Let's Play PSX: The City of Lost Children
0As it turns out, I really like this movie. So naturally I was nervous that the game was going to be bad... And well... It's not great. It's clearly inspired by Alone in the Dark. The controls are clunky, not just because of the movement, but also the inventory. And the puzzles, are well, not really easy. Right off the bat, while you're still getting the ropes of how to play, you're actually in a timed room. If you don't leave the room within about a minute, you get captured. This apparently counts against your maximum number of captures before you get a game-over...
The items are nearly impossible to see. It's almost impossible to figure out what you can interact with. And the first puzzle, you need to realize that this weird square on the outside of the lighthouse is actually an open fuse box (is that such a good idea with all those waves around?). Then you need to realize that you need to use a metal pipe to... short circuit the lighthouse so that the guard wanders over to check it out. That's a big leap of logic, considering from the way the map is constructed, it doesn't even seem *POSSIBLE* for the guard to see the lighthouse from where he is stationed. There's a giant building in the way! And of course, then you need to run away from him before he gets there, but that's a lie. Actually you need to hide, because if you try to leave, he actually teleports to you and arrests you anyway (another capture). From what I'm able to sell, the rest of the game doesn't really make up for it. I think there could have been a really interesting game where you control both Denree and Miette, and have some puzzles that only one or the other can solve (sorta like Lost Vikings), or maybe even just a point and click adventure with a much more expanded universe of oddball characters for Miette to interact with. But alas, it was not meant to be.
And on top of that, it's short as heck, with a casual run clocking in at about an hour, and the speedrun under 20 minutes. Jeeze. It doesn't even include the offshore rig, which could easily have been a whole second hour of game!