Review for Fate by Numbers - Wake Up, Alice!

[Scythe]

As adventure games evolved and graphics became ever more prominent, it was inevitable that full motion video sequences would be attempted. It took many tries, with various degrees of success, to eventually arrive at what one could consider acceptable gameplay using full motion video. Among the more successful attempts were the Tex Murphy series, stories involving a down on his luck private investigator in a science fiction setting. Its genre was sci noir, sort of Hammond or Chandler set in the future with flying cars in a dystopian city. You could safely say that the movie Blade Runner was also a large inspiration, as Blade Runner is of course itself film noir in a science fiction setting.

Obviously, these games were huge undertakings. Not only did you have to design your basic game, you also had to hire and direct competent actors, film them on blue screen and create believable graphic backgrounds and items for them to interact with. At least this was the common approach, live actors on a computer generated background. Creating these games was expensive since you were basically making a multiple choice movie along with a graphical adventure game.

As 3D graphics became commonplace, focus shifted from live cinematics to detailed polygons and this particular breed of adventure game had to retire. In an effort to revive the genre and introduce it to younger players who may have never had the chance to experience it for themselves (incidentally, also as a graduation project), a group of Dutch students set out to recreate the gameplay and atmosphere of this brand of game. Using the guise of the aptly named fictional company, Revival, they created Fate by Numbers, a sci noir detective story with full motion video actors. What's more, they offered it for free!

Playing as Alice Sanger, a softboiled private detective (as opposed to more hardboiled detectives, Alice comes across as relatively harmless) with a case of emotional baggage, you take on a shady assignment to secure a certain briefcase. Unfortunately, during your uncharacteristic armed robbery, you're shot by an unknown assailant, and the last thing you see is the face of your supposedly dead husband. From there, it's a safe bet that Alice has to track down the briefcase and its mysterious contents, find out what actually happened to her husband and figure out what it is that's really going on here.

Controlling Alice is as simple as pointing your mouse around the screen to find highlighted spots, right clicking and choosing one of three possible actions, 'Look', 'Use' and 'Talk'. Further, you can look at or use any item in your inventory. It's a basic setup that's proven time and again to work in adventure games. You don't actually walk around locations, they're all the size of one screen, and you can reach anything on the screen without moving. When you get into conversations with the other characters in the game, you choose from any number of lines displayed below the screen, causing the actors to speak their lines and act in an appropriate manner.

For an adventure game such as this, there are many pitfalls. Fate by Numbers does not manage to avoid a lot of them. First of all, there's the plot. While the story has an acceptable premise, it really fails to go much of anywhere. The story of the game is rather thin, revolving around a totalitarian state that you doesn't actually make its presence known much, an underground resistance that eludes the state using fully functional subway trains, and a mind control device that is never actually used for anything. The story has holes large enough that you could drive one of those trains through it.

If the personal story of Alice and her husband had been more interesting, that might have been a saving grace. But while the game actually seems to center around it, not only is it filled with clich's, it's really not that exciting, for several reasons. Worse, both stories remain unresolved, as the game ends with a disappointing 'to be continued...' While there are multiple endings to see, these are chosen directly at the end of the game, are not very different, and no one of them can be considered more definite than any other.

Regardless of plot, an adventure game can easily by saved by its puzzles. Being challenged by good brain teasers forgives most any poor writing. Sadly, Fate by Numbers does not provide you with any good puzzles. It's as simple as finding all the hotspots (made all the more easy with a 'Hint' button that highlights all of them), getting all the items and using them in obvious ways. The biggest puzzle in the game is figuring out that Alice has a wrist phone that can be activated by clicking on her wrist, something that you should perhaps have been told from the beginning (there is no manual).

If you can't get a decent plot and can't get good puzzles, perhaps there's hope to be had in watching the story - that is, seeing the movie that was made for the game? I'm afraid you're still in for disappointment. Since this game was made as freeware on a small budget, obviously no big shot actors were hired. In fact, it's very clear that most of these people do not pursue a career in acting, or at least do not give performances to match that. Apart from one standout person (Remco Corman, the missing husband), the best performance these actors give is 'barely acceptable.' More than once, the performance is way over the top, wooden or completely off key. Nicole Mischler, playing the protagonist, is - thankfully, since you will be seeing a lot of her - in the barely acceptable category, though more often than not she underplays, appearing to not really care. Perhaps she is supposed to be so cynical that she no longer cares, but unfortunately she comes across more as too laconic to be able to.

Where the game shines, though, is in its technical execution. All of the video sequences are crisp and clear, and you can clearly see the actors and their facial expressions (the quality of acting being what it is, this is not always a good thing). All of the backgrounds are well done, and the actors don't appear completely out of place when standing in them, something that is notoriously hard to achieve. Still, from a design point of view, the few screens of the futuristic city come across as too sterile and lifeless, like it hasn't actually been lived in.

Sound quality is generally high as well, with only a few places where the spoken dialogue fades out and is hard to hear. Sound effects are appropriate to the various situations, and the music is quite good, with a few tracks that are listed as used with permission from a professional production. I'd say that the sound is competently done, and does not get in the way of any other game components.

With everything that I find to be wrong with this game, how can it still be considered quality? Well, for one it's hard to discount what has actually been achieved here. Even if it's not all that long, this is a full motion video adventure game created by students. It has multiple actors, rendered backgrounds and a high video quality. It is ambitious in trying to emulate a full cost production, and while it does not succeed, it comes part of the way, which is impressive enough in itself. While this is a big download, you also have to consider the fact that you're getting it for free.

Playing Fate by Numbers is a little like borrowing a movie that you never even heard about from a friend. Sure, it doesn't have big thrills and it won't make you think too much, but it's a couple of hours worth of entertainment, and it doesn't cost you anything. If you're curious to see how full motion video sequences can be implemented in a video game, there is no better place to go than this for free.

Playability 4 / 6
Idea 3 / 6
Technical Implementation 6 / 6
Game Graphics 5 / 6
Game Musics 5 / 6
Game Extras 1 / 6
Overall Rating 4 / 6