Until Dawn Review

   With Gears of War finally done I could move on to Until Dawn at last, a game I had been pretty excited about for a while now. Though I tend not to like horror games I do like horror movies and the modern rise in 'interactive story' type games, now that Telltale have really popularised that genre in he last few years. Obviously those games are made episodic and fairly cheaply so I was really looking forward to what a well financed, all in one version of those would be as written by horror writers plus voiced and motion captured by real actors (some of whom are fairly famous (Grant Ward)) in an interactive horror film.
   In many ways it lives up to what is to be expected of it, it looks great, the score is incredible, the acting, the voice and mo-cap is great and the setting is great and you get to control all the characters a fairly equal amount of time (provided you don't get them killed too quick), but unfortunately in an attempt to pull apart the slasher film tropes that we've come to expect, they fall headlong in to them.
   The set up is daft for a start (spoilers for the first 10 minutes of the game coming). Last year when the same group of friends went to the lodge, 2 of them got lost and were never found again, yet still their brother (of all people) wants them to go up again this year, and they do, of course. Why would you? As you meet the characters you see there's all the typical American teen horror genre staple characters, the 'cool' guy,the stupid whore, the bitch, the jock, the upbeat one, the nerd (although he's not really that nerdy, but in the bonus content I watched after the actor who played him seemed to think he was (then again a lot of the actors seemed to read more than there actually was in to their characters)), the suspicious one and the 'will they won't they' one. At first a lot of this is endearing as you get to control the characters you usually have to watch, but after a while you just want to kill off all the ones you typically get annoyed by, yet the backstabbing bitch still lived, dammit!
    I don't want to spoil the plot here, as that's basically the whole game, but needless to say it's full of twists, some of which are very predictable, and it's full of people making bad decisions, like going off from a room of 5 people on your own to find some keys on a guy that's probably being eaten in a monsters den because you can't wait 2 hours until dawn when the helicopter arrives, despite the fact you're perfectly safe where you are. Often times too when there are choices, they're both stupid, or it isn't clear what's different between the two.
   Most annoyingly of all though is some of the deaths. I rescued 5 of the 8 in the end, and I accept full responsibility for Ashley's death (such a shame too as I wanted her and Chris to get together) but the other 2 deaths were utterly stupid. I won't tell you who or how, but take heed that sometimes taking the safe paths isn't the best idea and also, see those millions of collectibles dotted around everywhere? well, better get collecting.

   I criticise a lot (I do enjoy it) but there's also quite a lot to like, it's a really strange game of great ideas that are well implemented, and terrible ideas that are terribly implemented. On the good side, they are great at building tension. You're often left walking around dark corridors or mountaintops with just 1 or 2 of you and a flashlight for company, most of the time in an inter gender pairing, hell, it's the best X files simulator I've ever played. Seriously though, these dark walks with eerie noises, wild animals, windy trees and a creepy soundtrack build the tension well. There are also these totems you can find, which are one of the far too many types of collectible, but these are actually good. They show you glimpses in to potential futures (depending on your actions) and clues to what actions you should take in order to not die/ get something useful or numerous other helpful hints. I recommend you watch these and remember them. There is also a great game menu system constantly tracking characters different relationships to each other (as in how they get along with the other individuals) based on the interactions you have between them as well as personality traits. What bearing these have on the game outside of the one on one interviews with the characters at the end I'm not sure but it's still interesting. The same menu also tracks your 'Butterfly effect' decisions so you know where you could have chose to do something else of note so if you wanted to play it again to get a better/ different ending, you'd know where to look (I bet Ashton Kutcher wished he had that handy device to hand).

      The story and characters aren't all bad as well, some are genuinely likeable and some grow on you, Mike for instance, in my mind, turned from being a dickhead 'cool guy' in to a genuine hero. And as for Dr. AJ Hill, urgh. He goes from asking simple questions to someone with a minor mental health problem to forcing a total breakdown on you and going insane. And he only appears to space out the game between chapters (still, he sure knows now I don't like snakes).
   In the end it was an interesting game, I'm glad I played it but I doubt I'll ever pick it back up again 5/10. I'd suggest for the future give Telltale more money to get all the great effects offered here in like acting, visuals and sound whilst leaving the story to them. Maybe supermassive games should give them a call. Thanks for reading cochise and remember, save the upbeat girl, save the lodge...