The Slater

Review

It’s 2005 and a terribly addictive new drug named D-Pain has hit the streets globally. The law enforcement has been working around the clock to find who is manufacturing and distributing this new narcotic cocktail around the world. The Police were closing in until the lead detective, your father, Ben Slater, was found shot dead in the middle of the street. From that day on, you swore to take this drug and its dealers off the street!

The Salter is a First-Person action/stealth game with puzzle elements developed and published by Laina Interactive where you play an ex-policeman named Mark Slater.

The game consists of 6 missions where you mostly have to eliminate a few targets without being caught.  They also involve things like retrieving documents or planting devices. Before starting each mission, you’ll be greeted by some very good cut-scenes, which will allow the story to unfold, and lead towards the mission briefing. These cut-scenes are usually around 4 minutes or so, which is pretty good, and shows that the developer has put a lot of work into the story component of the game.

The briefing will show your targets, a map of the level, and your inventory, which contains a handgun (silencer), the clothes you are wearing, and maybe a device that you might need to use.

As you start your mission, a mini-map will be displayed on the top right-hand corner of your screen, and on the right bottom corner, you will see what Mark is currently wearing. This will change every time Mark either finds new clothes in lockers, or uses his victims’ apparel. One important point in this game is that you must make sure that when you eliminate an enemy, either by strangling or shooting him/her in the head, they must be hidden straightaway. Always look around for large boxes or wardrobes, as they are pretty much the only places you can hide them. The other thing you need to be careful of is the surveillance cameras; the alert will ring quickly, and Mark will die pretty soon after that. Mind you, it is possible to deactivate these cameras with computers located in the security rooms. The mini-map is helpful, but I preferred to open my PDA by using the ESC keys to get the full-scale map, and then study the movements of my targets (red dots) and their security (yellow dots), and make my moves. There are several levels of security, and you must have one of a selection of necessary items in order to move into a new area, such as the correct security uniform or relevant access card (VIP, security, or staff card), for example. If you don’t have any of these, Mark will be stopped. There are objects that he can find, such as poison and/or documents with specific numbers on them, within each of the levels. This number might be helpful to open a safe, for example. When Mark manages to complete all his objectives, he’ll need to make his way to the exit to end the stage.

The levels are fabulous and well-designed, and it will take quite a while to get through them. The thing you have to remember is that you can’t save your progress during each of the missions. So, are you going to find what you need without injuring any civilians or guards?  Or will you just eliminate everybody who is carrying something useful in order to reach your goal? Your choice is yours.

Graphically, the game looks great, and the controls are responsive; there’s no controller support though. The voice acting is good but the synchronisation with the characters’ mouths could have been better (I know I am picky). Apart from that, it’s very impressive.