Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12903 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: UBI Soft
• Released on: 2005-06-03
• Rating: To Be Announced
• Platform: Xbox

Manufacturer's Description
Victoria McPherson is a brilliant young FBI agent who's investigating a serial murder case in Chicago. The body count is now at five and she has no real leads, nothing but a mountain of circumstantial evidence and a boss who's breathing down her neck.

In order to take a break from it all, she decides to visit her father in the suburbs. Their discussions involve family stories which include Victoria's grandfather, who used to be a private investigator. This leads Victoria to read one of her grandfather's old case files, a file which reveals an uncomfortably high number of similarities between a seventy-five year old case in Europe and the current string of killings in Chicago...

Customer Reviews

A mature adventure game
I literally finished Still Life a few minutes ago. I really can't describe the main thing that disappointed me most because that would spoil the game. Otherwise the manufacturer's description above tells you most of what you need to know about the general story so I won't go over that again. The good: graphics are attractive/atmospheric, particularly in the Prague sequences. Voice acting of the main characters is well above average. The story is one of the most sophisticated, mature and engaging I've ever played. The script, although far from perfect, is above average too - it has to be as there is an awful lot of it. Puzzles span the difficulty range but there are only a few that are likely to cause excessive frustration for the average gamer. The bad: it's quite linear and some important sections of the story are told in non-interactive cut scenes. Choice of voice actors for the Prague set sequences should have been better. Some character modelling is crude. A number of puzzles contain more than a few annoyingly illogical elements. This is common to the genre and not as bad as some other games I could mention. Although the controls are absolutely fine some parts of the important item/document interface aren't well thought out. However, apart from the disappointment I hinted at above the good far outweighs the bad. I haven't enjoyed a game like this as much since I played Syberia 1 & 2 both, of course, made by the same studio. It's more traditional in style but I much preferred Still Life to the over-rated Fahrenheit (I hated it) which deals, in part, with similar themes. Conclusion: Still Life is a well made game of it's type with decent longevity but, obviously, no replay value. Warning: it's 18 rating is probably justified, the content won't upset most worldly teenagers but their parents might well object. The language is uncensored although not overly gratuitous but the subject matter: the violent murder of women, is dealt with very explicitly for a game.

Excellent game
This is a really good game. I have heard it described as CSI meets Syberia and I think that characterises the game pretty well. It does however, have a dark sense of foreboding about it, which is absent from the other games, and befits the central story -the investigation of a serial killer.

The game weaves in some good cut-scenes and some classic puzzle-solving. Provided you are OK with the puzzle element moving forward in the story is relatively straightforward so you are not left wondering what to do next. On the downside its a very linear game and whilst you can go to various locations and will play 2 different characters, they are quite 2 dimensional and the linear format does make you feel as though you are just going through the motions interacting with other characters rather than fully engaging in the story. Ultimately if you enjoyed Syberia you will like this game.

Now I'm confused?
Coming across as virtually identical to the excellent Syberia games,this has you as two characters,one in Prague in the thirties and one in modern day Chicago,you are tracking a serial killer with apparently the same M.O,
I won't go into the story as that would spoil it,needless to say it plays like the aforementioned Syberia games and is very good for the most part,why?
A couple of things really,there is a small amount of bad language but it is rated 18+ and it does have some bloody killings in it,Likewise The Longest Journey had it's share of language as well but never really annoyed or embarassed.
There are two puzzles that are quite tricky and would potentially quell any attempt to play it again,one mental,the lockpicking bit,it's terribly complex and the other the 'robot'spider bit which requires some dextrous controlling at odds with the rest of the game.
Otherwise an excellent game but singularly one of the most anti-climactic endings going,I'm still confused.