The Detail is a cop drama. You step into the shoes of Reggie Moore, a burnt-out detective. Usually in adventure games, I think of exploring a land, finding unique inventory items and putting them together to progress the game and the story. The Detail doesn’t have any of that. This game is closer to the Choose Your Own Adventure books I remember from my youth than it is an adventure game. The path of the game is very linear, and when choices present themselves—which is often–they only minimally affect the story and do not appear to affect the outcome.

Throughout the game, you’ll play three separate characters. Detective Reggie is the main character. But you also get to be Joe Miller, a reformed bad guy coerced into helping an investigating, and a rookie who is new on the job. You’ll never need to select a character, or switch between them. The game will do that for you when the time comes. Unfortunately, The Detail is so short that it prevented me from getting vested into any single character.

The game is lacking any serious puzzles. When choices do present themselves, there are usually only two or three available. The game is not compelling and the story seems contrived without offering anything fresh or inventive. If you have an affinity for cop dramas, give this a shot. Otherwise, I’d skip this one.

Final Grade: F   – More like a choose your own adventure book than an adventure game – Very linear and contrived story – Puzzles are weak

MINIMUM PC:
OS: Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8
Graphics: DX9 (shader model 2.0) capabilities; generally everything made since 2004 should work.
DirectX: Version 9.0

MINIMUM Mac:
OS: Mac OS X 10.6+
Graphics: DX9 (shader model 2.0) capabilities; generally everything made since 2004 should work.

MINIMUM Linux:
OS: Ubuntu 10.10+
Graphics: DX9 (shader model 2.0) capabilities; generally everything made since 2004 should work.