Short and enjoyable. Short and enjoyable. Short and enjoya--
If you were in a time loop, would you realize it?
Reading the same reviews all over again, all games seem to circle back around to the same genres when they get remade, don't they? You'd eventually find one game that sticks out and sticks with you.
Alt-Frequencies is one like that, it seems very unassuming, there isn't much in terms of graphics, you're presented with a radio, there aren't even portraits, or moving parts except for the tuning of radio frequencies at the top between stations and the fading in and out of transitions and chapters. Yet you'll find a lot of that doesn't really matter because you're paying attention with elsewhere.
Personally, I find earbuds invasive, always have, but that is just me - this game absolutely requires them. For one reason only, and it is the core of the game itself and--
Alt-Frequencies is one like that, it seems very unassuming, but there is quite a lot in terms of audio. It brings an unseen world to life through characters voiced by Jasika Nicole (Astrid from Fringe - which is strangely fitting considering the setting!), Geoffrey Bateman, Mike Rugnetta, and many more. As well as being the studio behind A Normal Lost Phone, this was helmed and voiced by some heavy-hitters. It's one thing to have an indie that is well written, admittedly, but it's another to have actors that can carry on what is essentially an interactive radio play.
While sparse, there is a bit of foley going on in the background, the shuffling of papers, the stopping and starting of recording of tapes, boots on the ground in a pedestrian interview on a news station or shouts in the background. It does make the radio experience more authentic.
If you were in a time loop, would you realize it? You'd eventually find one game that sticks out and sticks with you.
Alt-Frequencities is one like that, it seems very unassuming, but there is quite a lot in terms of narrative and interactivity - to an extent. Interacting with the game is great, you have no voice yourself, but you can take clips from station to station, recording here, uploading there, to spread messages and ask questions. If you don't think that news doesn't sound very kosher to you.. maybe another station is talking about it?
But overall.. where the game sadly lacks: it's incredibly short. You'll spend 30-45 minutes with it - if that - and be done with it. And there is zero replayability. There are two endings, but they are a joke. Your world is built and built and you're scooped up and built up with it and turned and.. dropped on your ass at the door. Thanks for playing. They had such a brilliant cast, and a brilliant idea, and they could have kept going with it.. but it just seems like they stopped. And that was it. And I wish they hadn't.
It's still a very interesting experience, especially for a small mobile game.
If you were in a time loop, would you realize it? If you were, you get your money's worth out of every game - this one included.