Released in Europe in 1998 and developed by the French company Kult,
Hopkins FBI is honestly an adventure game unlike any I have ever before
played. It pays homage to American horror and crime cinema (especially Pulp
Fiction) and the crazed criminal masterminds of Superman comics in
a juxtaposition that vacillates between grim realism and ludicrous surrealism.
The gist of the problem with this game is that once you have been sucked in by
the grittiness and determination of the Hopkins character and mission, you are
then expected to suspend all disbelief (which is, of course, the cornerstone of
all memorable fantasy literature) and engage in a cataclysmic battle against a
villain who has a hideout and master plan worthy of Lex Luthor. By the time I
had finished this game, I was scratching my head in wonderment and confusion.

Hopkins
FBI begins with a scene worthy of and also reminiscent of Wes Craven’s movie
Shocker. As Hopkins’s arch nemesis, Bernie Beckson, is about to be electrocuted
for commandeering a nuclear missal bombardment on the state of California, the
lights flicker, and when they come back on the electric chair is empty. Since
Special Agent Hopkins was responsible for capturing Beckson the first time, he
is immediately notified of the improbable escape. It is a great beginning that
gets even better as the deranged Beckson then proceeds to kidnap, torture and
mutilate renowned scientists and friends of Hopkins. The bodies are always found
in a grisly fashion that recalls the classic Vincent Price movie The Abominable
Dr. Phibes. Written clues are left at the scene of each progressively bloodier
carcass in order to lead Hopkins to the next victim. Then in the middle of the
story, there are two startlingly tragic occurrences that are totally unexpected,
but instead of using this as a springboard to darken the mood of the story, Hopkins
instead leaves the city and follows his foe first to a lush tropical island, then
to an underwater lair that appears as though it were constructed by a supervillain
and finally to the Realm of the Dead. What had been a wonderful drama quickly
degenerates into a quirky, ludicrous comic book concentrating on cloning, death
and resurrection. Shame on the writers for submitting to their basest juvenile
tendencies and not following through with their original idea. A plot that would
have received an A is instead reduced to a C-.

The puzzles in Hopkins
FBI are actually a step above the usual fare we are accustomed to encountering
in a point-and-click game. Whereas many adventure games would have you get your
car keys off a table and then use them with your car, the creators of Hopkins
went that extra step and required you to search under the sofa cushions to
find where your keys have fallen out of your pants pocket. It is this type of
small, homely touch that provides realism to the atmosphere. The mouse-driven
interface makes it very simple to initiate the common talk, look, get, et al.,
commands that we are all familiar with. But it is the leads that Bernie Beckson
attaches to each of his mutilated victims bodies that are the coup de grace. They
encourage the player to do more than just randomly use inventory items on hot
spots, as you must decipher the meaning of the clue so that you can figure out
the next location to visit. There are only two drawbacks to the otherwise excellent
puzzles: the majority of them must be solved in a linear fashion in order to make
any progress in the game, and about midway through there is an absurd shootout
in the forest that resembles a scene from a ten-year-old Nintendo 8-bit cartridge.
As Hopkins walks from the right of the screen to the left, in what is supposed
to be a forest labyrinth, criminals appear that you must draw upon and shoot.
It is a simple scene to complete once you have figured out the timing pattern,
but it adds absolutely nothing to the game and would have better served as a noninteractive
cut scene. Overall, the puzzles are admirable–never too hard, never too easy.
Puzzles–A-.

The graphics in Hopkins FBI are truly a hodgepodge
of styles. When Hopkins must travel from site A to site B, we are presented with
an overhead map of the city and must then click on the area we want Hopkins’s
car to reach. It looks very much like Grand Theft Auto, a controversial
product that was released last year, as we watch Hopkins drive, street by street,
to the designated spot. On the other hand, when Hopkins engages in conversation,
the person he is speaking with appears full-screen as a hand-drawn color portrait
superimposed over a black-and-white background with a dialogue tree in the bottom
left corner. I do remember, for example, that the blonde police switchboard operator
always looked as though she were about to burst out of her blouse. It was, at
first, very disconcerting and reminded me of an awful Spider-Man adventure
game that was released by Simon & Schuster a few years ago. The positive side
of seeing these characters in such a manner is that you do have a great mental
image of that character’s features and build. Also, many of these still scenes
and some of the cut scenes contain some of the most gruesome graphics and nudity
that I have ever seen in an adventure game. Yes, nudity. There is more than one
dead nude female body in full color, not to mention the nude women afoot in the
Realm of the Dead. The majority of the graphics are the standard 2D adventure
fare, albeit extremely detailed and realistic (well, I don’t really know if the
Realm of the Dead is realistic or not and I don’t care to find out for quite some
time). Finally, I must mention that there is one sickening scene of a bloody skull
being sliced open in the FBI pathology lab that I could have lived without ever
seeing. Graphics–B.

The sound effects and voice-overs in Hopkins
FBI are average at best, but they are never mediocre enough to distract from
the enjoyment of the game. What is very interesting, though, is the choice of
musical soundtrack. All of the music in the game is classical rock from the late
1960s and early 1970s. Tobacco Road by the Blues Magoos, Feelin’ Alright
by Rare Earth and Lost Girl and I Can’t Control Myself by The
Troggs are all used in a similar mood-setting, foot-tapping, irreverent manner
borrowed from Pulp Fiction. It is a nice touch. Music, sound effects
and voice acting–B.

I would not hesitate to recommend Hopkins FBI
to a true adventure fan. I do not know if there is to be a US release as Kult
never answers any of my emails, but you can order the game from their web site.
Be forewarned, though: it is not for youngsters, nor is it for impressionable
individuals who are upset by graphic images of violence and nudity. Kult does
hint at a sequel on its site. I do hope that the follow-up sticks more to the
realistic atmosphere that was so well-done in the first half of the game and leaves
the surrealistic elements of the second part of the story to the comic books.

Final
Grade: B

System requirements:
Pentium 133, 16 MB RAM
Windows 95 or superior version
Microsoft DirectX
5 or superior version
20 MB available on your hard drive (90 MB recommended)

SVGA video card
4X CD-ROM drive
Sound card, mouse