The Raven – Legacy of a Master Thief
Overview -
From the creators of 'The Book of Unwritten Tales,' comes 'The Raven - Legacy of the Master Thief.' Kings Art Games has combined the three episodes of their Agatha Christie-inspired adventure game into one release for the PS3. Though the subject and design hearken back a ways, the game has been built on the ever-popular Unity engine. Now it is time to step into the age of the detective and investigate the investigation.
Video Review
'The Raven's' graphical designs suffer from the same issues as its gameplay in that nothing is truly polished and ultimately the game settles for a very dated approach for its visual appeal. Character models don't begin to take advantage of the PS3 hardware with overly stylized character models, workmanlike static environments, and distractingly stiff animations. To make matters worse, the stiff movement and clunky interface of the game suffers from moderate drops in framerate and other graphical hiccups. There's little more to be said about the game's graphics and frankly, that's solely due to the effort put into the appearance of the game feeling second rate.
Audio Review
In the audio department, 'The Raven' does sport well beyond serviceable voice acting, though most performances are as exaggerated as the characters are written on paper. Effects and musical score merely exist out of necessity and there's little atmosphere built up by the gameplay soundscape; cutscenes fare a little bit better, but only accentuate that if the score isn't forgettable, it's hackneyed.
In the wake of 'The Walking Dead' there's not a single reason any modern point-and-click adventure should sport game play design choices that would have seemed limited more than a decade ago. King Art's only saving grace is drawing from a well utilized well and giving modern gamers a chance to experience an Agatha Christie-esque mystery in a non-traditional setting. Capturing that special product has meant that in spite of its luckluster characteristics, 'The Raven - Legacy of the Master Thief' should find its way into any point-and-click aficionado's library, but a purchase at full price is not recommended, which makes the game perfect for grabbing whenever discounted.
Click here to view comments on this review