Victorian
England was not a hopeful time for the average person. There was very
little social mobility. If you were fortunate enough to apprentice
to a profession, that was your profession for life. If you were fortunate
enough to have a job in a company, that was your company for life.
And if you were on the lowest rungs of society, there was no hope
at all.
Alter Ego follows
a murder mystery in Victorian England through the eyes of two individuals,
each of whom are installed in their respective niches: Timothy Moore,
who is an Irish orphan surviving by picking pockets, and the newly
promoted Inspector Briscol of the Plymouth Police.
The
story begins with Tim being arrested as a stowaway on a ship bound
for Plymouth, England. We have to help Tim with his escape and get
him connected with his friend Brian who has a plan to get them to
America where opportunities are plentiful. In the process, the two
of them stumble into a series a murders.
Meanwhile, Briscol is investigating
the vandalism and apparent grave robbing of the recently deceased
Sir William, a local nobleman with an ugly reputation. Just as the
people who are connected with the case start dying, the Inspector
catches and arrests Tim and Brian. Convinced of their innocence (of
the murders, at least) Briscol cuts a deal with the two and allows
them to help him with his investigation. And the plot thickens…
The
game is very well crafted.
You can see from the screen
shots how pretty the graphics are. Every scene is professionally drawn
with no hint of repeating textures. The characters are lifelike and
move very realisticly. I loved watching Tim climb out of the sewer
drain.
The voice acting is superb.
The accents are spot on and everything is said in the correct context.
The
puzzles are all inventory based and quite fair. Sometimes you need
to use an item for something it was not intended for, but in a world
where you must make do with what you have it is all quite reasonable.
Game play is all point-and-click
with no frustrations. Save games are unlimited and there is a hint
key which highlights all the hotspots in a scene.
The
story line is authentic, as it goes. Events unfold and people react
as you pretty much would expect them to. The only “down”
side (at least for us Americans) is that there is no great victory
at the end. This is Victorian England and if you survive, you can
consider yourself fortunate.
Bottom line? Alter Ego
is a very well made adventure game and enjoyable to play. I recommend
it without hesitation.
