Ouch! I was hoping that game as a whole would be better than the opening that I played at PAX East. Apparently not, however.
See here:
http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/06/03/murdered-soul-suspect-review
Game » consists of 13 releases. Released Jun 03, 2014
Ouch! I was hoping that game as a whole would be better than the opening that I played at PAX East. Apparently not, however.
See here:
http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/06/03/murdered-soul-suspect-review
There are some great concepts in Murdered: Soul Suspect, but they feel undercooked or underutilised, and the lack of demand for any real input from us makes Murdered feel like a pick-a-path game where there’s only one path. It scrapes by on the power of its central whodunnit mystery, but I can’t help but feel that Murdered: Soul Suspect is ten hours worth of unfinished business.
I gave it a huge chance and pushed through the bitterness of everything listed above, but it was at that point I’d detected that Airtight Games had sprung a leak in its hull, and it’s a real shame. The concept and setting here were ripe for out-of-left-field explosiveness, but due to a lack of direction and capitalisation, and likely a small budget, all we’re left with is a lifeless game that fails to live up to its potential.
Murdered: Soul Suspect is one of the most surprisingly good games I’ve played in a long time. It manages to sell its bizarre premise and builds a solid, moving story out of it, and the plot-propelling investigations add immensely to the detective feel. Walking around as a ghost is clever and entertaining, and it even manages to inject variety into some of gaming’s most overused elements.
There's space in this genre to be sure - only LA Noire has come close to presenting an engaging, police-based, modern point-and-click adventure - but any new contenders need to pay far more attention to the actual police work underpinning them. Without doing so the conclusion we'll keep deducing is that crime may not pay, but it sure is tedious to bring to justice.
It's still a great looking game, and the core narrative is a fun, if underdone and derivative one. It's simply disappointing that this game had a reasonably large budget, and in the process it lost some of its identity and seems to be shoehorned into some very unnecessary and destructive mechanics. This game would have been far better off being made for a fraction of the budget by a small team willing to take real risks.
At first glance, Murdered: Soul Suspect feels like it almost had it all - an engaging story, challenging puzzles, tough action and a good amount of side quests to round everything out. But that all quickly becomes as transparent as Salem's undead population when you realize Soul Suspect's attempts to stand apart are lackluster at best. It's not the worst adventure title out there, but it's really, really hard to recommend it to anyone.
The game doesn't do much with any of this potential, however. So if you're in the mind for a tense, murder-driven adventure game, I would just recommend dusting off a copy of something like Heavy Rain instead.
That said, the mystery at the heart of Murdered really is excellent, and putting the pieces together crime scene by crime scene should satisfy many an armchair sleuth. The hidden ghost stories are well worth finding, and though Ronan is a bit of a dull fish, the people who surround him are worth getting to know, however briefly. With some truly great ideas and some unfortunate choices, Murdered: Soul Suspect and its ghostly hero is neither heaven nor hell, but something in between.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Murdered: Soul Suspect is definitely a qualified success. The richness of the atmosphere and charismatic lead performances pulled me through the story. That paired with a solid, no-frills investigation mechanic helped mitigate some of the technical problems and the sadly tacked-on demon hunting sequences. It's a distinctly average experience, but it has enough going for it that I'm glad I was able to conquer the bugs and see it through.
Shacknews - 6/10 ^ Review Quote
Amidst a release schedule of sequels and games where all you do is shoot people in the face, Murdered: Soul Suspect is a breath of fresh air. Sure it sounds a little silly that you play as a ghost-cop, but its story and hands-on investigation sequences make for a compelling and unique experience you won’t find in any other AAA title releasing this year.
Overall, Murdered: Soul Suspect is a bit of fresh air in a gaming world where sequels are prevailing. It’s not balls-to-the-wall action, but it certainly is perfectly paced, well written and a joy to experience. You won’t be upset if you give it a try.
Murdered: Soul Suspect is a solid release that will definitely scratch the itch of any aspiring Hercule Poirot. Ronan is an intriguing lead-character and his supporting cast each have their own quirks. The game will keep you glued to your controller throughout, even if the game is slightly on the short-side. An unforgettable, enjoyable experience that we hope to see more of in this new generation.
Murdered: Soul Suspect is one of the most surprisingly good games I’ve played in a long time. It manages to sell its bizarre premise and builds a solid, moving story out of it, and the plot-propelling investigations add immensely to the detective feel. Walking around as a ghost is clever and entertaining, and it even manages to inject variety into some of gaming’s most overused elements.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
It's really sad to see Murdered: Soul Suspect die on its feet. There's some interesting characters and backstory, as well as some really great visuals (depending on what or who you're looking at), but the game's strengths are haunted by mediocre gameplay and substandard production values. You won't feel any cleverer having solved Soul Suspect's mystery, nor will you feel tested by its combat; it's a death that's all the more depressing because of how quickly you'll forget it.
GamesRadar - 2.5/5 ^ Review Quote
(Google Translated) Verdict: A pleasant surprise. Adventurní game with some stealth nipples, which is based mainly on good treatment of the story and a few non-traditional game mechanics. Man pity length that makes the story but get bored. Some might discourage a slower pace due to the total absence of action or a little formulaic gameplay, because every investigation is conducted according to the same template. But despite all the complaints, I can say that for me it was not the best game I've played on my PS4.
Although a little bland at times, Soul Suspect's storyline kept me gripped and it's a genuinely beautiful game. You'd think walking through objects would look glitchy and gross, but it makes the game totally worth playing just for that feature itself.
Soul Suspect explores some new ideas and executes them with precision and without giving anything away, I highly recommend you play this one all the way to the end for its highly satisfying conclusion.
The name of this thread should be changed to the "Murdered: Soul Suspect review thread". Also, bummer; I already bought the game, so I guess I'll see for myself.
Huh... I didn't realize this was out.
I still want to know more about it. Maybe next week there will be a quick look or something.
Check the schedule on the front page.
@mb: Oh man. That guy and his slideshow. Clearly underutilized for the final release of Murdered: Soul Suspect.
@beachthunder: that doesn't change the fact that I didn't realize this was out today until I read this thread haha
Somehow I'm not surprised, which is coming from an extremely optimistic person when it comes to games.
@beachthunder: that doesn't change the fact that I didn't realize this was out today until I read this thread haha
He's referring to the Quick Look, methinks.
Too bad, I had some hope for the concept and thought Airtight had a chance to really prove themselves. Looks like I'll just grab Ghost Trick for all my spirit detective needs.
You absolutely should pick up Ghost Trick. That game is fantastic.
@beachthunder: @shagge: Oh shit, my bad. Ya, I see what you're talking about.
Sorry.
Watched the PAX gameplay demo last night. Honestly, 5.5 seems about right from what I saw.
Typical AAA obsession with never letting you actually play the game, instead forcing you to sit through a load of unnecessarily long-winded exposition, somewhat shallow looking mechanics with puzzles that aren't really puzzles and inconsistent world design.
The whole justification of why the protagonist can't just walk through the external walls of a building in particular is some of the hammiest, most contrived bullshit I have heard in a while, and any interest it had built up (which was actually a fair bit) totally dissipated in an instant. Hugely dissonant, to say the least.
But then, he can walk through walls, and all solid objects once indoors, yet he can walk up some stairs? Surely stairs count as a solid object, why doesn't he just walk through them too and find himself waist deep in staircase? Because video games, that's why. Don't get me wrong, that's totally fine, but they should've just ran with it as an inherent gamey absurdity rather than trying to explain it with bullshit lore that they pulled out of their ass.
Trying to sell me a story-driven game and then showing me just how dissonant and conceited the gameplay and lore are all in the same demo is a fast track to me not buying your game.
The premise seems really cool, as does the writing, the protagonist, the aesthetic and the general mood, but as a game it just seems really mediocre and it was easy to tell from that half hour chunk.
Will be skipping completely, or at least waiting until the price comes WAY down for this one.
Oh...so this just came out, eh? I was just listening to a sealed envelope e3 bombcast from a year or two ago where they were joking about this game.
GHOST COP
Like so.
I am going to get this no matter. I like the premise and i'm a sucker for detective style games. why is there not more types of these games, its a genre that is not over produced unless its a point & click adventure . LA Noire sort of got it right! when you first get to do the detective mode was really cool only wished they used it better in the rest of the game.
@bigjeffrey: Adventurní game with some stealth nipples
Fucking sold!
Wow, I feel like I've heard nothing about this game since e3 last year, didn't even know it was coming out this week.
I'm always interested in games that split opinions especially with such a potentially interesting premise as this. Gonna wait till it goes down to about 20 bucks though which shouldn't be long considering this stealth release.
This game is probably not too great, but I bet it would make for a good endurance run
If there ever was even the smallest chance you just blew it.
Too bad, I had some hope for the concept and thought Airtight had a chance to really prove themselves. Looks like I'll just grab Ghost Trick for all my spirit detective needs.
You absolutely should pick up Ghost Trick. That game is fantastic.
This!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sounds like the B-tier game people have been bemoaning the lack of. Could be interesting at a lower price point.
People that made uninteresting game with interesting ideas made another uninteresting game with interesting ideas.
I used to try and support these mid-low tier games because every so often a real gem comes along and gets ignored, but I just can't do it anymore. I have regretted buying far too many games like Remember Me or Enslaved at full price and then wished I'd waited until their inevitably fast price drops. I was hoping it would surprise me and review well, but from the footage out there it doesn't really do anything for me.
I really was pulling for this game. It sounded like a neat idea, but just like plenty of other games with neat ideas it fell through. I guess I'll just go and finally play Ghost trick instead.
I'm always interested in games that split opinions especially with such a potentially interesting premise as this. Gonna wait till it goes down to about 20 bucks though which shouldn't be long considering this stealth release.
This game is probably not too great, but I bet it would make for a good endurance run
If there ever was even the smallest chance you just blew it.
YAH HEAR THAT GERSTMANN? I GOT ALL THE POWER OVER THIS OPERATION.
I'll play this game if the title screen says "MURDERED: SOUL SUSPECT" in a Soul Calibur voice.
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