Without wanting to start on a self-referential note, it's strange for me to be starting this blog with a review of a game which is so difficult to debate from a purely gaming perspective.
Certainly any technical or game-play criticisms I could highlight (and there are a few) would probably be considered as a minor issue for its creators, for whom the message of the piece appears to be the main intent.
The game itself, as presented via the web browser, is circled - not by the usual up-selling or advertisers logos - but with links to Liberty, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the Equality and Human Rights Commission. At this point you know to expect that things will be a little different.
I'm not going to get drawn in to the content, except to say that the discussion of the social and political scene in the game is a fascinating debate and reaction to the security culture of the last 10 years. Regardless of how you feel about the game element after reading this review, go and play it anyway and see what it has to say.
Similar in style to the old CD-ROM interactive-movies, it features live actors filmed largely against CG backgrounds. There are a enough familiar faces from British TV to lend it production weight and this includes a wonderfully understated performance by Derek Riddell.
The game-play is mixed between familiar point-and-click adventuring, puzzle-solving and branching dialogue and it is the last of these that the game finds its real strength. Branching dialogue trees in games are often beset by obvious signposting in the dialogue: There's the “inflammatory choice”, the “chaotic evil” choice and then the “right” choice. Through good quality writing, this game manages to place you in a conversation in which you must win the interviewee's trust but there is no magic formula to deducing the right answer. Little clues in their own back-stories and using what you know of their character you have to make a gut reaction. Until now the finest exponent of this approach I have seen is Hotel Dusk but The Curfew provides a far more through-provoking and less random series of actions and reactions.
Having been commissioned by Channel 4, the writing is of a generally higher standard than the games market usually enjoys and there are some nice touches hidden away for those that like to search the environments.
Technically I found the game to be a disappointing. I suffered a fair amount of audio and video slip which detracted from the actor's performances and thereby some of the emotional weight. Similarly, the subtitles (which some may rely on) seemed to disappear partway through the game and could not be recovered.
Also, given the down-to-earth setting of the game certain "gaming" tropes still managed to sneak their way in, somewhat inconsistently; there was a moment where the character picks up a discarded piece of wire (before knowing she needed it) and says something along the lines of "I saw the discarded wire and picked it up. Why shouldn't I?" Cast in this context many adventure-gaming habits we are used to appear odd and inappropriate.
Overall, The Curfew is a compelling piece of entertainment with a gripping message. It takes about 2-3 hours to play the whole thing through and is a worthy alternative to an evening's broadcast television.
In the same way as Heavy Rain it's nice to see an interactive story which plays to the player's psychology and personal reactions to a situation than relying on the usual hand-eye demands which most games place upon their audience. This is a solid demonstration of how even a simple adventure game can be elevated by some good quality writing and a story that is worth telling.
The Curfew can be found at http://www.thecurfewgame.com/
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