We recently spent some time with the first two episodes of season one of The Detail, the interactive crime fiction game from Rival Games Ltd. With episode three released I sat down with the complete season to review the entire experience. A police drama told through multiple protagonists, part graphic novel and part interactive story, The Detail is an ambitious project, one which unfortunately can’t quite hold up under the weight of the scope of the game it sets out to be. I really wanted to find something to like in this title, and while the first two thirds of the season are passable, it concludes in such a way that I’m afraid that I can’t recommend this one.
Set in an unnamed major American city, The Detail begins with the murder of a local crime boss; what originally seems like a deal gone bad is only the tip of a deeper conspiracy, involving local gangs, Russian mobsters, dirty cops and dirtier politicians. You primarily play as one of three characters: Reggie, the veteran detective dealing with the frustrations of a life of police work, Joe, a former small time hustler gone honest but forced to turn informant, and Kate, a rookie policewoman still hopeful that she can do some good in this dirty world.
The Detail is presented through a mix of still panels in graphic novel fashion and point-and-click style interactive scenes. The comic panels present the majority of the story beats, moving the player through most of the dramatic and action scenes, whereas the interactive scenes put you in control of one character, investigating scenes, searching for clues and doing a little light puzzle-solving. Across both formats you will be presented with multiple choice conversations and actions similar to a Telltale game.
Right from the get go there are some things I like about how The Detail handles this, and some things I don’t. On one hand, I felt like I had the option to make some pretty nasty choices, lying to and threatening suspects and superiors alike and brutalizing felons to get the job done. While you won’t always get away with it, I found that the game was more comfortable letting me play dirty than the average Telltale joint. On the other hand, whether you’re the straightest cop on the force or the most corrupt officer to ever to wear a badge, you’re going to find yourself on a very straight line that rarely deviates in a meaningful way. The story is going from point A to point B in spite of you, and while your actions may vary, the outcomes are almost always the same. For a game that doesn’t have anything else to offer than letting you make choices, this really feels like a mark against it.
Furthermore, the story that is told is lacking in the depth and originality that would be needed to rescue it from its linear path. Your three main characters are more or less cliches; Joe hits every chestnut of the undercover informant trope that you would expect, while Reggie is the grizzled cop muttering disenfranchised bon mot like “Protect and serve? Does anyone still believe that? I sure as hell don’t…” every step of the way. Most of it’s not so bad that it’s cringe worthy, but it is abundant enough that I felt pretty unenthused as we moved from one familiar scene to another. Perhaps if we had more time to spend with these characters and got to see them do more than run through platitudes it might be more enjoyable, but as it stands you won’t spend much time getting to know anybody but Joe, and even the even then it lacks the depth you need to feel an emotional attachment to the character. Incidentally, the final episode goes in a completely opposite direction, going so far off the beaten path that it completely sabotages the prior two episodes; without trying to spoil it, the last ten to fifteen minutes of the story introduce a huge number of new threads to the plot without resolving some of the core arcs. I thought we were hitting a thrilling apex in the middle of the story when the game told me that we were done.
On production values there are also some issues. Probably one of the first things you will notice about The Detail is that it’s unvoiced, with all the dialogue being presented in comic bubbles. I think the lack of voice acting is probably a wise choice for a game without the budget for some decent voice actors, but the game is also almost entirely devoid of sound effects. While I suppose that’s in line with a comic book, it makes the game feel very hollow. This is a game that has very little time to let us get to know our protagonists and buy into the world and it’s all the harder to feel engrossed when it’s so quiet. The game does have a decent soundtrack of gloomy piano tracks, but with the rest being so silent the experience feels unfinished.
The game art can also be hit or miss. While the meat and potatoes of the graphic novel style is pretty good, and mostly distinctive, there are times you’ll be presented with some panels that are strikingly crude. It’s difficult not to be jarred playing a game where there’s almost no content other than the art yet the comic panels, character models and the bizarre, off-putting character portraits are done in three different styles. That’s not to say it’s all bad; there are some scenes and illustrations which really hit the aesthetic I believe they were going for, but there are also times where it’s going to be a detractor as well.
Not entirely without its charm…
Perhaps the final nail in the coffin for The Detail is its length. Each episode lasts about an hour, but the three-episode package is retailing for over $16. This feels like a lot for the product being offered. While I don’t generally like to speculate on these kind of things, I find it hard to believe that the conclusion to The Detail, or really a lot of the first season, was presented the way it was intended. Episode 3 especially is so confused and ill-executed that I suspect the dev must have come to a point where they had to chose between releasing a sloppy ending or not releasing anything at all. It’s almost certainly too disoriented to make me think that this was where they wanted to end up with their story and I’m inclined to think that with the time and resources they probably could have pulled off something enjoyable. In the end I can’t recommend The Detail, it’s just not very good, but I hope that Rival Games can take away whatever lessons they need to have a better go of it next time, because I think they have the potential to make a good, compelling product. But until then I would look else where for your thrills.
This review was done on retail code provided to us by the publisher.
