A live-action mystery FMV game, where you make decisions for a father that must rescue his teenage daughter from an eclectic cult before their final night at the Isle Tide Hotel. Save Eleanor Malone by making decisions, collecting clues, solving puzzles and unlocking hidden scenes and endings.
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Well....
Pep's Detective Deep Dive - Game 2
An FMV interactive movie with lots of style but very little substance, The Isle Tide Hotel describes itself as "A British Twin Peaks" on it's Steam page.
I have to ask... how exactly is this similar in any way to Twin Peaks? Twin Peaks has a charismatic lead actor, this does not. Twin Peaks has an intriguing, twisting plot, this does not. A show/film with "weird" characters doesn't automatically make it "Lynchian", and it's pretty insulting to David Lynch that The Isle Tide Hotel would describe itself in this way.
The basic plot of the game has you play a father who is requested to visit a hotel by a private detective, to save his estranged daughter from a cult. Given the "choose-your-own-adventure" narrative that most of Wales Interactive's FMV games follow, what happens to the main character once you arrive at the hotel is largely up to you. To the game's credit, there seems to be quite a few different paths you can take and endings you can unlock, but I wasn't impressed enough with it to go beyond the one ending I got.
Some positives; the sets, costumes and cinematography were pretty nice, and I definitely got Eyes Wide Shut vibes from the use of masks. Like most FMV games, the acting is a bit all over the place. Jemima Rooper does her best as Price, but I feel like Michael Xavier sleepwalks his way through the central role. And the fact that they cast Richard Brake but only give him around 3 minutes of screen time is borderline criminal. The rest of the cast are varying degrees of "okay" - the entire production still gives me "student film with a budget" vibes.
!!SPOILERS AHEAD!! My biggest issue with the game (and bear with me since I only did one ending) is that the overall plot is pretty flimsy: it's not really established what the cult's overall goal is or what they want with Eleanor. You hear words like "term" and "core", the cult's leader waxes poetic and "body-swapping" is mentioned at one point. The fact that I got through an intended ending of the game knowing little about the actual cult is a criticism in itself.
Yes, I realise that this isn't really a detective game and I Pony Island'd myself again. But for a mystery game there's not much atmosphere or intrigue, and for an FMV game there's no real sense of fun. There's better mystery games and interactive movies out there.
An FMV interactive movie with lots of style but very little substance, The Isle Tide Hotel describes itself as "A British Twin Peaks" on it's Steam page.
I have to ask... how exactly is this similar in any way to Twin Peaks? Twin Peaks has a charismatic lead actor, this does not. Twin Peaks has an intriguing, twisting plot, this does not. A show/film with "weird" characters doesn't automatically make it "Lynchian", and it's pretty insulting to David Lynch that The Isle Tide Hotel would describe itself in this way.
The basic plot of the game has you play a father who is requested to visit a hotel by a private detective, to save his estranged daughter from a cult. Given the "choose-your-own-adventure" narrative that most of Wales Interactive's FMV games follow, what happens to the main character once you arrive at the hotel is largely up to you. To the game's credit, there seems to be quite a few different paths you can take and endings you can unlock, but I wasn't impressed enough with it to go beyond the one ending I got.
Some positives; the sets, costumes and cinematography were pretty nice, and I definitely got Eyes Wide Shut vibes from the use of masks. Like most FMV games, the acting is a bit all over the place. Jemima Rooper does her best as Price, but I feel like Michael Xavier sleepwalks his way through the central role. And the fact that they cast Richard Brake but only give him around 3 minutes of screen time is borderline criminal. The rest of the cast are varying degrees of "okay" - the entire production still gives me "student film with a budget" vibes.
!!SPOILERS AHEAD!! My biggest issue with the game (and bear with me since I only did one ending) is that the overall plot is pretty flimsy: it's not really established what the cult's overall goal is or what they want with Eleanor. You hear words like "term" and "core", the cult's leader waxes poetic and "body-swapping" is mentioned at one point. The fact that I got through an intended ending of the game knowing little about the actual cult is a criticism in itself.
Yes, I realise that this isn't really a detective game and I Pony Island'd myself again. But for a mystery game there's not much atmosphere or intrigue, and for an FMV game there's no real sense of fun. There's better mystery games and interactive movies out there.
Adorei esse jogo e a ideia dele.
Existem varios outros jogos tipo live action mas a execução deste é excelente.
O suspense do jogo é muito bom e os atores são excelentes.
Recomendo jogar este jogo.
Existem varios outros jogos tipo live action mas a execução deste é excelente.
O suspense do jogo é muito bom e os atores são excelentes.
Recomendo jogar este jogo.
I've never played a decision-based game where absolutely nothing happens before. I picked this game as something to play with a fellow FMV fan. We were both totally okay with this game potentially being kind of bad and it still disappointed me.
Before this game I thought I had played the worst FMV game ever with I saw Black Clouds but this is somehow way worse.
Before this game I thought I had played the worst FMV game ever with I saw Black Clouds but this is somehow way worse.
The worst FMV ever. The story doesn't make sense and multiple playthroughs are super tedious. Very bad pacing and dialogues.
Sadly this is one of Wales Interactive's weaker FMV games. There are a few decent performances and the production values are decent enough but it's so dull almost from start to finish. The languid pacing even for a 90 minute game and lack of an interesting payoff made me happy to move on after a single playthrough.
Also this needed more Richard Brake - he had about 3 minutes of screen time :(
Also this needed more Richard Brake - he had about 3 minutes of screen time :(