GAMEBOOMERS provides you with all the latest PC adventure computer games information, forum, walkthroughs, reviews and news.

GB Reviews

Latest & Upcoming Adventure Games

GB Annual Game Lists

GB Interviews

BAAGS

GB @ acebook

About Us

Walkthroughs

free games galore

Game Publishers & Developers

World of Adventure

Patches

GB @ witter

GameBoomers Store

Print Thread
Murder in Tehran's Alleys -- A First Look by gremlin #916115
09/29/13 11:42 AM
09/29/13 11:42 AM
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 40,644
southeast USA
Jenny100 Offline OP
GB Reviewer Glitches Moderator
Jenny100  Offline OP
GB Reviewer Glitches Moderator
Sonic Boomer

Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 40,644
southeast USA
Murder in Tehran's Alleys
A First Look by gremlin

What is it?
Games that originate from a non-English-speaking culture often struggle to make the transition into the English-speaking market when translated. Sometimes they do really well, and others skip the question completely by avoiding using language in the game in the first place.

Let us see whether Murder in Tehran's Alleys 1933, developed by Iranian studio RSK Entertainment can achieve this complex transition.

Is there a plot?
There have been a series of brutal murders of children in Tehran, capital of Iran, the original police detective has been removed from the case, but he's still around, and the boss has handed the case to you. What do you do? To whom can you turn for information? Can you trust your colleague who's now, can I suggest, just a little peeved at the change in circumstances?

How do you play?
Murder is a point and click adventure game played in fixed scenes, with Detective Afshar representing you in the scenes. The game was developed using the Wintermute Engine so, as far as I can tell, it is stable.

The graphics are more than cartoon, but not quite photo-realistic. There are plenty of interactive items in various scenes - books, diaries, inventory items, but they're often small and hard to find without the help of the space bar, which shows up all hot spots (except people) when you press it.

Objects you pick up go into Detective Afshar's inventory, which appears when you move the mouse to the top of the screen. Objects can be combined and sometimes split again.

Notable Features
I really struggled with Murder in Tehran's Alleys 1933, in fact I've been unable to complete it. Unfortunately, if you're writing a game that is strong on text and dialogue, and upon enabling a player to solve a complex crime, then the quality of the translation is absolutely key to making it work. There is a lot of text in the game, and it seems that the developers translated it from the native Farsi (written using the same alphabet as Arabic) into English using some very blunt tools. Whilst the spoken text remains in the original language.

The result is a game where you're trying to figure out the subtleties of a criminal case from text you can barely parse, and is stacked full of the most basic grammatical and spelling mistakes.

What's worse, in a game with all the spoken word in a foreign language, where you need to be able to read the sub-titles to understand what's going on, is that all those sub-titles are just pasted over the background with no regard for legibility.

Sorry guys at RSK, localization is not something you can do in a few days with Google Translate.

Conclusions
From the perspective of a principally English-speaking marketplace, Murder in Tehran's Alleys 1933, is far from market ready. I couldn't force myself to continue after a while.

What do you need to play it?
Requirements
OS: Windows 98 , XP , Vista, 7, or 8
Processor: 2.2GHz Single Core
Hard disk space: 2.8 GB
Memory: 2GB
Sound card: 16-bit DirectX Compatible
Graphics: DirectX 9.0C compatible 256MB 3D video card (Geforce6600/Radeon 9600 or better)
Other: Mouse & Keyboard

(I used a home-built 64-bit Windows 7 Home Premium (SP1) PC running on an AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual 5200+ processor, with 6 GB RAM, and a Sapphire Radeon HD4670 512MB video card, with on-mother-board, built-in sound card)


Re: Murder in Tehran's Alleys -- A First Look by gremlin [Re: Jenny100] #916119
09/29/13 12:06 PM
09/29/13 12:06 PM
Joined: Dec 1999
Posts: 69,973
MaG Offline
Sonic Boomer
MaG  Offline
Sonic Boomer

Joined: Dec 1999
Posts: 69,973
Thanks, gremlin for a very informative review.

wave Jenny.

Re: Murder in Tehran's Alleys -- A First Look by gremlin [Re: MaG] #916120
09/29/13 12:21 PM
09/29/13 12:21 PM
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 48,169
near Yosemite
Marian Offline
Global Moderator
Marian  Offline
Global Moderator
Sonic Boomer

Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 48,169
near Yosemite
Thank you, gremlin. It's a shame that the translation is so poor. wave

Jenny smile

Re: Murder in Tehran's Alleys -- A First Look by gremlin [Re: Jenny100] #916135
09/29/13 02:31 PM
09/29/13 02:31 PM
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 23,997
UK
Rushes Offline
True Blue Boomer
Rushes  Offline
True Blue Boomer

Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 23,997
UK
Thanks, gremlin and Jenny.

Shoddy translation is one of my bug-bears. I'll be avoiding this one like the plague.


"Bleat, Watson -- unmitigated bleat!" ~ Sherlock Holmes
Re: Murder in Tehran's Alleys -- A First Look by gremlin [Re: Jenny100] #916158
09/29/13 06:47 PM
09/29/13 06:47 PM
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 416
London, UK
rmt Offline
Settled Boomer
rmt  Offline
Settled Boomer

Joined: May 2008
Posts: 416
London, UK
And it looked so promising... I had it on my radar.

Perhaps eventually they will make it better and worth playing.

Re: Murder in Tehran's Alleys -- A First Look by gremlin [Re: Jenny100] #916160
09/29/13 06:55 PM
09/29/13 06:55 PM
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 83,238
In the Naughty Corner
BrownEyedTigre Offline
The Sassy Admin and PR Liaison
BrownEyedTigre  Offline
The Sassy Admin and PR Liaison
Sonic Boomer

Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 83,238
In the Naughty Corner
Thanks for the review Gremlin.

Thanks Jenny!

Ana wave


Don't feed the Trolls
Re: Murder in Tehran's Alleys -- A First Look by gremlin [Re: Jenny100] #916204
09/30/13 02:37 AM
09/30/13 02:37 AM
Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 10,027
Greece
Haroula Offline
Adept Boomer
Haroula  Offline
Adept Boomer

Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 10,027
Greece
Thanks, gremlin and Jenny. smile wave


I change all my passwords to "incorrect". So whenever I forget, it says, "your password is incorrect".

Re: Murder in Tehran's Alleys -- A First Look by gremlin [Re: Haroula] #916206
09/30/13 03:42 AM
09/30/13 03:42 AM
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 34,287
United Kingdom
Mad Offline
Sonic Boomer
Mad  Offline
Sonic Boomer

Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 34,287
United Kingdom
Thank you, gremlin (and Jenny100).

Very informative and much appreciated thumbsup


Time : The Most Precious Commodity
Re: Murder in Tehran's Alleys -- A First Look by gremlin [Re: Jenny100] #916215
09/30/13 05:28 AM
09/30/13 05:28 AM
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 25,099
Marlborough USA
Kaki's Sister Offline
Sonic Boomer
Kaki's Sister  Offline
Sonic Boomer

Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 25,099
Marlborough USA
Thanks Jenny and gremlin. I appreciate such an informative review.


Gerry
Re: Murder in Tehran's Alleys -- A First Look by gremlin [Re: Jenny100] #916359
09/30/13 07:38 PM
09/30/13 07:38 PM
Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 265
greece
margob Offline
Settled Boomer
margob  Offline
Settled Boomer

Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 265
greece
thanks gremlin, I've already struggled through this game and everything you point out is spot-on

margo

Previous Thread
Index
Next Thread

Moderated by  BrownEyedTigre, Marian 

Who's Online Now
0 registered members (), 181 guests, and 0 spiders.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Staff, Mod
Newest Members
PierreLombardo, Dux, WillPowerGoat, Ebalon, J7769mon
9388 Registered Users
Powered by UBB.threads™