Innocent Until Caught (Amiga) - A Playguide and Review - by LemonAmiga.com
95Innocent Until Caught was released by Psygnosis in 1994. This point and click adventure features some impressive backdrops, a futuristic plot, and appropriately thematic music. It also has some insane puzzles and illogical item manipulations, so for this guide I'll be using the walkthrough.
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Production Notes:
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Captured: 11 Oct 2020
Narrated: 29th April 2021
Edited: 28th April - 25 Aug 2021
Originally I planned to release Lure of the Temptress for this Series 6 opener, but instead I was drawn to this relatively little known adventure from Psygnosis. You might remember we looked at Universe by Core Design last series, and I wanted something to follow on from that game in case I put these adventure games into a playlist at some point.
I began by watching the longplay, which of course doesnt tell you what items are for, you just have to watch carefully and see if you can spot what's going on. I watched up until the Zoo section, and then loaded up the game to see if I could play it. I still had to go back to the longplay at some points, especially the part in the museum, as I couldnt remember what to do at all in that section. I've no idea if the newspaper from the bar is what I needed, but dropping items in this game is incredibly risky.
Editing started on the 28th of April, where I also inserted all those captions like Sid James, Meatloaf, Anne-Margaret, and the mother from the American 'Happy Days' TV show. Narration was done the next day. I guess I finished off editing this review over the summer. When I loaded it up to check it in August 2021, it was mostly finished except for the intro titles and end credits. Someone donated £10 on my live stream waffle video, and they are also listed on the end credits of this show.
Danscore:
Adventure games have come a long way from type-in text parsers with nouns and verbs, but it's still the story, and the playability, which are important. Innocent Until Caught has a certain atmosphere, and the graphics seem to be very well drawn for the most part. Music is ok in a Scumm i-Muse kind of way, but I dont remember any sound effects. The plot is nonsensical for the most part early on, and there is little or no help available in the game to tell you what you're supposed to do. The items are often a pixel in wide, but having collected them, the guy doesnt say "oh, this circuit board has a remote control option, and plugs into this Stereo ghettoblaster." You just have to figure everything out by endless wandering and trial and error. Back in the day I would probably have failed at the first puzzle, seeing as I would never have figured to put the trophy into the bag. There is not much to lead the player as far as a story, with incidental moments happening as cut scenes. There is no indication of an enemy villain, or a maguffin to find, outside of finding your first drink. Perhaps the aim and the plot will unfold at the end of the game? This is different from Beneath a Steel Sky, or Monkey Island, where there are clues to many of the puzzles, and the ability to ask around town to find out what to do next. Overall, the graphics and atmosphere get high marks, but Universe had more action and (to an extent) more logical puzzles. This brings the score down to 6.5 out of 10 for me; a great game but one which needs a longplay or walkthrough to get anywhere.