Almost late for work: helping dead people
I typically get up in the morning earlier than I really have to so I don’t need to rush about before work. That way I have time to sip my coffee, surf the internet a tad, and maybe get in a few minutes of video game playing before having to start my pre-work routine. Lately my routine has been thrown off and I’ve found myself hurrying to get out the door.
The disruption came from finally getting around to playing the Blackwell trilogy of adventure games: Blackwell Legacy, Blackwell Unbound, and Blackwell Convergence. They had been on my radar for a while as I had played and loved Wadjet Eye’s other release, The Shivah.
The Blackwell series of games follows Rosangela Blackwell (and later a prelude starring her aunt) after she discovers that she’s inherited a spirit guide named Joey Mallone. Neither Joey or Rosa know why they’ve been paired together but Joey has a sense that it’s to help spirits of murdered people move on to wherever their souls are supposed to go. As Rosa uneasily investigates these crimes she slowly learns more of her family history and Joey’s long connection to the women in the Blackwell family.
I immediately found that the game mechanics I liked in The Shivah were not only being used in the Blackwell games but were taken to a higher level. The main attraction being that the game revolves around you collecting clues and through deductive reasoning, using those clues to further your investigation. These clues come in the form of questions and ideas rather than physical objects. This mechanic creates the feeling that you really are solving a mystery; unlike other adventure games where you’re solving random puzzles to further the plot. In the first two games especially I found it necessary to jot certain notes down on paper which made me even more connected to the game.
The journal of clues combined with a great story drew me into the investigation. I cared about helping the spirits of these poor murdered people. I had to think about connections between the clues I had found and the people I talked to. The well written story brought originality to a much used concept. Many television shows and movies are centered on the idea of mediums, ghost whisperers and the like. I never felt that I had already seen what the Blackwell games were doing.
You’re often given dialogue choices when speaking with people in your investigations, allowing for a bit of role-playing with the main character. When Rosangela was first presented with her family’s legacy, instead of despair or disbelief, I chose the dialogue options of quiet acceptance and resignation – they felt like the responses I would have had if confronted with Rosangela’s situation. Ultimately the choices you make don’t have much, if any, effect on the plot of the games – sometimes you’re forced to repeat a conversation until you’ve gone with the “right” path of questions – but they created a satisfactory illusion of control.
The voice acting in the first game, Blackwell Legacy, was a little rough in spots but nothing too distracting. I found the voice of Rosangela off-putting at first – something about the actress’ inflection in her lines – but she quickly grew on me. I actually was disappointed when it wasn’t her voice in the third game; though the woman who played the role was great too. The actor who plays Joey throughout the series is simply superb and so is the voice of Aunt Lauren. The many supporting characters deliver their lines in believable fashion.
The music in the Blackwell series is fantastic and suits the atmosphere of each scene. Graphically the games are great and visibly improve through the trilogy. Playing them back to back I got to see the game designers’ talent and skill grow. I’m glad that the dialogue panels of the characters’ faces, left out in Blackwell Unbound, came back in the third game. They support the delivery of dialogue by showing the characters’ facial expressions. A sly grin or furrowed brow does a lot to convey the emotion of a conversation.
My only major criticism of the series is that the third game got too deep into the meaning of the legacy that Blackwell women pass down. I understand that people perhaps want to know why Joey Mallone is bound to the family and what his greater purpose is, but I’m content in not knowing – or at least getting that information in pieces rather than it being the focus of the game. My attraction to the series is solving murders and helping the restless spirits of the victims move on. I guess I’m not ready for the Blackwell series to end just yet and knowing the how and the why of the story brings me unwillingly closer to its finish. If there’s to be a fourth installment, I wouldn’t mind having my morning routine interrupted once again.
