Blacksad: Under The Skin

Review

The game starts in a dimly lit boxing gym; a cleaning lady walks through the gym as she makes her way towards the lockers. She hasn’t noticed the body hanging in the middle of the boxing ring, but a few moments later there’s a loud scream when she does. The body belongs to the owner of the gym, Joe Dunn, and it looks like he’s taken his own life . . . or did he? You will have to investigate to discover what happened to Joe Dunn, and who killed him if he didn’t take his own life.

You play as Blacksad, a Detective in New York.  You start in your office when you have a visitor, Eugene Colbert. From here you’ll go over the basics of the game as the story starts unfolding. Eugene is here because you have some photographs of him in compromising positions after his wife hired you to find out if her husband is cheating on her. He doesn’t want you to hand the photos over to his wife.

You will talk and interact with characters throughout the game. When talking with characters you will be able to choose your questions and answers from any displayed on the screen. These questions and answers can be asked and replied to at your own pace, however sometimes you’ll have to decide within a short period of time. If you run out of time before asking or replying, then you’ll just stay silent. Talking with characters will reveal information and clues which may help you in your investigation. The decisions you make can have minor consequences, like whether to punch or headbutt someone (headbutting a Rhino gave me a headache for a couple hours). Other decisions can have major consequences further into the game.

At various points within the game you will activate Quick Time Events; when this happens, you’ll have to act and move quickly. When this happens, you’ll have to follow the on-screen instructions, such as using the joysticks to move in a certain direction, or to keep mashing a button to perform specific actions. Failing to react quickly enough to the instruction can lead to you getting your botty spanked or worse.

As you gain information, the most important will be stored in your Notebook. You will receive a popup notification for this important information. You can open the notebook and check the information you have discovered; it will be stored under the name of the character to whom the information relates. Any clues you uncover will be stored in Blacksad’s mind, and when you have collected enough clues, you are able to make Deductions. To make Deductions you will be required to choose two or three clues; if these clues are linked to each other then you’ll be able to make crucial deductions which will help you move forward in your investigation.

In your surroundings you can find Hotspots which you can interact with, and you can may gain some information. These Hotspots can be anything from a photo to a car, and may contain more than one hotspot.  If, for example, a photo contains more than one hotspot, switch between them to gather information from the photo.

At certain points you can use your Cat Senses to maybe gain more information. Hearing, Sight and Smell senses can be used depending on the situation. Once your cat senses have kicked in, a counter will show you each of the senses, and it will show how many stimuli can be perceived. You will be required to find the necessary information using these senses by zooming in, finding and selecting a hotspot.  Once found, they will then give you some information.

Hidden around the place are Hall of Fame Sports Cards. These cards have no bearing on the storyline, but keep you checking everywhere so that you don’t miss any vital clues. Any cards you collect can be stuck in the Hall of Fame Sports album. Some cards require more than one card to complete.  Once a card is complete, you can then look at it.  Turning the card over will reveal some information on the person who has been inducted into the Sports Hall of Fame. There are four sports categories:  Football (the one you use your hands with), Baseball, Boxing and Hockey.

You can find the Hall of Fame by selecting the menu, where you can also find Progress and Your Blacksad. Selecting Progress allows you to go back to a previous point and change some of your previous decisions. You can also replay a previous scene and continue from there moving forward. The Progress is laid out just like a comic strip, and it looks good. Your Blacksad is where you can see your Stats.  Your character is defined by how you act and the choices you make throughout the game.

In the settings you’ll find Controls (Controller Vibration, Left and Right Sensitivity), Video (Resolution, General Quality, Aspect Ratio, Display Mode, Antialiasing, Dynamic Resolution, Texture Quality, Ambient Occlusion, Depth of Field, Shadow and Lighting Quality), Audio (Music, Sound Effects, Voice and Sound Test), Game Play (Tutorial on/off). Language (English, French, German, Dutch and Russian).

I’ve enjoyed playing the game so far; I found the storyline good and the characters are great and funny+. The graphics, sound and music are also good. The game runs smoothly, although I noticed a few graphical glitches at times; nothing major, just hands going through a desk and such, certainly not game-breaking.

Review written by Piston Smashed™ for Zeepond.com!