App Audit: Her Story
I don't like paying for things, period. To be clear, I'm not saying I steal things, because I don't like that either; I'm just cheap. Really, really cheap. I prefer to make do or do without, and this is especially true of apps; if I can't justify spending money on actual tangible things, why on earth would I spend my hard-earned cash on a piece of software?With that in mind, the fact that I willingly paid $4.99 for a copy of Her Story should tell you something about how excited I was about this game.
Every review I've seen of this game (including the one that convinced me to download it) says that the less you know about the game the better. I'm inclined to agree, but I think you need some context before you decide whether or not this is something you want to spend your money and time on. The official blurb from the game's website sums it up quite nicely: In 1994 a British woman is interviewed seven times about her missing husband. This is her story.
In Her Story, you are an unknown person who has gained access to a police department's computer database, presumably to determine what this woman does or does not know about her husband's disappearance. This is done by searching various keywords (i.e., "murder", which is not really a spoiler because the game starts you off with this search) and viewing the video clips associated with that keyword. The video clips are from seven interviews that took place over approximately two weeks in the summer of 1994, and the search results are not in chronological order; usually the only thing they have in common is the keyword. You are limited to a maximum of five video clips for each keyword, which is actually a positive rather than a negative in my eyes because you aren't overwhelmed by the prospect of sifting through 43 video clips.
The game design (an outdated computer desktop) is charmingly retro and simplistic, making me yearn for the days of flying toaster screensavers and Ski Free. This self-contained game design is once again a positive rather than a negative because there are very few distractions. With the exception of a clock, a mini DOS game, and a few .text documents that scream "READ ME!", there's nothing to do but focus on the task at hand. This also leaves you susceptible to the occasional glimpse of your own reflection in the computer's monitor, which startled me every single time it happened.
At the risk of sounding like a Dumb American, I had one hell of a time understanding the dialogue from the game's trailer, which is strange because I have British family members and I usually don't have any trouble understanding accents. This isn't clear from the trailer or any of the reviews that I read, but all of the videos are subtitled, so if that's a concern for you rest assured that you'll be just fine (I almost didn't download the game because I worried I wouldn't have much success if I couldn't understand what was being said in the videos!).
Verdict: It's not possible to discuss the story without spoiling the experience, so you'll just have to take my word for it when I say that the plot is intriguing enough to keep you playing. One thing that I intially found frustrating was the realization that there really isn't an ending in the traditional sense of the word; it’s entirely up to you when you want to stop (you'll be propmpted by a pop-up chat message when the game thinks you've unconvered enough clues to stop playing), but there isn't really any way to lose the game. Even if you watch every single video clip (there's an icon on the "desktop" within the game that tells you how many of the video clips you've seen), you might still never figure out the real story, so if you're uncomfortable with ambiguity this might not be the game for you. That being said, the more I think about the game the more I come to appreciate this ending, or lack thereof; my day job requires me to interact on a regular basis with law enforcement and detectives in particular, and the fact is that even the best detectives can never know with absolutely certainty what happened in any case. I'm pretty sure that I know what happened in the case, but I'll never know for sure, which is as real as it gets. My biggest complaint is that I finished this game far too quickly; I don't know the average amount of time it takes people to play through this game, but after less than two hours of playing (spread out over two days) the tell-tale pop-up chat message appeared indicating that I'd uncovered most of the game's secrets. Because this game is non-linear, the game is going to unfold differently for every person that plays it, and so this may not be an issue for everyone. At the risk of sounding like I'm bragging, I'm a really good listener (I have to be for my day job), and I notice when words and concepts are repeated, which guided my gameplay for better or for worse. Because I immediately honed in on specific names and phrases, I learned things very early on in the game that may have had more of an impact if left until later in the game. I don't know that there's a way around this because there is no linear way to play this game, but I can't help but resent this game a little bit for taking so little time to figure out. 3 out of 5 stars.
In Her Story, you are an unknown person who has gained access to a police department's computer database, presumably to determine what this woman does or does not know about her husband's disappearance. This is done by searching various keywords (i.e., "murder", which is not really a spoiler because the game starts you off with this search) and viewing the video clips associated with that keyword. The video clips are from seven interviews that took place over approximately two weeks in the summer of 1994, and the search results are not in chronological order; usually the only thing they have in common is the keyword. You are limited to a maximum of five video clips for each keyword, which is actually a positive rather than a negative in my eyes because you aren't overwhelmed by the prospect of sifting through 43 video clips.
The game design (an outdated computer desktop) is charmingly retro and simplistic, making me yearn for the days of flying toaster screensavers and Ski Free. This self-contained game design is once again a positive rather than a negative because there are very few distractions. With the exception of a clock, a mini DOS game, and a few .text documents that scream "READ ME!", there's nothing to do but focus on the task at hand. This also leaves you susceptible to the occasional glimpse of your own reflection in the computer's monitor, which startled me every single time it happened.
At the risk of sounding like a Dumb American, I had one hell of a time understanding the dialogue from the game's trailer, which is strange because I have British family members and I usually don't have any trouble understanding accents. This isn't clear from the trailer or any of the reviews that I read, but all of the videos are subtitled, so if that's a concern for you rest assured that you'll be just fine (I almost didn't download the game because I worried I wouldn't have much success if I couldn't understand what was being said in the videos!).
Verdict: It's not possible to discuss the story without spoiling the experience, so you'll just have to take my word for it when I say that the plot is intriguing enough to keep you playing. One thing that I intially found frustrating was the realization that there really isn't an ending in the traditional sense of the word; it’s entirely up to you when you want to stop (you'll be propmpted by a pop-up chat message when the game thinks you've unconvered enough clues to stop playing), but there isn't really any way to lose the game. Even if you watch every single video clip (there's an icon on the "desktop" within the game that tells you how many of the video clips you've seen), you might still never figure out the real story, so if you're uncomfortable with ambiguity this might not be the game for you. That being said, the more I think about the game the more I come to appreciate this ending, or lack thereof; my day job requires me to interact on a regular basis with law enforcement and detectives in particular, and the fact is that even the best detectives can never know with absolutely certainty what happened in any case. I'm pretty sure that I know what happened in the case, but I'll never know for sure, which is as real as it gets. My biggest complaint is that I finished this game far too quickly; I don't know the average amount of time it takes people to play through this game, but after less than two hours of playing (spread out over two days) the tell-tale pop-up chat message appeared indicating that I'd uncovered most of the game's secrets. Because this game is non-linear, the game is going to unfold differently for every person that plays it, and so this may not be an issue for everyone. At the risk of sounding like I'm bragging, I'm a really good listener (I have to be for my day job), and I notice when words and concepts are repeated, which guided my gameplay for better or for worse. Because I immediately honed in on specific names and phrases, I learned things very early on in the game that may have had more of an impact if left until later in the game. I don't know that there's a way around this because there is no linear way to play this game, but I can't help but resent this game a little bit for taking so little time to figure out. 3 out of 5 stars.
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