I can’t ever recall it being the case, but I think that waking up and finding myself chained to a bed would be one of my worst nightmares. Especially if I didn’t know how I came to be there, who stuck on those chains, or where the hell I was. What would you do in such a situation? Call for help? Try and get the chains off in any way possible? Pretend to be dead and hope for the best?
Perhaps I’ve been playing too many games, because it is things like that which revolve around the gaming landscape. Games like True Virus – a point-and-click adventure that promises to get you out of bed.
Set in a small European town, in True Virus a virus (unsurprisingly) has been released into the world, trapping folk into lockdown before they turn into strange zombies. You play someone who is chained to a bed at the start of the game, wondering how you got there, hoping to escape. You find out you are in an abandoned psychiatric ward and you see strange things all around you. Your task is to uncover the secrets behind how this virus began and find the doctor who chained you to the bed… Hopefully, they will have the answers.
The writing and premise of True Virus don’t really offer us anything original or new, but exploring the many locations through the hospital – and the nearby town – is interesting. It’s helped by the fact that there are some colourful characters to meet along the way. Just don’t expect any surprises in the narrative, except perhaps in some of the visual storytelling moments.
The gameplay sees this one working as a traditional point-and-click adventure where you are left with a fixed screen, able to go about examining and picking up objects all around you. It’s quite lacking to begin with in the instruction department and you have to work out the controls yourself. And that’s not helped that the selection arrow you need to control could do with a shift in speed from the menu. Without that, you are in for a slow night over its five hours or so running time.
In fact, the UI, while being useful and integral to the game, does feel a bit clumsy at times and it certainly takes a while to get used to it. Also, other games in this genre have been found to add in a handy little feature whereby you press a button and it will highlight all the items you can interact with. True Virus is old school, laughing in your face at such a request. As such, it can frustrate at times.
Otherwise though, expect the usual elements of ‘trying this item with another’, working out puzzles, or attempting to find codes from all the clues dotted around the areas. There aren’t any obvious markers on what you have to do though, like an objective, but there is something about this simple, pretty bare setup that I admired. The puzzles do get a bit tricky late on in the game and you may well find yourself looking to harness those Mensa-level skills you have in order to find the answer. Failing that, Google will be your friend.
The thing is, whilst I’ve enjoyed the level of point-and-click adventure to be had in True Virus, it never manages to do anything new. Perhaps that is a good thing?
I do like the visuals though. True Virus employs an art style that is seemingly ripped straight out of a 1970’s animation studio for a kids show, crossing the line between weird and cute. Dolls with eyes moving are mixed with drab colour schemes splattered across the levels. This is a style that I very much enjoy and each location and screen loading up is packed full of artistic detail and interest; from a book to the strange characters that you meet. Yes, I think that at times it’s that style which makes it tricky to discover some items, but it is the highlight of the game for me. Much more than the sound for instance. Although well used, it is very minimal.
I may sound like a bit of a broken record but there have been a lot of point-and-click adventures to release on Xbox this year; any new arrivals need to do something to ensure they are different from the rest. Burnhouse Lane is a prime example, but True Virus struggles a bit more. True Virus is most definitely a solid adventure with some hard puzzles and a lovely art style, but a clumsy UI and lacking story don’t ever let it stand out.
That said, if you are up for a challenge and aren’t fussed by being guided, True Virus might just be the infection you want to pick up.
