After playing the demo
and writing a preview for Microids’ investigative
thriller, Still Life, I was left panting
for more. When I finally received the full length version of the
game, I opened it reverently,
stared at it a for moment,
touched it lovingly… I was torn between popping it in right away and delaying
the gratification until after working hours. Yeah, working from home
does have
its charms.

In the end I decided to
let virtue rule and wait. But that nagging monkey called “responsibility” wasn’t the only
thing that made me hold off. There was a little trepidation in there,
too. Would Still Life live up to those sweet promises made by the
demo? Or would this be yet another game that starts with a bang and
ends with a snore? Let me state right off that my fears were completely
unfounded. Still Life roared with excitement from start to finish,
and definitely did not end with a snore. It may have ended with a
little bit of a “huh?” but I’ll get to that part
later.

For now I’ll start with the beginning, which in this case
means the graphics and game play. What can I say? If you’ve
played the demo you already know the graphics are lifelike and flawless.
Microids has taken the best of their slightly saccharine Syberia and added true grit. I must say they wear it well. Details are sharp,
motion is smooth, all is heartbreakingly artistic in the world of
Still Life.

Kudos to the actors, too,
who truly brought Still Life to… well,
life. In fact I found the use of sound in this game to be very effective
overall. There was no unnecessary music (which I feel would have
been seriously out of place in this game). For the most part the
player is free to hear footsteps fall, a door opening, a piece of
machinery running, all without distraction. These are things you
would hear in the real world, exactly as you should hear them. A
few times throughout my game, the dialog skipped. This wasn’t
earth-shattering news to me; my sound card is a notorious underachiever.

For those of you who played
Post Mortem, you’ll be happy to
hear that major improvements were made in game play. In fact, Microids
scrapped many things entirely, such as the notorious dialog tree.
In Still Life, dialogue is very straightforward. Left click for plot-driven
dialogue, right-click for details that are not crucial, but merely
flesh out the story line. As for the rest, it’s standard point
and click, third-person perspective. This is yet another departure
from Post Mortem, which was a first-person perspective game.

As I mentioned before,
Still Life is an investigative thriller, which means that it’s also been stripped bare of the supernatural
undertones of its predecessor. Gus’ clairvoyant capabilities
do make a few guest appearances, but beyond that, this is a straight
case of man’s inhumanity to man (or woman, as the case may
be). As both FBI Agent Victoria Macpherson and her grandfather Gus,
you’ll be faced with the kind of investigation that is all
to common to our mundane world: A serial killer on the loose, stalking
women who’ve chosen the profession that is both the world’s
oldest and most prone to misfortune.

You’ll alternate between characters and time frames, and you’ll
have the opportunity to see how everything changes even as it stays
the same. Two series’ of murders take place that share many
of the same characteristics: all are gruesome, all show a progression
of violence, all are toward women of questionable virtue. The problem
is, these murders are a generation apart. Either our killer is an
octogenarian with uncommon stamina, or a copycat is on the loose.
Add to that the fact that the two people investigating the crimes
just happen to be related, and it almost sounds strange to say that
the game doesn’t have supernatural underpinnings.

There were many times
that the game could have taken that direction, and yet it never
did. The experienced gamer might be surprised by
this. After all, we’ve been as conditioned to expect certain
outcomes in our games as a prisoner is his daily ration of gruel.
Instead, Microids chose the harder path, one in which misdeeds cannot
be laid at the feet of the oft-maligned Knights Templar, the undead,
or any of the other ubiquitous plot devices that comprise the industry
standard. I’m not saying that secret society and conspiracy
themes don’t rear their ugly heads, but they’re never
presented as implausible or magical.

There is, of course, a
parallel theme with the infamous Jack the Ripper case that is even
mentioned within the game itself. I couldn’t
help drawing some parallels of my own with Dreamcatcher’s Jack
the Ripper. This was especially evident in the dingy streets of Prague,
where Gus develops a relationship with a beautiful former-songstress
named Ida. I also had a sense of déjà vu when Gus visited
the local police precinct, populated by one condescending police
chief and a helpful friend.

These similarities did
not in any way take away from my enjoyment of the game. If anything,
I felt these elements actually delivered a previously unfulfilled promise. There is, however, one more unfortunate
parallel I would be remiss without mentioning: the ending. You won’t
breathe that sigh of relief. You won’t jump up and say “I
KNEW it!” You won’t even be able to say you didn’t
see it coming.

Without giving away the farm, I will say that the ending leaves
a wide berth for a sequel. Nothing would make this adventure gamer
happier, but with the recent events surrounding the Microids crew,
this future seems uncertain to me as the ending of Still
Life.

Even knowing the ending
of this magnificent game beforehand, I wouldn’t
hesitate to play it, and I don’t hesitate to recommend it.
Anyone who loves a mystery and has an investigative mind will get
many hours of pleasure from Still Life. You may even find a few more
of them after the game is finished, as you continue to turn the possibilities
over in your own mind. The great thing about an ending that leaves
a few openings is that it leaves you free to find your own answers.
Of course, I’m sure I’m the only one who’s come
up with the right ones.

Final Grade: A
(find out more about our
grading system)

System Requirements:

• Windows® 98, ME, 2000
  or XP
• Pentium® III 750 MHz (Pentium® III 1.2 GHz Recommended)
• 128 MB RAM
• 8x CD ROM Drive
• DirectX8.1
• 32 MB Graphics Card
  (64 MB or Equivalent Recommended)
• Keyboard /Mouse/Speakers