Ratings by cheesebaker

I had not played this game initially because it got only 3.5 stars but now that I played it I think it deserves another half star.

I would not call the game non-linear - it is linear but one has a nice illusion of freedom. A story-based game either can have a good story or be non-linear. (The developers can spend money on alternative outcomes or on a single but more satisfying story.)

Puzzles were easy with one exception but I liked the way they worked.

The worst about the game is that of the two plot lines that it follows one is resolved at the end the other only gets more mysterious throughout the game. I took about 10 minutes to make a list of unanswered major questions and came up with 14 items. At the end of the game the story was just starting to take off.  Before the company went belly-up there apparently had been plans for a sequel but it would have been more honest to call this one Culpa Innata Part 1.

Once I had thought there could not be too much dialog in an adventure game. Also, some of the voice acting seemed really bad. Later in the game both either improved
or did not bother me anymore.

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Time Played: Over 20 hours

Sold by its own, with a different title, Still Life 2, might be a decent but not great game. Taken by its own the rating of three stars by the official review is appropriate. However, it is sold as a Still Life sequel, riding on that one’s success but failing to meet expectations, and that is cheating.

I got this game in anticipation of continuing the story of Still Life, so I was quite disappointed that this game only relates to the original by having Victoria and Claire the coroner in it. A short tie-in as flash-backs is provided to wrap up the old game but there the connection ends.

I loved the original Still Life. While I did not hate Still Life 2, I did not really like it either. It is long enough, and certainly has elements of tension (I found it scarier than the original) but I am missing something that I can’t quite put my finger on. The visuals were worse than the original but that’s not what is bothering me (technical merits of adventure games rate pretty low with me).

The voice acting of Paloma is horrendous - worse, an action that is not possible uses Paloma’s voice, even if Victoria is attempting it.

The story offers few surprises.

I did not find it particularly hard. The only time I used a walk-through it turned out it was a misunderstanding of the user interface.

Using keypads for a puzzle the umpteenth time was annoying.

Forcing the player to deposit and re-take items to fit into the inventory definitely kills enjoyment. I suppose it was done to make the puzzles a little harder by preventing you from trying out everything in your inventory.

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Time Played: 10-20 hours