POSTED 3/12/12


VIRTUE'S LAST REWARD

Rising Star Games

Played any good books lately?

We have, and it’s likely obvious that we mean Virtue’s Last Reward, for otherwise that’d be a pretty dumb start to this reviewistic thingy. Not that irrelevance has stopped us before...

Anyway, we’re talking interactive novel, although unlike a typical novel VLR isn’t linear. Well it is, but there are 24 possible lines to follow for 24 different results. This means huge tracts of time spent reading, before opportunities for doing. So, if you’re an impatient or itchy-triggered type you’ll hate this. Which is sad, as it’s quite nattily excellent.

Without giving much away, you’re a young bloke called Sigma. You wake woozily in a lift with a curt, white-haired chick named Phi who seems to know you, although you’ve NFI who she is. Then there’s the bunny. Yep, the Great Wall of China didn’t keep this rabbit out. He’s called Zero III and is rather insane – but mercifully computer-generated, so there’s no chance of any myxo spreading. You’re told you’re in a rather number nine, number nine, number nine-centric ‘Nonary Game’. After some puzzling you realise that, as well as you and Phi, there are seven others. You’re all in a large building and nobody has a fucking clue as to what’s going on... Or do they?!

The story, fully voiced in Japanese, is no throwaway linkage for some random puzzles. Often emotionally-charged, it encompasses themes of loyalty, betrayal, theoretical physics and, natch, bunnies.

The puzzles, meanwhile, will thrill those into classic adventuring from the likes of Scott Adams, Infocom and Sierra. They range from simple-if-you-plug-your-brain-in to quite-the-challenge-no-matter-how-eggy-noggined-you-are, but none that we encountered were inexplicable. Anyway, other prisoners will help if you’re proving too veggie.

Thrilling, chilling, mysterious, atmospheric, nerve-wracking, fucked-up... they’re all adjectives. They’re all also applicable to VLR, one of the best Vita quests yet. Have a nice tragedy!

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