The game’s first and foremost offense lies in its poor puzzle design. The problem is, each step along this path is plagued by unfortunate design choices, boring visuals, and a story that is no less transparent than the steel plating of the hull. Players must search each location, collect items, and use them to solve logic puzzles to progress in the story. There is a hotspot locator (which also reminds you of your current task), and an object’s name is displayed when hovering the pointer over it. An inventory bar will pop up at the bottom of the screen when the cursor is moved there. Controls are as straightforward as can be: left-click to take or interact with an item or talk to a person, right-click to examine something. Once aboard the Kursk, the game attempts to build up some speed, and partly succeeds in doing so. All of this is communicated over the course of the game’s first of nine chapters via stilted dialog and banal environments. Players take control of Russian agent Milena Belyaeva, who is assigned to infiltrate the Kursk undercover while on the trail of a criminal organization that is suspected of staging a coup to steal the vessel. However, the game isn’t a factual retelling of that event, but rather an alternate take that is loosely based on the tragedy. It is worth mentioning that the Kursk was, in fact, a real Russian submarine that sank in 2000. Unfortunately, most of them will remain utterly meaningless as the game moves on whether due to poor writing or a clumsy translation from its native German, suddenly referencing names and events purely out of the blue becomes Operation Kursk’s modus operandi. The game opens with a conversation, two disembodied voices discussing characters and events that, at this point, mean absolutely nothing to the player. The story is essentially a flashback leading up to the events of the sinking of the Russian submarine. But perhaps the lack of publicity was strategic, as the game comes across as a less-than-sterling effort, with a dead-end plot, “sometimes you see them, sometimes you don’t” inventory items, and voice acting so wooden the main characters may as well have been voiced by Microsoft’s text-to-speech Sam, Mike, and Mary. Much like the Russian nuclear submarine it’s named after, The Game Species’ nautical point-and-click adventure Undercover Missions: Operation Kursk K-141 suddenly and stealthily surfaced into view with little advance notice or fanfare.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |