Another winner from RSK. It's amazing how the first game in this series looks exactly the same as this latest one. Translations are still godawful, story is still an illogical tale of immorality and corruption, and the main character still cannot run if you click on an exit. This is the third in a trilogy of police procedural games out of Iran.
The translations may bother some, but I found them funny. At this point, I'm used to the strange expressions and things not making complete sense. When the detective is told there's been a murder, his response is, "I hope it's nothing serious." Is murder no longer a serious thing in Iran?? Maybe not, because later we read about a guy who killed his wife and daughter while on drugs and only did a year in prison. Maybe murder ISN'T that big a deal which makes this game futile.
Unlike the previous two games, the developers tried to show how modern Iran is, but our detective didn't even have a computer in his office and constantly complained at how slow the Internet was. You would think the Iranian PD would have the Internet figured out by 2016.
Instead of making the West the villain, this time it was drugs, which some in Iran might argue is a result of poor morals caused by "the outside world." The villain's motives are vaguely drawn and the cartoony cut scenes often don't make sense. Once again, they look like they were taken from a comic book and the game was designed around the pictures. When your guy is standing there doing nothing, he will nod his head and wave his arms whether he's talking to someone or not. It's actually very funny. He always looks like he's having a conversation with someone. Amateur type of mistake, but I'm starting to think these developers didn't have much money to make these games.
Lots of illogical things in the game. The first murder asks us to believe that someone was murdered by a meth pipe laced with sulfur being smashed in someone's face. A tiny little pipe might do some damage to the skin and eyes, but take someone's life? How big an explosion could it have been? Did the developers think this through at all? Our heroic detective constantly refers to those who do drugs as "vulgarians" which struck me funny.
The inventory and diary are still major parts of the game. Only problem is the diary is written on our hero's PDA in unbelievably tiny. Hard to see. Also, there's no hot key just to bring up the diary. Instead, you have to open the inventory and right click the PDA every time. Cumbersome. Also, there is a large silver watch superimposed on the left side of the screen at all times. You can't click on it and the time doesn't seem to change much so I'm not sure why it was there. Maybe just to remind us that the clock was ticking to find the murderer?
These developers relied on a familiar formula to round out the series. It really doesn't translate very well here. It felt like they were trying to go for a David Fincher/Seven vibe, but didn't have the creativity to pull it off. The writing is pretty atrocious and makes little sense. The writers didn't seem to know how to follow through with their ideas. Sometimes the characters will babble on unnecessarily, while others they will rush through the story. From the beginning, the detective and characters keep going on and on about how rich one of the victims was which seemed to have very little bearing on anything. The detective points to a Honda and says it's a luxury car. Even in Persia, a Honda is not a luxury car. The detective claims that a wife absolutely married her husband for his money but we see no evidence of that either. Did they cut some parts out of the game or was it the translation? At one point, our hero says it's disgusting that his wife asks him if he likes her new dress. Translation issue or was there something missing in the writing?
Usually the diary in adventure games fills in some of the gaps in the story, but in this game it actually makes things more confusing. Since the murder took place upstairs in the bedroom, our hero claims there was no way the wife could have done it. Are Iranian wives not allowed in their own bedrooms? Then the detective is wandering around interviewing people instead of going directly to those he knows were at the crime scene the night of the murder. I think it may have been a lame attempt by RSK to create suspense, but made little sense to the story. There were other gaps in the writing as well. The detective interviews former criminals to find out where they were. When one denies being at the crime scene, he accepts this and crosses him off the suspect list. He said he didn't murder anybody so that means he couldn't have. Another he doesn't even bother questioning when he finds out he's a doctor. As though a doctor could never commit murder. Huh? Is that really all it takes to get away with murder in Iran? The developers seemed to want to rush the game to get to the real murderer, which made a lot of it seem a waste of time. However, other times they fill the game with lots of unnecessary dialogue. At one point, our hero enters a crime scene and is told by another cop the details of the crime. Our guy stops him and says, "I haven't asked you what happened yet." Then we have to hear it all over again. Our guy refuses to investigate crime scenes without first having long conversations with neighbors, most of which tells us nothing. Were the developers trying to waste our time or didn't they think they have enough dialogue in the game? One good thing is that the voice acting pretty good. Our guy has a pleasant voice and puts just enough emotion into it to keep things interesting.
To say this game is linear is a gross understatement. Our guy will say we need to check with certain people or departments, but you won't be able to go to those places until the game decides it's time. Everything MUST be done in a certain order, which can be very annoying. However, all games in the series were like that so you get used to it. In any case, there's no way you can ever miss anything in these games because the developers won't let you. At one point, our guy says he wants to ask his boss to take him off the case. But when you go to the boss' office, he says, "why would I bother him?" It's like, you just said you wanted to ask him something! Apparently, you have to stop at the front desk and tell the receptionist your plans and then you can go to the boss. Silly? Yes. Easy, casual game? Oh yeah.
The game is interesting at times just because it's showing a side of Iran the average Westerner doesn't usually see. These games always feel like the developers are trying to inspire tourism in Iran. Our hero always has to tell us about how great a certain area is and how wonderful the nightlife is. The average Persian gamer probably wonders why the game keeps telling them about popular food or hotels in Tehran.
The game felt like an exercise in futility because of the poor creative choices in the writing. Usually when a killer is playing the cops, one detective will work obsessively to get a step ahead. This game had none of that. The detective was led around by the nose by the killer and then the game ends. Not much of a payoff yet we constantly hear our hero boasting about how he's gonna get the guy soon. You might get him, but only if he wants to get got.
Bottom line: If you played the other two games in the series, go for this one just to round out the story. If not, skip it.
