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Before I start this review, I can assure that you despite the game's somewhat odd title, I will be taking a serious look at the game and not filling this review with dirty jokes. If you want filth, then I suggest you look elsewhere.
Crime and punishment is a somewhat tricky subject to say the least. Is it right to execute someone for taking another's life? Or is it better to deprive them of their liberty, ensuring that they spend the rest of their life behind bars? Playing Fingered, a new game from the creators of 'Super Meat Boy', won't answer this question. It will, however, make you feel as uncomfortable as hell while you send a series of cartoony characters to the electric chair.
The premise behind the game is that you're a police offer - an American police offer, going by the game's tone and language. You're tasked with overseeing a string of identity parades, where you have to discover which of the assembled suspects is guilty. You do this by listening to each witness's four statements and eliminating the innocent suspects, until you've discovered the guilty party. So a witness may say that the guilty party was tall, looked ugly, wasn't bald and looked rich. So you might release the suspects who have hair etc, until you've got the bad guy. Sounds easy? It isn't.
The catch is that in Fingered - which isn't unlike the 'Guess Who' board game - the witness become less reliable as the game progresses. The characters start using language like 'I think', which means they could be wrong, one suspect is blatantly racist, one says the opposite of what he means and so forth. Still, it's just a game, right? True, but it's a game that has the knack of putting you on the spot.
Firstly, when you 'finger' suspect, they go to the electric chair. You then flick the switch and they're executed, at which point you discover whether they were guilty or not. Send two innocent people to the chair and it's game over, but you may find yourself feeling sick to the stomach after killing just one innocent man. One innocent suspect's final words were 'Please.. my wife just had our first child..' I certainly did, which felt doubly odd that I didn't shed any tears over bystanders getting caught in the crossfire in other games.
There's also the fact that you never find out what the 'crimes' the suspects are accused of are. One 'guilty' man went to the chair explaining he'd only stolen to support his family. The whole dark undertone of the game is at odds with the game's cartoony graphics but it makes Fingered more than just a simple diversion. It is, admittedly, fun to play, despite the topics addressed by the game. Though you should be prepared to fail given how vague some of the clues are. If I had to fault the game in one respect it'd be that the cartoony graphics make it hard to pick out the features of individual suspects. For example, you can be told a suspect looked 'crazy' but given that they all look a bit odd, it can be hard to pick out which ones match that description. But again, maybe that's the point.
Fingered is a great little game, fun to play but with themes that actually make you think, whether you want to or not. It's also different each time you play, and while you probably won't spend hours and hours playing it one sitting, you'll probably end up dipping into this on a regular basis. And with a price point of less than two pounds, there's no excuse not to get Fingered. Damn.
(This review is also on my Destructoid and Wordpress blog)
Crime and punishment is a somewhat tricky subject to say the least. Is it right to execute someone for taking another's life? Or is it better to deprive them of their liberty, ensuring that they spend the rest of their life behind bars? Playing Fingered, a new game from the creators of 'Super Meat Boy', won't answer this question. It will, however, make you feel as uncomfortable as hell while you send a series of cartoony characters to the electric chair.
The premise behind the game is that you're a police offer - an American police offer, going by the game's tone and language. You're tasked with overseeing a string of identity parades, where you have to discover which of the assembled suspects is guilty. You do this by listening to each witness's four statements and eliminating the innocent suspects, until you've discovered the guilty party. So a witness may say that the guilty party was tall, looked ugly, wasn't bald and looked rich. So you might release the suspects who have hair etc, until you've got the bad guy. Sounds easy? It isn't.
The catch is that in Fingered - which isn't unlike the 'Guess Who' board game - the witness become less reliable as the game progresses. The characters start using language like 'I think', which means they could be wrong, one suspect is blatantly racist, one says the opposite of what he means and so forth. Still, it's just a game, right? True, but it's a game that has the knack of putting you on the spot.
Firstly, when you 'finger' suspect, they go to the electric chair. You then flick the switch and they're executed, at which point you discover whether they were guilty or not. Send two innocent people to the chair and it's game over, but you may find yourself feeling sick to the stomach after killing just one innocent man. One innocent suspect's final words were 'Please.. my wife just had our first child..' I certainly did, which felt doubly odd that I didn't shed any tears over bystanders getting caught in the crossfire in other games.
There's also the fact that you never find out what the 'crimes' the suspects are accused of are. One 'guilty' man went to the chair explaining he'd only stolen to support his family. The whole dark undertone of the game is at odds with the game's cartoony graphics but it makes Fingered more than just a simple diversion. It is, admittedly, fun to play, despite the topics addressed by the game. Though you should be prepared to fail given how vague some of the clues are. If I had to fault the game in one respect it'd be that the cartoony graphics make it hard to pick out the features of individual suspects. For example, you can be told a suspect looked 'crazy' but given that they all look a bit odd, it can be hard to pick out which ones match that description. But again, maybe that's the point.
Fingered is a great little game, fun to play but with themes that actually make you think, whether you want to or not. It's also different each time you play, and while you probably won't spend hours and hours playing it one sitting, you'll probably end up dipping into this on a regular basis. And with a price point of less than two pounds, there's no excuse not to get Fingered. Damn.
(This review is also on my Destructoid and Wordpress blog)
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Before I start this review, I can assure that you despite the game's somewhat odd title, I will be taking a serious look at the game and not filling this review with dirty jokes. If you want filth, then I suggest you look elsewhere.
Crime and punishment is a somewhat tricky subject to say the least. Is it right to execute someone for taking another's life? Or is it better to deprive them of their liberty, ensuring that they spend the rest of their life behind bars? Playing Fingered, a new game from the creators of 'Super Meat Boy', won't answer this question. It will, however, make you feel as uncomfortable as hell while you send a series of cartoony characters to the electric chair.
The premise behind the game is that you're a police offer - an American police offer, going by the game's tone and language. You're tasked with overseeing a string of identity parades, where you have to discover which of the assembled suspects is guilty. You do this by listening to each witness's four statements and eliminating the innocent suspects, until you've discovered the guilty party. So a witness may say that the guilty party was tall, looked ugly, wasn't bald and looked rich. So you might release the suspects who have hair etc, until you've got the bad guy. Sounds easy? It isn't.
The catch is that in Fingered - which isn't unlike the 'Guess Who' board game - the witness become less reliable as the game progresses. The characters start using language like 'I think', which means they could be wrong, one suspect is blatantly racist, one says the opposite of what he means and so forth. Still, it's just a game, right? True, but it's a game that has the knack of putting you on the spot.
Firstly, when you 'finger' suspect, they go to the electric chair. You then flick the switch and they're executed, at which point you discover whether they were guilty or not. Send two innocent people to the chair and it's game over, but you may find yourself feeling sick to the stomach after killing just one innocent man. One innocent suspect's final words were 'Please.. my wife just had our first child..' I certainly did, which felt doubly odd that I didn't shed any tears over bystanders getting caught in the crossfire in other games.
There's also the fact that you never find out what the 'crimes' the suspects are accused of are. One 'guilty' man went to the chair explaining he'd only stolen to support his family. The whole dark undertone of the game is at odds with the game's cartoony graphics but it makes Fingered more than just a simple diversion. It is, admittedly, fun to play, despite the topics addressed by the game. Though you should be prepared to fail given how vague some of the clues are. If I had to fault the game in one respect it'd be that the cartoony graphics make it hard to pick out the features of individual suspects. For example, you can be told a suspect looked 'crazy' but given that they all look a bit odd, it can be hard to pick out which ones match that description. But again, maybe that's the point.
Fingered is a great little game, fun to play but with themes that actually make you think, whether you want to or not. It's also different each time you play, and while you probably won't spend hours and hours playing it one sitting, you'll probably end up dipping into this on a regular basis. And with a price point of less than two pounds, there's no excuse not to get Fingered. Damn.
(This review is also on my Destructoid and Wordpress blog)
Crime and punishment is a somewhat tricky subject to say the least. Is it right to execute someone for taking another's life? Or is it better to deprive them of their liberty, ensuring that they spend the rest of their life behind bars? Playing Fingered, a new game from the creators of 'Super Meat Boy', won't answer this question. It will, however, make you feel as uncomfortable as hell while you send a series of cartoony characters to the electric chair.
The premise behind the game is that you're a police offer - an American police offer, going by the game's tone and language. You're tasked with overseeing a string of identity parades, where you have to discover which of the assembled suspects is guilty. You do this by listening to each witness's four statements and eliminating the innocent suspects, until you've discovered the guilty party. So a witness may say that the guilty party was tall, looked ugly, wasn't bald and looked rich. So you might release the suspects who have hair etc, until you've got the bad guy. Sounds easy? It isn't.
The catch is that in Fingered - which isn't unlike the 'Guess Who' board game - the witness become less reliable as the game progresses. The characters start using language like 'I think', which means they could be wrong, one suspect is blatantly racist, one says the opposite of what he means and so forth. Still, it's just a game, right? True, but it's a game that has the knack of putting you on the spot.
Firstly, when you 'finger' suspect, they go to the electric chair. You then flick the switch and they're executed, at which point you discover whether they were guilty or not. Send two innocent people to the chair and it's game over, but you may find yourself feeling sick to the stomach after killing just one innocent man. One innocent suspect's final words were 'Please.. my wife just had our first child..' I certainly did, which felt doubly odd that I didn't shed any tears over bystanders getting caught in the crossfire in other games.
There's also the fact that you never find out what the 'crimes' the suspects are accused of are. One 'guilty' man went to the chair explaining he'd only stolen to support his family. The whole dark undertone of the game is at odds with the game's cartoony graphics but it makes Fingered more than just a simple diversion. It is, admittedly, fun to play, despite the topics addressed by the game. Though you should be prepared to fail given how vague some of the clues are. If I had to fault the game in one respect it'd be that the cartoony graphics make it hard to pick out the features of individual suspects. For example, you can be told a suspect looked 'crazy' but given that they all look a bit odd, it can be hard to pick out which ones match that description. But again, maybe that's the point.
Fingered is a great little game, fun to play but with themes that actually make you think, whether you want to or not. It's also different each time you play, and while you probably won't spend hours and hours playing it one sitting, you'll probably end up dipping into this on a regular basis. And with a price point of less than two pounds, there's no excuse not to get Fingered. Damn.
(This review is also on my Destructoid and Wordpress blog)