[Intrepid Homoludens]

This review I actually wrote 3 years ago and originally posted in Epinions.com, so I thought I'd help out and bulk up this section of the forums a bit more:

The Messenger


More screenshots available at Gamespot.

"Breaking in is the easy part..."

You are a spy, assigned to 'visit' one of the world's greatest museums on a mission to find and steal artifacts that, if in the wrong hands, could unleash Armageddon. Are you up to the task? All in a day's work if you're Morgana Sinclair, a beautiful Secret Service agent enlisted by her father to do the work. But then again, you didn't know beforehand how deep - and dangerous - this assignment will become and, more startling, you didn't know that you'll be sent back in time on your mission.

The Messenger puts you in the shoes of Morgana Sinclair, whose father recently met with a mysterious demise. Poking around his study, Morgana listens to a tape he made her just before he died. He had been working deep in the foundations of the Louvre Museum in Paris when he had stumbled on one of the four 'keys' fashioned by the Black Templars, a faction split from the Knights Templars, who were subjected to persecution. As revenge they forged these keys that, when combined, would unleash a catastrophic force to destroy the world. Equipped with a kevlar crossbow, bolts, hook, rope, torch, electronic gadgetry...and a sexy black catsuit to boot, Morgana infiltrates the museum in the middle of the night and quickly locates the key, which is in the form of an incense burner shaped like a lion. However, her mission is far from over. The ghost of one of the Templars appears and tells her that she is the one destined to prevent bespoke catastrophe from happening. He opens a time portal for her and instructs her to travel back to three periods in the past to find the other keys.

Well, suffice to say that The Messenger makes for a fantastic cool thriller and I took a particular interest in some of its stronger aspects: the various historical settings, plot and subplots, intrigue, murder, double crossings, arcane magic, a surprising plot twist...yep, the usual stuff of glamour. Unfortunately the gameplay got in the way. As sleek and polished as the story seems to be, actually setting about the task to unfold it became a huge task in itself. Shall I explain?

The Messenger plays like a traditional adventure game. From a first person view the maps operate on a 'hotspot' basis. The node based engine pivots on a 360 degree fixed point movement (as in Traitor's Gate and Amerzone) with the cursor permanently positioned in the middle of the screen and changing according to the nature of the hotspot. And this is when it begins to drive you insane. My single biggest gripe with this game is its stingy use of hotspot areas. Case in point. Early in the game, I see a huge spot on a wall that reeks of importance, as indicated with the 'ah-ha!' music when the cursor glides over it. And yet the cursor didn't highlight. It wasn't until later that I had to go back to that wall and, with the help of a walkthrough, pinpoint that tiny, tiny section before my cursor could change. And that was early on in the game. There was also another major flaw imbedded in the introduction of the story which, for an adventure game, spells s-u-i-c-i-d-e. While listening to Morgana's father's tape, he mentions two items he had found during the excavation in the museum. One of them was, of course, the lion incense burner. Naturally, I thought I needed to find that and the other thing. So I kept going round and round, tracing and re-tracing my steps, panning the cursor everywhere in the museum, looking for that second item before going back in time. I never found it. Eventually, using a walkthrough, I located it. It was hidden somewhere in the Middle Ages, not, as Morgana's father had stated, where he found it during the present time. Big mistake on the game's part.

I should make it clear at this point that The Messenger is not an action game, but a pure adventure with emphasis on puzzles and story.

A few nuts and bolts. All actions and navigation are controlled by mouse. Inventory system with up to eight spaces for items; options for combining two or more items; maps; cross-historical information. Menu screen with up to eight save spaces. Saving games possible anytime during game. Now, this sounds handy enough in theory, but an hour into the game I realized how infinitely convenient it would have been to simply have unlimited storage space in your inventory. Yes, there are storage chests scattered around the locale, encouraging item management, but so what? There were dire situations in the game in which you were not allowed the opportunity to dig into a chest to retrieve a specific item that could save your life. There was one item that was indispensible for these situations, but because I only had eight (!) spaces in my inventory stash I wasn't sure if I wanted to leave it in the chest, as I had to have room for all the other things I needed in the meanwhile. On the up side, there is an option that lets you 'warp' to an area in the map simply by clicking on it, saving you time and effort. After all, the Louvre is a huge, huge place.

Graphically speaking, The Messenger hits and misses, emphasis on the latter. The CG sequences are handsomely done, sharp, generous, and dispersed evenly throughout the game. I found myself anticipating these cutscenes, primarily because of the pixelated, sophomoric, and embarrassing quality of the in-game scenes, which are powered by the Phoenix VR engine. Now, this is when I start b*tching about adventure games being so bull-headed about not keeping up with the times. The Messenger, simply put, would have made a magnificently beautiful fully real-time 3D game. It was practically begging to be one. For shame, for shame. Imagine, if you will, traversing the vast, vast corridors, galleries, and apartments of the Louvre (of all places!) , with all its colours, textures, patterns, and architecture, and being able to travel to its different time periods to compare -- all in real-time 3D!

One of the stronger aspects of The Messenger is its use of sound. This is a game best played using headphones, as the aural effects are done in 3D, and done excellently. Generously sprinkled throughout are neighs and hoof steps of horses, the footsteps of guards, the hushed conversations of residents, and the cooing of pidgeons outside on the ledges. The sounds are especially fun during instances in which you need to locate objects using your ears which, sadly, doesn't happen often here. There's one scene in which you're enlightened about the fate of a poor soul. As you walk around to look for him to perhaps rescue him, you can hear his groans echoing throughout the large hall. As you pinpoint the source of the groans you notice something else under a piece of furniture. Clever, huh? The voice characterization is quite good, especially that of Morgana and her late father, both of whom are British. Mind you, the story takes place in Paris, yet the accents of all the NPCs are British. Eventually you'll get past the inconsistency. The original music is sleek, reminding me of Eric Serra's score to Luc Besson's film 'La Femme Nikita'. However it is pretty much relegated to the cutscenes. Just as well, considering how wonderfully done the ambient sounds are.

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[Intrepid Homoludens]

(continued from above post...)

The puzzles in The Messenger were, generally, fairly easy. Nothing innovative, mind you. For the most part you can go through them in a non-linear way. Be warned, though. In this adventure game you can easily make a wrong choice that could result in being caught, or worse, death. The equivalent of a 'boss round' in an action/adventure, timed puzzles provide an exciting sort of mini climax at the end of each time chapter, but is excacerbated by that aggravating miserly inventory system. Two more huge flaws are the inability to play back cutsecenes after they're first shown, and no subtitles -- at all. Both of these gaping holes will frustrate you immensely, considering that a good number of clues to puzzles and tasks are found in the dialogues. Otherwise, expect to go hunting down keys, locating stuff to put together, being sent on tasks, and finding secret passages. You'll be rewarded based on your casual knowledge of history, chemistry, astrology, art, and even social skills. Thankfully, your cursor will change to reflect whether the object you're using will work on a certain spot, person, or another object.

I'm more attracted to environmentally based challenges, like talking up NPCs in order to get something from them, or creating diversions. I personally enjoyed finding the various ways to dress/disguise Morgana in a chronologically correct fashion. There are a couple of puzzles that seemed way too superficial, though, one of which involves that stupid glitch in the opening narration I mentioned above. There's also the weird, nagging awareness of the implications and long term consequences of some of Morgana's actions while visiting the past. For example, shouldn't she have yanked that 21st century arrow out of the body of the guard she killed during the Middle Ages? If stealth really is a crucial factor here, you would think that it should permeate every part of the mission, including covering up your tracks, if only to prevent chronological ripples. What works in the end is that I plowed through the puzzles, knowing that once I solve each one I'll achieve the pleasure of seeing what happens next in the story. Good one for this game.

One more attribute of The Messenger that deserves mention is its skill in cradling the story in a historical context. Quite a rich history, too. A key feature of Morgana's gadgetry is the inclusion of a virtual history book which visually and orally chronicles the past of the museum as the residence of some of France's most famous -- and infamous -- kings and queens. It was originally built in the 12th century as a fortress for protection against the advancing English. The 13th century sees the fortress turning into the home of Charles V, and during the Renaissance (16th century) is occupied by Francois I whose wife, Catherine de Medici, builds her own addition. From there (17th and 18th centuries) the palace is abandoned by Louis XIV (he moved to the suburbs, which we know as Versailles), and moved into by a host of artists, idle noblemen, has-been courtesans, derelicts, and prostitutes. Later on (19th century) the former palace, though no longer home to royalty, is cleaned up and ambitiously added on to, thanks in large part to Napoleon. Finally (late 20th century) the French government vacate their offices in the Richelieu wing and hand it over, completing the Louvre's transformation into a great museum.

All in all, if you can get past its flaws -- and there are many of them -- you may enjoy taking a stealth 'romp' through time in The Messenger, a game that offers a lot of promises but unfortunately delivers only a few of them. Yet despite all the maddeningly annoying drawbacks -- the elusive 'hotspot from hell', the miserly inventory system, the pixelated in-game graphics, the sad absence of cutscene replayability and subtitles -- I still managed to walk away from it with the cool feeling that I had just played a game with a rare, intriguing story and a stylish atmosphere.

Scores:

Intelligence/difficulty - 3.5/5
Graphics - 3/5
Sound/Music - 5/5
Interface - 2/5
Gameplay - 3/5
Presentation (story, character, etc.) - 4/5
Technical (graphics engine, installation, etc.) - 3/5

Overall (not an average) - 3/5

[ragnar]

Nice review!

So this game has organizations which goes back to the Knights Templars? How ... original.