Face Noir

Face Noir is a 1990s style point and click adventure game which, from a narrative perspective, combines the gumshoe story telling of a Raymond Chandler novel with subtle flourishes of Indiana Jones. Combining an underworld crime story with police corruption during a war-torn setting, and mixed with ancient mysticism, Face Noir is layered in its mix of genre that runs throughout the story telling. Although Face Noir does nothing new with the point-and-click formula, it competently combines mind mapping, puzzles, lock picking, and stealth into the gameplay, providing variety to the pacing. The play style is simple but effective in telling its story, which is where the true strengths of the game are to be found: atmosphere, and narrative. In terms of atmosphere, the game's lighting is true to the conventions of the genre of noir, just as the brass infused jazz soundtrack serves as a fitting backdrop to the game's art-deco aesthetic. Sadly, the voice acting is below par where, frankly, each of the cast members come across as minimally experienced in the area, or offering no experience at all. The voices sound less like performances, and more like initial table readings when a cast is still finding their characters. A shame too as there is some very serviceable dialogue that serves the narrative very well. But. it's the delivery and execution that is lacking in voice acting which can break immersion. Overall, Face Noir is a solid, but linear, game. It's nothing exceptional, but the essential elements of consistent gameplay elements, atmosphere, and narrative keep the game afloat. Good, but not essential. 3 out of 5