Hey guys this's gonna be my first review so bear with me and any comments on improvement will be appreciated.
A good kinect game!? Impossible Is what people would've thought. First things first though, If you don't like games which:1. similar to deadly premonition, phoenix wright,or movies like naked gun, airplane(where weird random stuff, characters keep happening to a ridiculous level of stupidity and quirkiness) therefore you gotta be open minded to a certain degree 2. Does not have high production value, amazing graphics 3. just in it for the gameplay, and rush through things without exploring the lores in the games, 4. does not like murder-mystery dialogue and story heavy games with few gameplay then sadly this is not gonna be your cup of tea.
The game was made by access games with Swery65 as the director, and will last you minimum 6 hours if you try to finish all the sidequests, read through every article or letter collectibles in the game, and interact with characters at different points throughout season 1. It's 15 dollars for this season 1 of the game which consists of prologue, episode 1, and episode 2. But believe it or not the kinect actions responds quite well and makes this game more unique to play, although you can also opt to play with the controller if you like.
For the gameplay it's a mix blend of point and click adventure style, and QTEs similar to say phoenix wright investigation mode, and heavy rain like QTE. When you hover over an object of interest it will show you interesting tidbits and info regarding the objects past which enrich the world of the game, furthermore if you interact with the objects which will have different things to tell you at different points of times in the game (a single bottle of ahave tequila will have lots to tell if you interact with it in prologue, episode 1, and 2). The QTEs are mostly done by holding your analog sticks to certain directions followed by a button prompt, and let me tell you this game has one of the most over the top, and fun to watch QTEs in any game ever that I've played. You have mainly 3 attributes: Stamina (which decreases every time you interact with Objects and people; vision meter highlights interactable objects and decreases over time if used 3. Health which may be lost if you fail QTEs or made a bad choice interacting with stuff.
Sidequests are given by the cast of quirky characters in the form of random trivias, dialogue options you have to choose correctly, etc. Which after completed, rewards you with credits (can be used to by stuff like food, costumes, and gifts), buffs for attributes, costumes, and backstory.
The soundtrack of the game is phenomenal with the noir styled jazz theme, to a rock celctic scandinavian track which plays during intense QTE **** Sound effects are not as quirky as the one in deadly premonition but still unique and amusing.Some of the characters have good voice acting, while the rest have what you might call good bad voice actin(it's awkward that it's pretty damn funny)
The story for the most part is about a detective named David young who has the power of diving into the past using objects called as mementos to search for his wive's killer. While this may seem simple but, as what you would expect out of the mind of Swery65 is filled with amusing weird quirky characters( there's one fashion designer guy who has a towerlike green hair who always bring a mannequin he carries around whom he calls his "partner"); plot twists which keeps you hooked and wanting to play the next episode and reach out to the truth; and while the characters are unlikely in their behaviours but they are believable in terms of emotions and you even feel for the some characters as their past and backstory gets revealed which envokes a good amount of empathy than some of quantic dream's games. You can use logic up till a certain degree to understand the mystery and create theories but as It's a swery game don't think to hardly on it. The story will have some ridiculous revelatory moments (episode 2 ending cliffhanger) but overall it's a fun filled fresh experience, although I would've liked to believe that swery didn't ripoff but used the movie 'Memento', and game 'D' 's story as an homage.
When it comes down to the negative points: 1. the quirkiness would prove to be a double-edged sword as it might drive away some people as it even gets weirder than even deadly premonition and some characters are a bit stereotypical 2. the interaction menu are a bit clunky 3. you have to backtrack to your closet every time to change your clothes, and to your apartment for certain sidequests 4. the stamina runs out quickly at some points which detracts from the game a bit(you have a travelling cat vendor tho).
Overall it's a game which has interesting story, quirky characters with good backstory, amazing soundtrack, simple and amusing gameplay, rich extra content which enrich the world, lengthy for those willing to explore and a bang for your buck. I honestly prefer this over deadly premonition because it's faster paced, none of the forced shooting and driving gameplay bull****, and a bit more original than deadly premonition. For what it is in the point and click story driven genre I give it an 8. Personally it's a 9 for me though. But don't take my word for it take this review as a grain of salt and play it yourselves!