Posts Tagged ‘Joe’

The Silent Age Episode 1 Review

Posted: April 15, 2013 in Reviews
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Sometimes you have to sit back and appreciate the small things in life. Wise words. And never have I felt them more appropriate than when playing The Silent Age on my iPhone.

Yesterday I received a text from my brother informing me of a free (that’s right FREE) game he had downloaded from the app store. He said it was an old school point and click adventure game in the same vein as Grim Fandango and Beneath a Steel Sky. So I did what I usually do when my brother texts me. I ignored it. No I’m joking of course. Dom! DOM! I WAS JOKING! I WROTE THAT FOR COMEDY VALUE! I downloaded the game instantly but was spending the day out with the family so I didn’t get a chance to play it.

Fast forward to 4:00 am this morning and after a lot of tossing (calm down) and turning I figure that now is the time to start playing. And I couldn’t put it down. You can almost feel the love and dedication from the team at House on Fire pouring and oozing off each and every sharp and beautifully illustrated screen.

The year is 1972 and you play as a janitor literally named Joe Average. You work in a large sinister tower block with a colleague whose duties you take on board after he mysteriously disappears. After a chain of events you end up on the run from the law with a solar powered device which lets Joe switch between the present and the post-apocalyptic future of 2012.

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This is the crux of the puzzle solving in the game. Joe can pick items up in one time period and transport them to the other in the blink of an eye. For example on set piece sees Joe needing to get rid of a swarm of hornets from outside a hospital in the future. So using a syringe he finds in the past he can carry some turpentine in it back to the future to use as the fuel for a fire to get rid of the vermin. It all melds together effortlessly and you’ll be zipping all over the place all the while being bolstered along by the games expertly written narrative.

Like most classic point and click adventure games Joe is constantly talking to himself in a suitably sarcastic and humorous manner, think Guybrush Threepwood or Manny Calavera. This nicely balances out the games main plot which is all together a bit more serious and dark.

All in all this is a great little hidden gem. As I mentioned the first part is free whilst the fate of seeing an episode two rests in the hands of donations from people who want to see more. donations can be made through House On Fire’s website which can be found here http://thesilentage.com/blog/episode-two/. So I strongly urge you to at least download the first part. It’s very rare in this day and age that such unique and interesting games get some spotlight. And who knows, maybe this could be the start of something very special indeed!

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