An adventure crime story set in the early 20th century? That's definitely right up my alley and I couldn't wait to start playing. But I began to have some concerns about this game when I realized it does not support high resolutions and does not even support the widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio. But then I thought, no problem: graphics aren't everything, and I can definitely tolerate a low resolution game with poor graphics, in exchange for a good detective story.
Then I noticed the main character's voice acting was a little weak. I soon realized the main character has the best voice actor in the entire game - the rest were totally atrocious, and the horrible scripts they were given are no excuse for such a bad performance.
The puzzles in the game were ok. Most suffer from typical point-and-click adventure problems and clichés, but the game did a decent job giving you clues at what to do next without making the puzzles too easy. There were one or two though (I'm looking AT YOU DOLL PUZZLE) that were just outright terribly executed.
So poor graphics, terrible voice acting, okay puzzles. What about the story?
The story started off promising enough: you are Jack Del Nero, a private investigator who gets hired to find a young woman and taking a picture of her having an affair. As expected, you end up entangled in a much more complicated and sinister plot. And for a while, the game was enjoyable with a decent mix of intrigue and puzzles. There is a point though, right around the one third mark, where the story really starts to feel very boring. I began to lose interest quickly, and I picked up a walkthrough just to cruise through the rest of the game.
And when the end finally came, I had a mixed feeling of relief and anger. Relief because it was getting tedious and stupid. And anger because the ending was insanely stupid and was a total cliff hanger, The game ends by informing the player that there is a sequel coming. I didn't know this was just the first part of a series, and this certainly wasn't made clear when I purchased the game. Either way, I won't be buying the second part.
To be fair, the game isn't short or anything (about 10 hours), but I believe it failed to adequately inform the buyer that there is a sequel coming. I don't often regret purchasing a game, but I did this time.