Today's game for Club Members, tomorrow's game for all.

You can download Noir Chronicles: City of Crime Collector's Edition here.



As always, please remember to come back and tell us what you think.

Happy gaming!

Thanks, Marian!

Ana

Whodunit Companions

Imagine two detectives, one in an ill-fitting brown suit and fedora, the other in something slouchy from Coco Chanel; side by side they surveil the unforgiving cracked sidewalks of Grimy City, Britannica then on an anachronistic whim motor to the cobblestones and quaint peaked roofs of Yes-We-Have-Black-Smoke-Shire. Both gumshoes possess their own talents and inner strengths; both are flawed yet they need each other.

I want them to fall in love and start a family.

Have you ever wanted to put two games together, throw out the inferior elements, and recombine their casual gaming DNA into a better production?

I am switching back and forth between Medium Detective: Fright from the Past by Deep Shadows and Noir Chronicles: City of Crime by Brave Giant.

I vastly prefer Medium Detective: Fright from the Past with all its narrative clumsiness to Noir Chronicles: City of Crime. Medium Detective has charming scenery and elegant puzzles. City of Crime has a more deftly written story, better characterizations, and touches of humor, for example, an HO screen tattooed on the back of a fellow prisoner. Also, when I randomly clicked on a tipsy bartender, he informed me he was out of everything that had to be mixed in a blender. The voice acting was good enough that in one sentence this walk-on, minor character made it plain he was excusing drunken incapacity.

Nevertheless, only mulling over the contrast between these two games has lured me back to City of Crime. At one point, I stopped playing after, in a somehow familiar HOPA alley, I had to snag an object from the top of garbage piled in a fly infested dumpster and then put out a fire in a nearby trash can. Ordinarily, I would not return to a game that steered me to so dull and repellent a scene yet return I did, wondering to myself if the developers might believe teen-aged boys play these games. Nah. Well then, could the developers be teen-aged boys? Somewhat more likely but still iffy.

The next two quests required fixing a boiler and entering a storage unit that apparently was also a garage with an engine hanging above the open hood of a nondescript car. I am now in a different screen about to pick over another trash container, this time a mini dumpster, and another task will be moving full black trash bags across the street on the sidewalk. Really? It’s not funny anymore, guys, and it isn’t fun for me as a player either.

Noir as a genre, particularly HOPA faux noir, does not have to take place in a series of settings either repulsive or dreary or both; and noir in HOPAs need not consist of tasks straight out of vocational school or the Sisyphean existence of a doomed garbage collector.

In spite of the game's unpleasant qualities, I quite enjoyed playing as a male detective in City of Crime, appreciated the artwork that went into detailing the characters, and recognized the deftness of the narrative when considered apart from the boring settings as well as apart from the standalone puzzles better suited to the mental capacities of an eight-year-old than an adult. If the environments in City of Crime had been more visually pleasing and less consistently tedious, I would have rollicked along with the story and only groused about the puzzles. The card game could have been fantastic. I have never played a Brave Giant game with decent puzzles, so I don’t expect that to change much; however, I have played other games from Brave Giant with settings that pull me into the game world. I know Brave Giant can do better for the next game in a Noir Chronicles series, and I hope there is one.

Sardonic Detective Fox (AKA Ginger Tale), marry the brilliant and insightful Detective Arlington, settle down, and raise some well constructed narratives with good puzzles and intriguing environments. Hire the tattooed fellow prisoner as butler and chauffeur. He can walk Asta and make sure garbage can in the kitchen of the Fred Astaire worthy residence never, ever under any circumstances gets a single fly.

I have not looked at the trial version of City of Crime as yet, so thank you for providing me with a very entertaining glimpse of the game. I really enjoyed reading this!

The developer (Brave Giant) usually starts a new thread in the Big Fish forums so that people can give them feedback about their game, and they have done this for City of Crime as well.

Hi, Marian!

I picked this one up in Big Fish's BOGO sale on the weekend and am really enjoying it. It's a welcome change from the glut of red and yellow-eyed monsters who have kidnapped <insert the relative here> and you must battle supernatural elements to rescue said relative. It's not a difficult game, which suits me just fine. I hate using the Skip and Hint buttons unless absolutely necessary, and sometimes the puzzles take so long that I forget what the point of the game was. I love murder mysteries, so this one is right up my alley.

Susan

Thanks for posting, Susan, and I am glad you are enjoying the game. I have seen quite a few people wishing that there could be a good detective/mystery game without the supernatural element. I would like to see more games like that without the black smoke, runes, etc.

8dognight, you express yourself so beautifully that even when you "dis" a game, it makes me want to take a look at it, just to enjoy your wit.

Thank you, Susie07

Sounds like one for me - so I've made a note of the title.
[Love "Noir" themed games.]

Have to wait for a good sale though

There is a buy-one-get-one-free sale today, Mad.

Yes. I saw that, Marian, but I will wait for a sale that is a "%" off a single game.

Got to try and be at least a bit strict with myself after all my spending at Christmas

Hi, Marian and Mad!

You're welcome! It has gotten to the point where all of the games seem to run together because they're pretty well the same. I hope this is the first in a series because we need more murder mysteries that are based on reality and not the supernatural.

And, Mad, I picked this one up along with "Cadenza: The Eternal Dance CE", which I enjoyed. If you're interested in that one as well, Big Fish has another BOGO sale today !

Susan

Thanks, Susie07

Hurrah !! Got the game today in the latest Big Fish sale

I thought of you today when I saw the single-game sale! Good things come to those who wait.

Hi, Mad!

Good for you. I finished it last weekend and I think you'll really enjoy it. It's one I would definitely play again.

I almost bought the new "Dark Romance" game in BFG's 55% off sale, but I'm so glad I waited because now I can save another $2 <G>! I think I'll also pick up the new "Jewel Match" and "Labyrinths of the World" because I'll never see them cheaper than $6.99. Make sure you hang onto today's coupon code because it may still be good for a short time tomorrow when a new CE is released.

Susan

I love "Noir" themed games, too. Almost anything that departs from the Insane Serial Killer/Demon/Witch/Alien Invader/Tormented Princess clichés attracts my eye. ha ha ha

I used to be concerned about how many games I bought/played, but then I thought about how many hundreds of dollars some people spend each month for Cable TV, no-holds-barred cell phone use, Netflix, and other modern addictions, and I stopped even thinking about my one-or-two-games-a-month habit.

I will always end up buying a game that takes my fancy - even if I don't get it the moment it's released.
But as I buy Adventures, RPGs and Casuals the cost would soon get ridiculous if I didn't watch out

I have my fingers crossed that there will be a sequel and it improves on "City of Crime." That happens often in detective novels, for example, Janet Evanovich's first Stephanie Plum novel was promising but nothing special, a fact she readily acknowledged in an interview. I have great hopes for Brave Giant's Alfred Fox and even for his police officer friend and the unnamed tattooed accomplice. "I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship." They walk into the fog.

If you're not a film buff, that was the final line in "Casablanca" spoken by Bogart to Rains; the movie was released in 1942, maybe '43. In a 2010 piece in the "Guardian" on the Noir classic, David Thomson remarked in all seriousness "if nonsense is put together with love, care and aplomb the silliness hardly matters." I think the same can become true for the best casual games, and "Noir Chronicles" has that potential.

Casablanca is such a classic, and we re-watch it on a regular basis. I have heard "Play it again, Sam" so many times, used in just the same sort of tip-of-the-hat way. Nothing wrong with tossing in a reference to a classic genre film! As for me, I played the Trial Game yesterday of Adam Wolfe: Noir Chronicles yesterday, and got a laugh out of his use of Noir clichés.

Edit: I conflated the two titles Adam Wolfe and Noir Chronicles, both of which are separate games, having downloaded both today. Sorry about that.

I went web searching today for Adam Wolfe games and found two that Big Fish don't seem to be offering (as yet ?).

"Adam Wolfe : Zodiac"

And

"Adam Wolfe : Noire Chronicles"

Thanks.