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Say the word 'interactive movie' to a gamer and you won't get a positive reaction. While they're a bit more scarce these days, interactive movies typically involve a lot of video footage, very little actual gameplay and, depending on the publisher, terrible acting.
So how is then that 'Her Story' - the new PC/iOS game is so superb, despite being an interactive movie. It might be down to the acting, featuring a relatively unknown actress, Viva Seifert. In fact, she's the only actual actor in the whole game, which might seem odd, but I'll explain later. It might also be down to the fact that the game was created by Sam Barlow, responsible for Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, a great game in its own right.
Whatever the cause, Her Story is one of the most original and entertaining video games to hit the market. The game casts you as as an initially unknown person who has given access to video footage of a murder suspect. No, it's not your job to prove her innocent, Phoenix Wright style. The video footage is supposedly from the nineties - the developers have thrown in plenty of nineties references to make sure it fits - so you can't actually influence the fate of the suspect in any way.
So what, then, is the point of playing? To undercover the truth - or one version of it - from the narrative. Instead of the video footage being strung together, it's chopped up into individual sections, and you can only view five video clips at any one point. You start off with five videos where 'murder' is mentioned in the clips, but you can search for other videos by typing in words to find other clips.
The great thing about this is that the game unfolds in a different way each time you play it. I played it through twice and plan on coming back to it some time in the future. So you might start off by typing 'body' and seeing what comes up, or you could try the victim's name and see where that leads you. You can also combine tags.
The video doesn't contain any footage of the detectives interviewing the character - hence it only featuring a single actress. And since the footage is already recorded - and hence non interactive - you can't ask any questions of your own. However, there is enough here for you to piece together what happened - nearly.
Nearly? Yes, and this might annoy a few people, unlike CSI, Law and Order and their ilk, the game still leaves a few questions unanswered, leaving you determine exactly why what happened happened. However, the story offers enoughs twists and turns - which may come in a different ordering depending how you play the game - to keep you entertained. And given that the game costs a mere five quid, you can't go wrong.
Her Story is a superb game that does something genuinely new and original, and well worth a look.
Score: 9 out of 10.
Pros:
Superb story
Great acting
Does something new with the genre.
Cons:
The slightly open ending might not be for everyone.
So how is then that 'Her Story' - the new PC/iOS game is so superb, despite being an interactive movie. It might be down to the acting, featuring a relatively unknown actress, Viva Seifert. In fact, she's the only actual actor in the whole game, which might seem odd, but I'll explain later. It might also be down to the fact that the game was created by Sam Barlow, responsible for Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, a great game in its own right.
Whatever the cause, Her Story is one of the most original and entertaining video games to hit the market. The game casts you as as an initially unknown person who has given access to video footage of a murder suspect. No, it's not your job to prove her innocent, Phoenix Wright style. The video footage is supposedly from the nineties - the developers have thrown in plenty of nineties references to make sure it fits - so you can't actually influence the fate of the suspect in any way.
So what, then, is the point of playing? To undercover the truth - or one version of it - from the narrative. Instead of the video footage being strung together, it's chopped up into individual sections, and you can only view five video clips at any one point. You start off with five videos where 'murder' is mentioned in the clips, but you can search for other videos by typing in words to find other clips.
The great thing about this is that the game unfolds in a different way each time you play it. I played it through twice and plan on coming back to it some time in the future. So you might start off by typing 'body' and seeing what comes up, or you could try the victim's name and see where that leads you. You can also combine tags.
The video doesn't contain any footage of the detectives interviewing the character - hence it only featuring a single actress. And since the footage is already recorded - and hence non interactive - you can't ask any questions of your own. However, there is enough here for you to piece together what happened - nearly.
Nearly? Yes, and this might annoy a few people, unlike CSI, Law and Order and their ilk, the game still leaves a few questions unanswered, leaving you determine exactly why what happened happened. However, the story offers enoughs twists and turns - which may come in a different ordering depending how you play the game - to keep you entertained. And given that the game costs a mere five quid, you can't go wrong.
Her Story is a superb game that does something genuinely new and original, and well worth a look.
Score: 9 out of 10.
Pros:
Superb story
Great acting
Does something new with the genre.
Cons:
The slightly open ending might not be for everyone.
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Say the word 'interactive movie' to a gamer and you won't get a positive reaction. While they're a bit more scarce these days, interactive movies typically involve a lot of video footage, very little actual gameplay and, depending on the publisher, terrible acting.
So how is then that 'Her Story' - the new PC/iOS game is so superb, despite being an interactive movie. It might be down to the acting, featuring a relatively unknown actress, Viva Seifert. In fact, she's the only actual actor in the whole game, which might seem odd, but I'll explain later. It might also be down to the fact that the game was created by Sam Barlow, responsible for Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, a great game in its own right.
Whatever the cause, Her Story is one of the most original and entertaining video games to hit the market. The game casts you as as an initially unknown person who has given access to video footage of a murder suspect. No, it's not your job to prove her innocent, Phoenix Wright style. The video footage is supposedly from the nineties - the developers have thrown in plenty of nineties references to make sure it fits - so you can't actually influence the fate of the suspect in any way.
So what, then, is the point of playing? To undercover the truth - or one version of it - from the narrative. Instead of the video footage being strung together, it's chopped up into individual sections, and you can only view five video clips at any one point. You start off with five videos where 'murder' is mentioned in the clips, but you can search for other videos by typing in words to find other clips.
The great thing about this is that the game unfolds in a different way each time you play it. I played it through twice and plan on coming back to it some time in the future. So you might start off by typing 'body' and seeing what comes up, or you could try the victim's name and see where that leads you. You can also combine tags.
The video doesn't contain any footage of the detectives interviewing the character - hence it only featuring a single actress. And since the footage is already recorded - and hence non interactive - you can't ask any questions of your own. However, there is enough here for you to piece together what happened - nearly.
Nearly? Yes, and this might annoy a few people, unlike CSI, Law and Order and their ilk, the game still leaves a few questions unanswered, leaving you determine exactly why what happened happened. However, the story offers enoughs twists and turns - which may come in a different ordering depending how you play the game - to keep you entertained. And given that the game costs a mere five quid, you can't go wrong.
Her Story is a superb game that does something genuinely new and original, and well worth a look.
Score: 9 out of 10.
Pros:
Superb story
Great acting
Does something new with the genre.
Cons:
The slightly open ending might not be for everyone.
So how is then that 'Her Story' - the new PC/iOS game is so superb, despite being an interactive movie. It might be down to the acting, featuring a relatively unknown actress, Viva Seifert. In fact, she's the only actual actor in the whole game, which might seem odd, but I'll explain later. It might also be down to the fact that the game was created by Sam Barlow, responsible for Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, a great game in its own right.
Whatever the cause, Her Story is one of the most original and entertaining video games to hit the market. The game casts you as as an initially unknown person who has given access to video footage of a murder suspect. No, it's not your job to prove her innocent, Phoenix Wright style. The video footage is supposedly from the nineties - the developers have thrown in plenty of nineties references to make sure it fits - so you can't actually influence the fate of the suspect in any way.
So what, then, is the point of playing? To undercover the truth - or one version of it - from the narrative. Instead of the video footage being strung together, it's chopped up into individual sections, and you can only view five video clips at any one point. You start off with five videos where 'murder' is mentioned in the clips, but you can search for other videos by typing in words to find other clips.
The great thing about this is that the game unfolds in a different way each time you play it. I played it through twice and plan on coming back to it some time in the future. So you might start off by typing 'body' and seeing what comes up, or you could try the victim's name and see where that leads you. You can also combine tags.
The video doesn't contain any footage of the detectives interviewing the character - hence it only featuring a single actress. And since the footage is already recorded - and hence non interactive - you can't ask any questions of your own. However, there is enough here for you to piece together what happened - nearly.
Nearly? Yes, and this might annoy a few people, unlike CSI, Law and Order and their ilk, the game still leaves a few questions unanswered, leaving you determine exactly why what happened happened. However, the story offers enoughs twists and turns - which may come in a different ordering depending how you play the game - to keep you entertained. And given that the game costs a mere five quid, you can't go wrong.
Her Story is a superb game that does something genuinely new and original, and well worth a look.
Score: 9 out of 10.
Pros:
Superb story
Great acting
Does something new with the genre.
Cons:
The slightly open ending might not be for everyone.