Resonance was released on June 19th 2012 and even today it’s still one of my favourite games, it was developed by XII Games and Published by Wadjet Eye Games, who actually developed another awesome game I’ve reviewed called Emerald City Confidential and you can check out that review here. Resonance is a third person point and click adventure game where you play as one of four characters at a time, Ed (a lab assistant), Anna (a Nurse), Detective Bennett (a Cop) and Ray (a Blogger) all of whom advance the plot in different ways.
I mentioned up top that this was and is one of my favourite games, part of it is the intrigue of the story, where you control the four characters mentioned above to locate the dead Professor Javier Morales’s research on a new power source called ‘Resonance’ which has numerous applications but could easily be a weapon in the wrong hands. Something else that’s good about this game is that you can have more than one ending, depending upon the choices you make so their is replayability, but to be honest the writing is tight, and the dialogue is smart and engaging, with each character bringing something to the melting pot of the plot, so even without the endings you can still find value in replaying this game.
The characters in particular feel real, they have a distinct human quality that not every game can manage, you feel for the characters and their choices, their dialogue, their journey feels honest and organic.
Something that was particular cool was the memory functions, you could place items in long or short term memory, this really helps to gather information and solve the mystery and while it can be tricky, especially when navigating this between multiple characters but it created a nice and surprisingly unique way of playing that makes you piece everything together and remember everything. I’ve seen other people who’ve been less enthused by the mechanic but overall I enjoyed it and it really added to the game.
The visuals are also part of the charm of the game, while it’s smooth and nice to look at, it also manages to capture the retro pixel style that comes part and parcel with this type of point and click game, and just gets the old nostalgia going. Backing up the visuals are some top notch voice acting and sound effects that strongly push this game from good to great.
Now these games are well known for their puzzle mechanics and Resonance is no exception, they rely mostly on common sense and using real world knowledge to solve actual problems, so they are fun and challenging in a realistic way.
Overall Resonance is a brilliant game, with a strong cast of characters, all well voiced, interesting puzzles, a unique core dialogue mechanic and a powerful and engaging central story that’s easily worth playing a few times. Plus with the possibility of more than one ending you can really get your money worth from this game, speaking of which you can grab it on Steam for £6.99/$8.83. One last thing before I finish up, I’ve got a tentative interview scheduled with the designer of Resonance, Vince Twelve for after he’s completed his move so keep your eyes peeled for that in the next couple of months.
First Published on: https://offtherecordblog.org/
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