- Characters and Story -
The 'game' starts out with Ethan, a middle aged (maybe early 30's) father of two waking up in his very nice home getting ready for his son Joshua's 10th birthday. You do a few things (shower, eat, mess around before his kids and wife get back home), throughout this time, the game teaches you the controls.
After you've done all that, you go to the mall (not sure if it's the same day or a few days later, I'd assume the latter) and your wife takes Shaun, your youngest to get shoes. You eventually lose sight of Joshua and must find him, the game treats this as a very serious situation, as would any parent of a lost child and the camera is very jostling.
After a tragic event, Ethan's life crumbles (I'm sure you can guess what happened). His wife divorces him and they split custody of Shaun. Ethan begins having periods in which he blackouts and reawakens to remember nothing, this causes him to lose his Joshua, and he suspects the Origami Killer, a serial killer who's murdered 7 kids over the last 2 years, to be involved.
The game is split into a few playable characters, Ethan, Madison (a photographer), Norman (an FBI agent) and Scott (a Private Investigator). Each of which have some connection or desire to find the Killer for their own reasons.
- Graphics -
This was a middle life game, so the graphics aren't as top of the line as newer games, but they still look pretty good. Some of the textures are half-assed, but most of the things such as expressions and details to the characters faces (hair, eyes, mouth) are very well done, in fact they were motion captured, so you can expect very realistic movement and looks.
- Controls -
The controls are a bit odd and take getting used to, for example, you don't simply hold the joystick to move, you hold R2 and use the joystick to turn. When interacting with something, you'll be given a prompt (slide the stick this way or that way). The game is very QTE (Quick Time Even) oriented, you'll often have to press, mash or pull the controller/buttons quickly to execute a command. The thing that sets this game apart from other games that use QTE's (like Resident Evil for example) is that if you fail a QTE, you won't die right away, in fact you're given several chances to recover, you may miss a series of QTE's before actually dying, how fast you respond effects what happens to the character and therefore the story.
- Audio -
Most of the game is well-done, however some characters (like Ethan) are very mono tone or unenthusiastic), when he's looking for his son, he'll shout his name as if his life weren't in mortal danger, he always seems to say it in a happy way regardless of the danger.
Music is rather heart-wrenching at times and they play the right music at the right time, sometimes low and quiet and sometimes louder with more base. This helps add to the ambiance of the area you are in.
Sound effects are very realistic, especially the rain. However I was very disappointed when I shot someone, the gun sounded like a firecracker, a small one at that. Other than that one occurrence though, I've been very happy with the sounds.
- Other -
Even with the few shortcomings the game has, it is an overall enjoyable experience. If you're a fan of these types of games, I suggest buying it (for the cheap price it is now, there's no reason to not play it). If you're on the fence and need a similar game to try, I suggest Indigo Prophecy, it's much more dated, but made by the same people and also has an amazing story and similar mechanics.
Pros
+ Great Story
+ Interesting Mechanics
+ Many possible endings
+ Very emotionally driven
Cons
- On rare occasions, very poor VO
- Might be a bit too many QTE's for some
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