The Foxhole

Talking, chatting, talking...

Phoenix is leading an investigation about a murder so one spends a very large part of the time talking to other characters. These conversations may be fun or boring but whatever the case, one has to interrogate each character at least twice and most possibly thrice before getting any kind of useful info regarding the case (one knows when one hits such information because of the little tune that is played as the plot thickens). The problem is, Culpa Innata features some kind of arbitrarily decided day/night cycle and one is limited as to the number of people one may interrogate in one day. More often than not, interrogating someone for the first time will exhaust the whole day and one has to wait the next day to continue the investigation. Nevertheless -- and despite the constant irritation that these frequent interruptions present -- the day/night cycle is not only there to be pretty but because some characters may only be interviewed at night and some places may only be investigated the same.

Main words that you will hear a lot during the conversations: sex, sexual partners and a whole bunch of stuff based around these. So does one see any people nude in game? Not even a bit. The closer you are of it is Phoenix in underwear (and only if you choose the good option at one point). Does it have juicy vocal description of sexual acts? Not even that. nevertheless the title is rated Mature both in North America and in Europe and I don't complain since it is always good to protect the youth from a society as incredibly stupid as the one depicted as the World Union... that alone is enough for me to warrant the Mature tag.

A free gameplay?

The promoted twist of Culpa Innata when it comes to gameplay is that it is supposedly open which is kind of a new twist in the adventure genre. In fact different people may actually play the game and experience different events, puzzles and even go to different places depending on the conversation choices they make and the time they take to proceed with their investigation. Some players may have a task at hand abruptly ended by a sudden phone call while others will be free to complete the said task.

On a second look though (when one plays the game a second time) one finds that this doesn't change things a lot. Yes the gameplay is open ended but things could have been pushed a lot further than they actually are. As it is, there are so many story blockers (key points that developers put in the game so the player can't reach some parts of the story before the time has come in order to not disturb too much the storyline) that "open gameplay" doesn't mean a lot. So basically, even though a limited open gameplay is there, it's not that much more open than the old Tex Murphy's series -- for those who played these in the good old times.

Flooding puzzles

This is an adventure game after all, so there are puzzle. These come in different flavors from the basic "you're kidding me" kind to some more complex that will leave you perplexed... for a time. There are also some weird references to some movies so for example, people who remember Joshua from the movie Wargames might be favored for one of the puzzle compared to those who never saw it. Fortunately not all the puzzles rely on external references. The main reproach that can be done to them is that for a lot of them there's no hint of any kind as for how to solve them and in some cases you're just reduced to series of trial and errors until that works... And that will, eventually; Heck even me I've solved the damn thing without relying on a walkthrough. This is not impossible but it may be time consuming.

It is to be noted too that the duties of Phoenix Wallis as a GPSN officer also include what is called "security screening". What is a security screening? In the game, it's a mini puzzle in itself. In the World Union Universe, it represents the final test to determine if an applicant for immigration to the Union does or doesn't pose a security threat. During the game, your main investigation will be interrupted three times so you may return to the GPSN HQ to conduct one of these security screenings. The process is plain an simple, you have at your disposal the hi-tech equivalent of a lie detector and you have to ask questions to the applicants. I won't give any spoiler there but it's your job to ask the good questions to determine if the applicant pose or not a security threat. If you do your job well it is noted for your final evaluation (at the end of the game) and if you don't do it well, it is noted as well, in a bad way -- meaning you loose points in your final HDI evaluation score. But hey, the first time I played doing things probably in reverse order without knowing at times where I was going exactly, I finished with a score of 94 (they just forgot to give the corresponding amount money, bast...ds). On the second play through although I made it quick and as smooth as possible I just got 95 (which from a HDI point of view as stated in the game double my value compared to 94 but from a score point of view is just +1). So I really don't know on what they base their famous evaluation... Ah, whatever...

Loosing the game? You can!

Well, it's not in every adventure game that one may loose. Generally either one goes until the end of the story and solve the mystery or one doesn't, period. In Culpa Innata, Phoenix Wallis, the character incarnated by the player, may actually loose in some way. She won't die or anything (this is not the kind of game where you die) but she has competition. Julio, another young GPSN officer has been assigned to the case as well and is supposed to be at her orders but the greed and selfishness of the World Union helping, he has teeth so long that he could scratch the floor just walking. So his goal is to solve the case before Phoenix and if one doesn't come with the good decisions with the good timing he may very well succeed. The final result is that Phoenix fails her evaluation, finds herself stuck at her rank in the hierarchy, won't participate in any future important investigation and is covered with slimy shame. In two words "YOU LOOSE".

Technically speaking

Despite the fact that the game in the version currently available is bug free (at least I didn't encounter any) some technical choices may seem weird. The biggest problem is that the game even though in full 3D is limited to 2 screens resolutions only (like the good ol' Anachronox in its time) a HI one and a LOW one. Without any surprise, the LOW resolution come at 800x600 pixels. The HI one however comes at 1024x768 pixels and one can't go over. Curious choice in a time where most gamers are equipped with LCD screens with a native resolution of at least 1280x1024. If you're playing with native LCD resolution of 1280x1024 the difference won't be that big but if you're playing with a 24" LCD chances are that you will find yourself with a game resembling to a bunch of blocky pixels. Asked about the weird choice, the developers answer that it was made in the early stage of the development a pretty long time ago when 1024x768 was a standard for most gamers and that it couldn't be changed after that due to engine limitations. According to them the real culprit was the delay needed to find a publisher for the game in order to get it out. Normally Culpa Innata should have been released 2 years ago. Still, the choice remains weird. There is the possibility to "trick" the game to make it play in a window instead of full screen which makes it up for the blocky pixel on large LCD screens, but in this case, forget about the immersion.

For the good stuff, the developers have opted for photo realistic faces for the main characters (the ones pertaining to the investigation). So the faces of the people one encounters in game are based on real photographs of real people that were reworked after that to adapt them to the game environment. Without being a reason to drop dead on the floor in delight, the end result is satisfying enough especially for the characters one is prone to see the most. A great effort has been also made on facial expressions with moving eyebrows, near flawless lip-sync and for women different makeup styles at different moments of the game and day (well for those who love the "paint bucket" styled makeup which is not my case). All in all the facial technical work put in this game is one of the best I've witnessed yet... Below on the left there is an intermediate drawing from a photo of the girl (don't ask for her number, I'm not a dating agency) who served as a basis for Phoenix Wallis (on the right). It's kind of more convincing in game though...

Too bad that the same attention to detail wasn't paid in other graphical areas. General graphics are not bad, they're just average and the developers decided to superpose to the screen some kind of granular noise (barely noticeable) with a purpose that is hard to guess.

The voice over is there without anything special about it. It is mostly OK for the main characters, passable for others.

So what? Worth playing?

Culpa Innata is the kind of game one may only have mixed feelings about. At least I do. Would I recommend this game as a must have? Definitely not. Would I recommend to dump it in the nearest trash can? Definitely not either. The fact is that the game is enjoyable as long as you are able to deal with the irritating stuff like the constant gossips with Sandra, the sometimes completely dumb reflexions of Phoenix and the fact that you must go through her wardrobe to change clothes each time you want to go out at night (but well that part may actually please female gamers, what do I know?) all of this making you feel like if you were playing an adventure version of The Sims (the reason why my annoyance rating is unusually high for this game). But then again, it is a necessary evil in order to better understand what the World Union is really about. Understanding how dumb this society is is the key to understanding the rest of the plot which is far more extended than just a murder.

The story in itself is interesting and presents a colorful and somewhat acid satire (acid being a normal component for a satire after all) of our own society with all the bad sides multiplied by one thousand. It also has the advantage to integrate a series of weird events and mysteries that really makes you want to know more. The only drawback when it come to the story is that the end leaves you with more questions than answers and you just have to wait for the next opus for that (hoping that they will erase the flaws this time).

For once the pros nearly balance the cons in this title so it's up to you to see if you want to spend the $20 for it. Will you feel like being ripped from your hard earn money? I didn't feel that way, because for me the story more than compensate for the little irritating things around (plus I don't have a super huge LCD screen to contemplate the catastrophe that a 1024x768 title may be on a 24" screen).