Resonance Review

Walking a fine line between exploring modern innovation and paying homage to the genre's roots, Wadget Eye Games continues to crank out niche indie adventure games that look and feel pleasantly old-school yet inject fresh energy into the mix. Resonance adds a few interesting new facets to its classic point-and-click foundation that really switch up the way you interact with this finely-crafted pixelated world. But as much as this amplifies the unique depth of the experience, the fun sometimes gets lost.

A slow burning mystery with a touch of sci-fi flavor thrown-in, Resonance's tale starts out with a bang -- or a lot of bangs, actually -- as word comes in through panicked news reports of strange explosions erupting across the globe, leaving the populace shocked and shaken. It's actually three months before this cataclysmic incident unfurls that the story picks up and introduces the peculiar protagonists - a detective, a reporter, a doctor, and a scientific number-cruncher. Drawn together by a city-wide blackout and a suspicious lab accident that leaves a man dead and dismembered, the quirky group must work together to dig deep into the heart of a conspiracy wrapped in science and intrigue.

Controlling each of these four separate characters adds a cool spin to the flow of the adventure. From a storytelling perspective, it creates a fascinating teamwork dynamic between the different members of the group as they spread out across the city solving puzzles that push them closer to the truth of the story. Strong voice work and punchy dialogue brings the characters' distinct personalities right to the fore, making their connection all the more interesting. However, handling that many protagonists at once can be a real chore. Juggling four characters who have their own separate inventories to manage and unique roles in the grand scheme greatly multiplies the potential for getting turned around.

Figuring out which characters, or specific combination or characters, need to be sent to different areas at certain points along the way isn't always intuitive, and losing track of necessary items passed between group members can lead to major speed bumps too. If you send Ed the mathematician to a location but realize you left a crucial item he needs with Anna the doctor who's across town at the ballpark, you're stuck with tedious backtracking to make the exchange. When you're on the right track and everything is working smoothly, managing the party adds a nice level of depth to the gameplay. Unfortunately, a simple oversight at any step of the way can completely derail your progress.

Resonance's unusual memory system, and the way it ties into dialogue and puzzles, is another innovative approach that sometimes goes awry. In addition to the standard inventory menu where you keep and use a wide range of items, each character also has two extra storage banks that hold different kinds of memories that can be accessed for conversation and puzzle solving. Long term memories provide useful hints culled from snippets of past events each character encounters, and you can also use them in conversation. The short term memory bank lets you grab memories of pretty much any interactive element you run across by dragging them from the environment like an item. You can then pull these memories into conversation slots or onto people to trigger important dialogue sequences. It's a neat system that's fun to use and a great change of pace from merely selecting text from dialogue trees, but again, if adds extra layers of complexity that aren't necessarily welcome when you're balancing the game's many other moving pieces.

Beyond the frequent interactive dialogue sequences, Resonance's other puzzles range from quick and clever to needlessly overcomplicated, though they're all intelligently crafted. Many of them are intuitive and don't require vast leaps of logic to figure out. For example, you might have to do a little sneaky hacking to access a work terminal and search e-mails for clues on how to piece together the necessary password info to access special classified records. Approaching the challenges in each scene requires taking the skills and personalities of the four main characters into consideration, and while you have to sometimes spend extra time messing around with a little trial and error in order to get back onto the right path, the results of each breakthrough feel doubly satisfying.

Closing CommentsWhile Resonance's retro, low-res pixel art aesthetic and occasionally dense puzzle work hearkens back to the older days of the point-and-click adventure, a smattering of modern mechanics weave enough new ideas throughout the gameplay to balance out its rough patches. There's still plenty of life in the genre, as this creative romp amply demonstrates, even if fully appreciating it takes more patience than some will be able to muster.IGN Ratings for Resonance (PC)RatingDescriptionout of 10Click here for ratings guide8PresentationA nicely balanced mix of well-thought out menus and intuitive interface.8.5GraphicsRetro though it may be, the pixel art is beautifully designed and animated, giving plenty of life to the characters and game world.8.5SoundThe voice work is particularly well-done.6.5GameplayNew ideas fall flat in spots due to the overcomplicated nature of lugging so many moving parts.7Lasting AppealThere's a lot of ground to explore and cover, though even with multiple endings, there's not much reason to go back for another spin.7OverallGood(out of 10, not an average)by Nathan Meunier Latest