February 5, 2015

Evidence: The Last Report

Microids, 1997


Evidence is an entertaining mystery adventure revolving around a classical crime story and a gameplay that doesn't rest only on adventure genre but also entertains the player with multi-action sequences like shoot'em up, beat'em up as well as car and speedboat racing in real-time throughout the game. You play the game as Daniel Singer, a news-reporter for Channel-Z and you are the prime suspect in Sarah Hopkins murder case. Sarah Hopkins, another Channel-Z reporter and your ex-girlfriend phone called you at your home before she was murdered and asked you to reach her place immediately for she had discovered something very terrible and it could be the greatest news of the century. On finding himself dragged into the case, Dan launches his own investigation into this brutal crime without having the slightest idea that the info he is about to uncover can destroy the careers of some people in very high places and they will do whatever it takes to stop him. So, in order to complete this mystery you need to be vigilante, fast and witty because there are dozens of clues to put together, numerous puzzles to solve and many action sequences to overcome before you are able to identify those key characters in high places.

The game has every feature that a traditional adventure gamer wants in a game, i.e. point and click interface, multi-choice dialogue option, huge inventory, mind-boggling puzzles and above all a compelling story. The control interface is an array of action icons that pops up in the lower part of the screen, which will be used to deliver different actions such as look, use, pick and talk. Puzzles are mostly inventory-based but some problems can be overcome by selecting appropriate dialogue options while interacting with game characters. Graphics and the game characters are still images pre-rendered in 3D. The game has a lot of excellent quality cut-scenes and animations completely rendered in 3D. Music and sound effects are very atmospheric and entertaining. Though the game has few minor glitches, which may be overlooked for the game is very entertaining and should not be missed.