PRIMORDIA

With the reception of Resonance and Gemini Rue, Wadjet Eye Games continues to promote the point-and-click PC retro supporting this time primordia, an adventure game developed by Wormwood Studios and proudly displaying her big pixels . And left to play the raw seduction stripping, developers are gone thoroughly engaging to interpret the main character of the Bastion narrator Logan Cunningham, Barry White of gaming. Still remains whether his presence is noted gift Bonuxes fans or simply hide misery.

ROBOT SAPIENS

his voice low enriched honey would doubt the most heterosexual convinced. Also the first time Horatio Nullbuilt, the dark hero of the game, took the floor, hard not to fall in love. Accompanied by his sidekick Crispin Horatiobuilt, he lives peacefully away from the public square, asking nothing in person fleeing the city like the plague. Until the day when a person disturbs his hermitage for him steal the crystal energy residential single source. Back to him in the dark after being defeat a laser beam shot, Horatio decides to find the thief in order to claim his property. So effective but relatively conventional plot, if there was a small detail: the actors in the drama are all robots. Man for his part continued to survey the world for many years it seems, so much so that some machines is considered as a deity, the Great Builder, while others may even deny its existence passed.

While the story is rather agreed, therefore primordia than makes up for the originality of his world and the strong personality of its players. Good ideas abound, until the name of the citizens: a name like humans, and a name designating the manufacturer. A Factorbuilt has been created by Factor and Horatio Nullbuit known fact its origins. We guess and Crispin, our sidekick, is somehow the son of the hooded service. Each robot acts and speaks differently, as has been designed to assist lawyers, manage or train to be a waiter in a bar. But since the disappearance of humans, though the time has passed, and the machines have learned to develop their own. And the soldiers were without function and one of them for example, developed a particular fondness for poetry, not speaking to more than from the sewers where he decided to end his days. But despite their relative independence, some of them are still prisoners of the logic behind their creation, and will use his brains to make them give up a job, or change perspective on a subject.


YOU ARE HERE

However, is not by their difficulty or finesse the puzzles get their unscathed Instead, they are again quite trivial and should not pose a problem for used or new kind of a little resourceful. And that's a shame. The best idea of ​​primordia is not to punish the player in case of failure, but to propose a roundabout way to achieve its purposes. It is not here to offer unwanted side objectives unlocking particular success but rather various ways to overcome the main quests. Some answers are of course better than others and provide access to useful material to understand the past Horatio, but failure does not mean the end of the adventure. It is such a player asked to arbitrate a dispute between two robots in Metropol, the largest city in game play If Solomon is not in our ropes, nothing prevents you from sending an emissary in load for us. And if justice is our heart, it will listen to the claims of the plaintiffs before deciding in favor of one, the other or a third person. The four verdicts are viable, there is no wrong answer, but the reward will not be the same on arrival and rest of the story will be affected by our decision.

The entire game is full of sparks of intelligence outside of these puzzles. The interface is very discreet example and allows one-click access to our inventory, map explored areas or data collected during our journey. And leaving the country to get to town, our heroes will encounter a terminal interactive information providing its expertise based on queries that are submitted. It is no longer matter of clicking on an element of decor, but to pound on the keyboard to get more details about the world in which it operates. By typing its name on the screen, and learn what Metromind. But we can also consider the laws of the city, its most influential citizens, or to the mythological entity of Rights. With this tool, and pushing a few conversations with NPCs, you will come to understand the history of the world, its codes and power games current among synthetic beings to realize that primordia is is smarter than it looks and the way books K. Or Dick Van Vogt, like the shadow of our reality in a distorting mirror.


BAD NEW YEAR RESOLUTION

The resemblance does not stop there also. The music, though slightly depressing, really excellent and strongly reminiscent of the main theme of Blade Runner by Ridley Scott. In fact, the audio portion as a whole is a success, and the hero is not the only benefit of a compelling dubbing. The voices are also at the service of dialogue rather well written, they are serious in the case of a dissertation on Metropol, or more playful when Crispin, our driving partner, comments on the actions of his master or reluctant to perform tasks entrusted to him, exclaiming "B'sod" the curse trendy among androids. The same requirement is at work on a visual level, especially during the first part of the game The city is certainly very successful and that future recall degenerated and dusty familiar to Rick Deckard, but it is truly in the desert rust that realizes the state of neglect and disrepair What men left a legacy. The Unnic, vessel using Nullbuilt house, falling apart and surrounded by landfills, Titans buried metal or pools of oil around which lie the remains of a deadly war long forgotten.

Faced with this artistic direction chaining the good points to the problem of realization. The only resolution 640x480 brings perhaps a nostalgic touch to the experience, but we can not help thinking that it is partly spoil the work of designers. It was not absolutely necessary to remove completely, but give the choice to the player displays the pictures in HD would have been in good taste, especially when laying eyes on the beautiful artwork used to promote the in. With this choice, the developers give the impression to sacrifice some of the added value for the benefit of retro pad that appeals today more and more players. The animations are either not really up to it, not the lack of once again returning to a bygone era. But the biggest disappointment is the duration of the adventure. Although there are several purposes and the ways to solve the puzzles provide a good potential for replayability, should not exceed four hours for a first run, emptying much of the dialogue, interaction and secrets found in sets. And for once, this fault would both struggled in the 90s in our time.