Many old adventure games have found a second life on the iPhone, so it’s about time the burgeoning platform gave something back. Hector: Badge of Carnage is its best gift thus far, remastered in higher resolution and fully voiced glory. This is one of the most refreshingly different point-and-click adventures released for a very long time.
Produced in collaboration with Telltale Games, this thoroughly British effort comes principally from Northern Irish studio, Straandlooper Animation, and it’s both funny and crude in equal measure. Badge of Carnage follows the efforts, and we use the term loosely, of a lethargic police inspector named Hector in a little English inner-city borough named Clappers Wreake and his problems resolving a dangerous hostage crisis.
The premise sounds gritty, but it really isn’t. This is an adventure which is more about the laughs than the drama with a protagonist who hates his job, has no respect for himself or others and hasn’t showered or consumed anything other than alcohol for a very long time. If you haven’t guessed yet this adventure could never be classed as family friendly entertainment, with plenty of nauseating solutions to some morally conspicuous puzzles and some encounters with the most undesirable of undesirables.
To give you an idea of what we’re talking about, one of the earliest puzzle solutions involves making an obese prostitute more attractive for clients by procuring some mouthwash from a local Scottish ‘wino’. Yeah it’s a lot like that for the entire four experience, so make no mistake this isn’t a game for the squeamish. One character in particular made us feel very uncomfortable, in part due to his insatiable love of the adult arts but mostly because of some inspired voice acting supported by perverse lip-smacking and which was supported by plenty of well written dialogue and some perverse lip-smacking.
This is comedy which has its head well and truly in the gutter, but if you like that sort of thing you’ll constantly be laughing. There’s some really clever writing and characterisation here and just because it’s crude doesn’t mean it isn’t brilliant. There are times where it goes a little bit too far, but honestly all good comedy does.
When it comes to the actual game side of things, this is where Badge of Carnage makes some mis-steps. After the first act, the game opens up asking players to solve three critical tasks, involving a handful of different locations and there were plenty of times when we were scratching our heads just wondering what to do next. The FAQ/walkthrough styled hint-system does its best to suggest help, but using it is a kin to opening a walnut with a sledge hammer. The initial hints are so obtuse that most players will resort to using the in-game to-do list and once used it’s way too tempting to always resort to it.
Many adventure game makers have perfected the multi-levelled hint-system and to see a game with only a single hint system which jumps to a bonafide walkthrough whenever you have a more complicated question than ‘How do I get a car working?’, is very damaging to the overall experience. It’s a minor complaint, but for anyone who doesn’t have the most stringent of discipline, it’ll soon become a valid one.
Aesthetically though the game is an absolute triumph with a great art style and some exceedingly well put together cutscenes, which will reward players for their patience during the more left-field puzzles.
When taken all together it’s easy to see why Telltale Games elected to help bring Hector to the PC. The detective premise has always been a natural bedfellow for the adventure genre and Hector proves just how good a game experience can come out of merging sleuthing with great comedic values. There are two more chapters of this episodic series in the works and if they are as good as this opening chapter, we’re all in for a treat.
If you’re looking for something new from the point-and-click genre and don’t have a problem with crude humour, we strongly urge you to give Hector: Badge of Carnage a go.
Verdict: 86%
Tags: Hector Badge of Carnage
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