TheFriv2Online Games Studio website has a lot of games in its portfolio, and most of them are projects in the FMV genre. The next work of igrodelov, Who Pressed Mute on Uncle Marcus?, promised to be an interesting detective story, but something in the streamlined production pipeline of titles failed. What is wrong with the game - we tell in the review.
A terrible thing happened - Uncle Marcus was poisoned! Even worse is that it was done by one of the relatives. Find out who exactly is behind the murder, will be the main character Abby, the only one whom Marcus trusts. While her uncle is living out his last hours, the girl takes part in the annual family quiz, where she has to find out the identity of the villain. Obviously, you will play the role of Abby, but the plot of Who Pressed Mute on Uncle Marcus? will focus on the detective investigation.
In terms of storytelling, the friv game resembles films made using the power of screencasting - that is, as if recorded from a computer screen. You have probably watched at least one: "Search", "Unfriend" or, excuse me, "Hack Bloggers". In Who Pressed Mute on Uncle Marcus? all the action takes place in the windows of instant messengers and video chats, creating the effect of presence for the player.
It looks fresh, but at the same time becomes a big drawback of the game. Events are centered around relatives playing a quiz game in a relaxed atmosphere. The dynamics are completely absent, and most of the time you have to listen to the veiled mutual insults of the participants.
Of course, the FMV genre itself involves passive observation of the plot, but in other games there is still something going on, there is some kind of action , changing locations and all that. In the case of Who Pressed Mute on Uncle Marcus? the developers have chosen the most boring setting and format of all possible, as a result of which the action begins to lull in the first hour.
Add to this the need to play through the game several times to figure out the killer: during the quiz, Abby collects clues by questioning the participants as Uncle Marcus's health gradually decreases. It will not be possible to talk to everyone in one run, so after the inevitable finale, you will have to restart the passage - all previously received information will be saved.
Thankfully, the episodes are pretty short and the game allows you to skip some previously watched scenes, but the obsessive replay value is depressing nonetheless. In addition, I was not always able to remember the decisions that allowed me to open the evidence, and when I played it again, the same sequence of actions was sometimes triggered as the previous time. When you participate in the sixth or eighth iteration of the quiz, you start to get annoyed at such mistakes.
In Who Pressed Mute on Uncle Marcus? there is one star actor - Andy Buckley, known for the series "The Office", and a number of artists of a lower rank. I can’t say something good about their game: someone frankly overplays, someone doesn’t try hard enough. The characters are one-dimensional, you should not expect to find at least some depth in them. In any situation, Abby's mother will remain imperious and does not tolerate criticism, the aunt will drink wine with a thoughtful look, and the sister will delve into her smartphone.
As for the gameplay, there are no surprises here: the player is only required to occasionally choose options for the development of events. In a separate menu, you can view character cards and evidence that you have found. That's all the friv game mechanics - a bit, as is customary in FMV games.
Who Pressed Mute on Uncle Marcus? turned out to be weaker than Wales Interactive's previous work, the Bloodshore game. The novelty captivates with the atmosphere of a home detective in the spirit of "Knives Out", but too quickly becomes unbearably boring. Perhaps halfway through you will not want to find out who poisoned Uncle Marcus.
