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Blade Runner Game by Westwood studios retro-review

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I have seen the new blade runner 2049 twice, it has moved into my top 5 favorite movies of all time and the blade runner universe has moved up really high in my scifi rankings as well. Some of the offshoot novels have sucked (not talking about the source novel do androids dream of electric sheep) but novels after that. I think the original movie, the 1997 game and the new sequel are all pretty amazing. I bought the game when it first came out and still own it. There is a patch out there that makes it pretty easy to play on modern systems; although there are still some bugs that do exists that I will point out in my retrospect. Without further delay here are some of my thoughts, will contain minor and major spoilers but than again this game is 2 decades old.

The blade runner game is unique in many small and major ways. It is a game based sort of on a movie (it takes place alongside the original blade runner movie, but is not a re-telling of the movie) and incorporates a lot from the original novel as well. The game also has a “living world concept” which means every time you play it, the game randomizes who is replicants or humans. This works most of the time, but it also does cause a lot of little glitches, where certain characters are not where they are suppose to be and you might have to enter and leave a screen multiple times for them to appear.

The story to me is the game’s biggest strength and its biggest weakness, let me explain. Overall I love the story, the setting and the games loyal attention to detail is amazing. The setup of the story is unique and interesting with the introduction to the game world is the murder of animals, which is out of the novel. The voice work ranges from good to excellent with Ray McCoy and lucy standing out. the only character voice work that bothers me is Gordo aka the comedian. The one problem I have with the story is the characters themselves. I feel no real connection with any of them besides lucy, bc 95 percent of them are a holes or just plain creepy even McCoy in certain cases. The game wants you to feel sorry for the replicants but the only one the game even remotely tries to connect you with is Lucy. The rest are kind of a holes right up to the ending. The human characters are not much better with Guza being the stereotypical boss with a hidden evil agenda and Officer Steele being a one note kill all the skin jobs type. I feel like a lot more could have been done to more humanize both the replicants and human characters.

The gameplay is pretty good, I love the esper machine and seeking out clues to the different cases. I know most people hate any action in adventure games but I love the little pops of action in this game, although the controls could be a little more fluid. The Voight-kampff test is also a fun addition to the game. I do think there should have been a couple of real puzzles and more investigations going on to fill in the short run time of the game. The game was 4 disc but could easily be beat in 3 to 5 hrs depending. Also once again the game randomizes certain aspects of the game at the start and that can cause some glitches.

Graphically this game holds up really well, it is such a beautiful game to look at and the pixilation actually helps to immerse me in the world to an extent. I know a lot of gamers want to see a remake of this game and im not apposed to it, but I think it is still a gorgeous game.

Much like full throttle I pull this game out every couple of yrs and beat it. I have seen 5 or 6 of the endings of which I think there are something like 12 to 15, (although most of the endings are exactly the same as others with small changes)

I think this would be in the top 15 adventure games of all time for me. What do yall think of the game?


     
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Thank you for the review! May I recommend also putting a few screenshots along with a text, especially if you took the opportunity to catch few screens yourself while playing the game! Cheers!

     

Recently finished: Four Last Things 4/5, Edna & Harvey: The Breakout 5/5, Chains of Satinav 3,95/5, A Vampyre Story 88, Sam Peters 3/5, Broken Sword 1 4,5/5, Broken Sword 2 4,3/5, Broken Sword 3 85, Broken Sword 5 81, Gray Matter 4/5\nCurrently playing: Broken Sword 4, Keepsake (Let\‘s Play), Callahan\‘s Crosstime Saloon (post-Community Playthrough)\nLooking forward to: A Playwright’s Tale

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diego - 23 October 2017 06:30 PM

Thank you for the review! May I recommend also putting a few screenshots along with a text, especially if you took the opportunity to catch few screens yourself while playing the game! Cheers!

I didnt but here is the box art. I dont have the big box shown here just the game case also shown here. wish I would have saved more of the big box art now.

     
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I played it back in the days. Great game!

     

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I have very fond memories of the game as well. To me, it felt unique at the time it was released. I particularly loved the way they combined the BR universe with the real-time elements.

Looking back, I think it was a good idea to have a few action scenes. Having the possibility of drawing your gun at anytime, not knowing when you might be attacked by a replicant, added a feeling of omnipresent danger, which seemed very appropriate.

By the way: You might have seen this before, but just in case that you haven’t: A few months back, I’ve had the chance to do an interview with Dave Leary, who was the co-writer and co-designer of the game. He was excited to do this, and it was easy to tell that he’s still proud of the game. (can’t blame him!) Smile

P.S. Not related to the game, but I would like to second the praise for Blade Runner 2049!  Thumbs Up

     

Now playing: GreedFall, Control
Recently finished: Telling Lies, The Sinking City

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Ingmar - 24 October 2017 05:15 PM

I have very fond memories of the game as well. To me, it felt unique at the time it was released. I particularly loved the way they combined the BR universe with the real-time elements.

Looking back, I think it was a good idea to have a few action scenes. Having the possibility of drawing your gun at anytime, not knowing when you might be attacked by a replicant, added a feeling of omnipresent danger, which seemed very appropriate.

By the way: You might have seen this before, but just in case that you haven’t: A few months back, I’ve had the chance to do an interview with Dave Leary, who was the co-writer and co-designer of the game. He was excited to do this, and it was easy to tell that he’s still proud of the game. (can’t blame him!) Smile

P.S. Not related to the game, but I would like to second the praise for Blade Runner 2049!  Thumbs Up

wow great interview!!!! my playthrough of the game lines right up with what the dev thought. I also thought that after act 3 the game’s story felt rushed in the sewer and some plot pts didnt really make sense. For instance When Dektora calls the fake cops, who did they actually work for bc at first ray thinks it was Clovis setting him up, but than changes his mind to Guzza. But if it was Guzza only why would Dektora have the fake cops number; so was it really a combo of both clovis and Guzza setting you up. The game never really answers that.

     
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you may also wanna check that theme of the week about ‘blade runner’
https://adventuregamers.com/forums/viewthread/9470/

     
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Great review - I also loved the game and played through it several times. One of my favorite games of all time.

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I enjoy playing adventure games on my Alienware M17 r4 and my Nintendo Switch OLED.

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Wow, I never heard about this game before!
And YES, the new Blade Runner film was amazingness!  :)  The visual art direction has to be one of the best I’ve ever seen in film.

     

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Jdawg445 - 24 October 2017 05:52 PM

wow great interview!!!! my playthrough of the game lines right up with what the dev thought. I also thought that after act 3 the game’s story felt rushed in the sewer and some plot pts didnt really make sense. For instance [...]

Thank you! Smile I don’t remember the particular example you mentioned, but in general, I feel the same way when it comes to the problems towards the end. 

Actually, whenever I see material from Detroit by David Cage, I keep on wondering what an official Blade Runner game with such production values could be like. 

I’ll probbaly never get an answer to that question, but at least my fond memories of Westwood’s BR game stick with me. Wink

 

     

Now playing: GreedFall, Control
Recently finished: Telling Lies, The Sinking City

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