MISSING: An Interactive Thriller - Episode One

Genre - Interactive Puzzle Film If you are a fan of the Saw style films and point and click adventures you should like this game. The actors I have seen so far do a reasonable job, and the environments look nice both on film and in the interactive space. The puzzles require some thought but aren't too hard. The game is short (less than an hour) and is only the first episode but the enjoyment I got out of it meant it was worth the price. As you get episode one you can then decide whether to take the story further. There are achievements you can go back for, but some of these might be more of a pain than they are worth. Although the completionist in you will want to at least try. Not sure how they will do the other episodes yet, so watch this space.

Unfortunately, as a standalone game it is not something I would recommend for now. It is not bad actually and is definitely worth its money, but 'Episode One' plays rather like a demo version. Visuals are excellent, of course. But the story and even the dialogues you would expect to see in FMV-adventure are nearly absent. We have five chapters that could be solved in two minutes each if you know what you are to do - and the puzzles are not impressive either. We got a couple of pixel hunt, a couple of easy slider puzzles (although solving one of them in 5 seconds for an achievement took me a lot of time!), and - beware! - several QTE events. Some people may like them, but that's not what you expect to see in adventure game. Still, the story does look promising and the actors (especially the one who plays Detective Lambert) are good - so I do hope to revise my review and to give it a positive score after (if) other episodes will appear. Until then - it would be better to wait.

Another victim of episodic gaming. Instead of releasing the game, they decided to release it in parts. Only problem is the first part didn't sell well, so they never even made a second one. My thoughts on the game are irrelevant given that you can't even buy this game anymore. This is a cautionary tale, boys: Finish your games before releasing them. Amen.

[h1]"Supercool FMV Point-and-Click adventure"[/h1] You have to beat some QTE and quickpuzzles, observe crimescenes and reassemble some machines. It's a perfect symbiosis of real life movie and adventure elements. Unfortunately pretty short. 1 hour and the fun was over. Just expecting Episode Two and wonder how many Episodes will come next.

[h1] It's pretty good but you can't have it [/h1] MISSING is a bastard child of the oh so brief '90s Full Motion Picture Laser Disc games era. A blend of classic Saw-like plot with classic Point and Click gameplay and puzzles - nothing extraordinary, but all competent enough. Where it stands out is that absolutely everything is in HD video, which makes it uniquely retro and new at the same time. Unfortunately you won't play it or any of its sequels. The studio went down under after dissapointing sales and a too high budget for production - I'm not entirely surprised given that for example they had a fully authentic looking police patrol vehicle for a scene that lasts about 2 seconds and isn't much relevant to the plot. If you have the game in your library - it's still worth playing just so you can see how well the video and gameplay blend together, MISSING's one and onlzy achievement before it joined the Laser Discs in the cruel garbage bins of history.

A really short and interesting SAW type of puzzle and escape interactive thriller with real actors. Some of the Actors actually seems like people in other TV shows before or, it could just be my imaginations. The puzzle are all quite simple to solve and the game itself is very short. It's like 10-15 minutes short. All except one achivevment is really easy to get.. (american sharpshooter). Too bad the game company went under and this game has been orphaned. Would really want to play the rest of the episode though. 7/10.. A really quick to complete interactive puzzle game. IF you got half an hour free. Play it and finish it for some quick achivement progress.

FMV games are in sorely short supply on Steam and elsewhere, and good ones are even rarer still. So, while MISSING: An Interactive Thriller has some rough edges, may be a bit too unchallenging and remains both short and unfinished, it's still a strong recommendation from the high production value and fun gameplay experience alone and is a must buy for fans of FMV. [h1]Highlights[/h1] One thing that stands out about MISSING: An Interactive Thriller is its great flow and pace. This may seem insignificant, but a title that combines a video game designed from the ground up and a short TV episode also designed by a team from the ground up, into one solid fun experience is no easy feat. The number of things that can go wrong at any stage and detract from the final product are much higher than for each one alone and its a testament to clever design principles that it's all fit together to produce an, albeit short, fantastic interactive video-story game. The high production value of the video also stands out and while the gameplay graphics are by no means lacking, they do occassionally pale in comparison to the very well shot and editted sequence of video. On the flip side, the puzzle design is very simple and easy which lends itself to the story rather than the gameplay, which is probably the more sensible priority choice. The puzzle design, while it has some annoyances mentioned below, deserves mention as doing the job well and remaining fun under the restrictions and limitations a title like this produces. [h1]Mistakes & Annoyances[/h1] While the puzzles are clearly designed to facilitate the narrative and pace, they nonetheless often feel lacking in terms of challenge and overall satisfaction. The first chapter is by far the most interesting and exciting as it introduces the player to the premise and very smoothly introduces the mechanics, but after learning how to interact it just becomes an, at times, near-tedius matter of finding objects and putting them in the right place, akin to the lacking gameplay of many early Point & Click titles. I initially felt cheated by the very short playtime of less than an hour, and I concede that the price is very fair for the quality of the production and product and that the future episodes will definitely add to the overall value, but with very little replay value and ultimately one dimensional gameplay it's hard to credit the game for length and this may be a reason to hesitate for some, at least in the early development stages. [h1]Recommendations[/h1] Priced at just $3.99/£2.79/3.99€ and clocking in at nearly an hour of interesting and high quality interactive FMV gameplay, MISSING: An Interactive Thriller is hard not to recommend and the only thing that should hold you back is in perhaps waiting to ensure further episodes are developed. The developer has stated they're working on sourcing funding for both the gameplay development and video production and that they hope to aim for longer and higher quality episodes in the future, which are all great things to hear, but with no mention of when or how those things are likely to happen it's ultimately up to the player to decide whether an unfinished story is worth taking part in. Otherwise if you don't mind playing it for the short but unique and interesting gameplay experience, you're not going to be dissappointed.

It’s unfinished. There’s a scene from the next episode at the end, but there’s no next episode. Can’t really recommend an abandoned episodic game with just the one first episode. It’s basically a fraction of a game, with most of it missing, that’s all you get.