I
had the pleasure of sitting down with a review copy of Gemini Rue
recently, and I played through it. Gemini Rue is a science
fiction noir-style game. The game switches you between two characters.
The first is ex-assasin Azriel Odin, who is now a cop trying to find
the prison his brother is in, and the second is Delta Six, a character
who has no memory and is in prison. The game switches between the
two characters to unravel one of the coolest game stories I’ve
seen since The
Longest Journey series.

The Good:
This game has one of the best control systems I’ve ever seen.
You click on something and get a list of options and your inventory.
It reminds me a bit of Return
to Zork, although it’s a lot simpler. The one drawback of
the system is that you have to click on a hotspot to bring up and
review your inventory. But it’s okay because there are plenty
of hotspots on every screen. You’ll get used the control system
very quickly.

The
first part of the game starts with some fast-paced action that had
my heart racing. You sneak past some guards then get into a gunfight
before rushing to your ship to escape. In the gunfights, you can really
die, so the game introduces an autosave feature. At various points
in the game—like right before an action scene—the game
will autosave. This is a nice touch and went very far to keep my character
living to the next one.

This game is published
by Wadjet Eye, the creators of the fantastic Blackwell
series. Taking a hint from Blackwell, they include a console that
you can use to look up information about the area. By talking to characters
and searching for information you’ll find new names and places
that you’ll want to research. The console lets you do that,
and you can often discover what to do next by putting in the correct
information. If you don’t like to type, don’t worry; a
click-and-drag interface was implemented from Azriel’s cell
phone to the console search parameter.

The
Bad:
Unfortunately, this game suffers a bit from the Dreamfall
syndrome. So much energy was spent trying to create a great story
that they forgot to create a great game. I don’t remember the
last time I had such poor motivation to finish a game. When I play
an adventure game, I like more adventure. I like interacting with
characters. I like finding inventory items and finding creative ways
to use them. I like using my head to progress through a game.

This game felt like a real
long walk from one cut scene to the next. There was no sense of satisfaction
when I completed an obstacle, and a step forward often felt like hitting
another wall. Many of the puzzles—if you’d call them that—involve
action sequences such as a gunfight or moving a box from one location
to another so you can reach something slightly out of reach. Both
of those elements are overused.

The
game has too many screens which have no point and no variation. As
one example, there are nine identical hotel floors in the game. You
only need to visit four rooms throughout the course of the game, so
this leaves a lot to explore with very little reward. The elevator
buttons would benefit from a game command that says, “You have
no reason to go to this floor.” It would have prevented me from
endless back-and-forth that led nowhere.

Final Thoughts
I’ve decided to leave any specific plot points out of this review
because if you plan to play the game, I’d hate to deprive you
of the game’s one bright spot. As the final acts draw near,
you’ll start to figure out some of the game’s secrets. If you’re
like me, you won’t see them coming. The story reveals are intense
and exciting. I just wish the downtime was more entertaining.

System Requirements:
None Available