird, cooky and downright delightful performance is worth the price of admission. The gameplay is the real hit and miss for me. Sometimes you will find yourself in a narrative stride, finding clues and deducing the contradictions one by one in succession but then you can grind to a complete halt as the amount of evidence you have at your disposal can pile up and become exhausting to sift through to try and find a contradiction. this isn't aided by the design of having the player run all the way across town to talk to every suspect one by one the moment you find a new piece of evidence. When the game hits these points it can feel like a chore, but once you crack that egg of a hidden contradiction somewhere it will set you back on the path. I also ran into some constant visual bugs during my playtime. Colour flashes and warped screen effects which I assume are a result of an older game not being optimised for newer OS and hardware. I feel this is mostly a symptom of this being a first time project for this group of developers. Something I very much wish would be improved on in a potential follow up game. Sadly, no such game exists as of yet, which is a true shame as I would love another journey with the icon that is Inspector Jenks. Overall, despite its flaws, I feel this game deserves your time and attention just to see the passionate heart at its core, as well as all the enjoyable moments as it goes.