Murdered: Soul Suspect is an adventure game (Yes, that genre which you've nearly forgotten!), and it really does come close to what the real fans of the genre would enjoy. Naturally, it can hardly be compared to Syberia or The Longest Journey, but playing this one can bring you a couple of hours' worth of fun… if you're not too picky.
In this game, you play police inspector Ronan O'Connor, who's… well – dead.
The plot and the main idea are cool. Generally speaking, paying a ghost that can make things happen in the real, the physical world is awesome. Especially in an adventure game. The other unique thing is that – Hello! – you have no zombie-like, Resident Evil-like, war-like etc. events happening to you. Whatever enemy you meet and have to “fight”, is actually not there to kill you! Yes, (SPOILER) you can just run away from them… All NPCs are somewhat low on carb obviously, as they do cover a really small space. Even if you defeat a demon in the same room where another one of them is, the second guy won't pay you any attention.
The romantic drama – you have a wife named Julia, who's been the reason for your changing lives. Hence, her death causes you to feel quite blue and go into action with much less brains and a lot of aggression. This is also, I guess, the main reason for us (playing as him) to go to the first scene where we end-up dead.
My opinion? I like this as much as I can; I mean… many of us need to have something tragic happening in a person's life, just so we can feel them close. I find romance useless for me, but for a game with the scopes and goals set by the producers, it's obvious that this kind of thing must be there. What I liked (see second sentence in this paragraph) is that they didn't make her pregnant or turn him into a whining fatherly figure.
The real drama: Salem is a huge nest for witches and well, being a tough guy there can't possibly keep you safe from the witchcraft, the witch hunts and everything else that happened there in the past. You're even a more suitable victim for an influential enemy to get than a simple girl would be.
Twists and plot lines are finely incorporated in this game and it's easy to like it. The only thing you need to know when purchasing this game is that – it's an old-school adventure game with a whodunnit feel and a lot of cool, laid-back thinking time and exploration zones. This is no Far Cry, no Uncharted, no Resident Evil. It's also not Aura or Myst, though.
The gameplay on the other hand is really basic and I love it! With the only exceptions being the demons you need to eradicate, it's all a simple first-person point-and-click adventure but in a 3D world. You have hardly any reason to fret and make mistakes. The only gameplay related issues, though, is the lack of real puzzles. Seems like it was either too expensive (more them making a 3D version of a sheriff-like police inspector in his full attire, cigarette and smoke included… as a ghost) or too hard for the team at Airtight, but..yes – a real adventure game needs a puzzle or two (at least) before getting action-feeling features.
Just so you know…
A quite famous gaming website's review of the game says: “The only way to dispose of Murdered's genuinely frightening soul-sucking demons is to get immediately behind them, and the only way to get immediately behind them is to hide in the residue of individual ghost souls, which are tightly packed together and therefore create a sort of teleportation system for Ronan. “
Here's the quote source (I wouldn't advise you to click this, but being ethical asks I link to the source).
Well, this is quite wrong. For one reason, as I spoilt already, you can run away from them. For another reason – you can hide in walls. If you don't come in their range of visibility when they're turning, you can just come out of the wall and “exorcise” them from this world.
One thing you must know, though: Once the ritual was not performed right, these creeps will follow you though walls and stairs until you go outside of their range.
Game profile
Rated: PG-16
My rating: I don't do such things.
Available also on: PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One and Windows (what I played)
Publishers: Square Enix
Developed by: Airtight Games
