Shadow of Memories (Shadow Of Memories (PS2))

Member Name: pigeon_of_doom

Product:	Shadow Of Memories (PS2)
Date:	24/08/09 (24 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great premise, well developed characters, multiple plot paths.

Disadvantages: Easy solutions, unwarranted repitition.

Eike Kusch has just died. Murdered while strolling through the German town of Lebensbaum, he shall never know the motive behind the murder. Or at least he shouldn't, but he awakens in a bizarre, inter-dimensional realm where a disembodied voice offers him the chance to go back in time and prevent his death. Despite initial misgivings about the intentions of his mysterious saviour, who admits a vested interest in Eike's survival, he accepts and wakes up in a coffee shop with a time travel device, half an hour before he is destined to die. The race is on.

And what follows as he puts off the first attempt on his life, manipulating the past to secure his future, makes up the first of ten chapters in Konami's 2001 PS2 adventure game, Shadow of Memories (Shadow of Destiny in the US). This chapter sets a general template for the game: after foiling one plot, Eike is killed by some other means and must rescue himself again while trying to find information about his assailant. The complicated plot splits off into several possible timelines, requiring six playthroughs to reveal every possible outcome. Intriguing moral dilemmas are introduced throughout the course of the game, but along with the periods Eike lands in, are never fully explored. Despite the confusion of parallel timelines, the plot remains intelligible and rewards the player's curiosity with additional storyline content which reveals new details about the characters and the plot rather than being trivial non sequiturs. What the game does well, apart from character development, is imbue the mundane and the supernatural with an equal sense of drama, tragedy, and mystery; weaving them together into a deeply personal tale of a town and its denizen's past.

A daring concept and unconventional structure such as that employed here invites problems, and the game shares some of those that many story-driven games are accused of. Mostly connected with the implementation of cutscenes. While always interspersed between sections of gameplay, the high cutscene ratio remains very noticeable. Also, while making them initially unskippable seems a wise decision given the amount of important information divulged in them, every eventuality is not accommodated. If Eike dies outside of his own time, all progress is lost, the title-screen reloaded, and the chapter (and all cutscenes within) must be replayed. Any variation (however slight) caused by the player's decisions removes the skip option. Choosing a different solution or dialogue option can uncover previously unheard dialogue and new events, but the tedium of watching a previously seen cinematic with a single, cosmetic difference or an inconsequential line of new dialogue happens too often. Replays are encouraged, and necessary to fully grasp the plot, but these features can contribute to a mild ennui before the game's content is exhausted. Also, many of the cutscenes' context in the game is questionable. They eat up precious game-clock time which discourages triggering them, and limit the amount of plot players can experience before Eike's demise. Dying as a result of spending too long talking is both frustrating and breaks the illusion of the game's fiction. Despite Eike's mild mannered nature, surely he can break off a trivial conversation when his life depends on it?

The abundance of cutscenes isn't the only suggestion of the game's cinematic pretentions. Time periods all receive a different graphical flourish. Medieval Germany is tinted brown, populated by grey-faced peasants, and the 1900s receives a black and white style that becomes more colourful as the century progresses. The effect is interesting, but superficial. Modern and medieval settings are evoked well, the architecture in particular showing a modern town built up from parts of its history, but the empty streets feel lifeless and reduces the believability. 1900s Lebensbaum is (understandably) similar to its current state, but the colour filter isn't enough to make it stand out as wholly separate period.

These experimental touches are rare, and the game looks like a standard, first-generation PS2 game. But there are noticeable deviations. In cutscenes, characters are convincingly animated and excel in their "digital acting". Their faces, while the character models lack much detail, express an impressive range of nuanced emotion. In-game, however, characters move stiffly, as if their movements are based on a theoretical algorithm of movement rather than direct observation of humans. the result is that characters move as if their joints are rudimentary hinges. The quality of the environments is mixed too. Areas generally look fine; especially interiors which are littered with period detail, but some textures look sub-PSOne which is disappointing and a little disorientating. Some of the lighting effects, while not particularly advanced, look good too, the transition of the day noticeably over the 12 hours the game spans, and the quaint streetlights giving the nighttimes streets a (perhaps not entirely appropriate) cosy atmosphere.

As the game was designed for the PS2 rather than PC, it uses a simple analogue control system where Eike can only interact with certain things, access his inventory and adjust the camera. The main puzzles are just as simple, despite the added complexity of the parallel timelines. Any relevant information is pointed out by NPCs or revealed by Eike's audible musings. A solution is always apparent, but only made so through clear hints rather than unassailable logic. Most of the challenge comes from the game's real time countdown before "the fated hour" of Eike's death which fits perfectly with the story but can be needlessly cruel and restricts exploration. Instead the game rewards a methodical approach taken over several playthroughs.

After finishing the game once, I was dissatisfied with the puzzles. I dismissed them for their obvious solutions and the way I perceived them to only take partial advantage of the time travel mechanics. But when playing the game a second time, I experimented and was pleasantly surprised to find multiple solutions to puzzles which introduced new scenarios. My interest in the game was reignited by the discovery of so much new content. The amount of in-game content seemed to dry up after the second playthrough and my interest waned. The game's length just felt artificially extended. It asks for six complete playthroughs to uncover every ending, and while key cutscenes in the game are worth experiencing, the rest of the game doesn't warrant so many repeated plays. A short "EX" mode, tucked away after the original five endings are seen, drastically re-jigs the games' structure and plot but it never felt worth the effort. There's a worthwhile storyline in the game, just hidden amongst menial repetition.

Lebensbaum has something of an uneasy, sterile atmosphere due the small size of the playable area and the population. A feeling reinforced by intermittent bursts of off-key music that are partially effective but don't reach the heights of this devloper's work in Silent Hill. The occasional twangs and percussion are foreboding, but slightly distracting. The random jolt it provides contributes to the game's unique flavour and serves to oddly refocuse the player if they're losing concentration. An interesting effect, the storyline losing none of its poignancy in the absence of a bombastic score, but it feels something of a missed opportunity to really manipulate the player.

Unfortunately, the questionable elements of the voice acting don't serve to reinforce the mood. While major characters benefit from decent performances (Homunculus' clipped, resonant tones being debateable), peripheral characters are shocking. Possibly a result of the financial constraints of producing a plot heavy, fully voiced game in 2001: most of the inhabitants sound like a parody of themselves. Screeching mothers, obnoxious teenagers and high pitched elderly characters diminish whatever scene they blemish with their presence, their minor roles never short enough. Incidental NPCs who don't portray exaggerated caricatures are fine, but their respectable work is overshadowed by their colleagues' histrionics. In such a story-heavy game, anything that detracts from the player's sense of involvement in the game is to be decried, and poor voice acting can certainly do that.

Shadow of Memories is a very worthwhile experience despite feeling that it has no right to be. The unique plot, refreshing time-travel mechanics and multiple plot paths rescue what could have been a pedestrian adventure gaming experience. The lack of challenge, restricted environments and repetition isn't game breaking, and neither is the incredibly short length (the first playthrough shouldn't take more than five hours, although repeat playthroughs can take one). It's thought provoking (within the context of the game-world) and is certainly worth whatever bargain bin price it would cost. It's not innovative or refined enough to stand out as a classic, but it's a daring, if stuttering step in great console's infancy that just happened to be overshadowed by more conventional blockbusters.

Summary: Interesting, fairly compelling game.