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Calvino Noir [Game Review]

Game: Calvino Noir Genre: 2D Stealth Developer: Calvino Noir Limited Publisher: Calvino Noir Limited Copy supplied by developer

Calvino Noir is a 2D stealth game developed and published by Calvino Noir Limited.

STORY The game is a cliched but well written noir story reminiscent of classics like Casablanca and The Maltese Falcon: you play as a private investigator who, after having helped a mole find some documents, gets framed for a government and revolutionary plot. With the help of friends, he does all he can to prevent the worst scenario to happen. Does this sound cliched and convoluted? Yes. But the story is actually way easier to understand in-game, and it works very well for what it is supposed to do: the dialogue is noir and overly serious, the story is pathetic and everyone feels the weight of the world on their shoulders. But, as a big fan of noir movies and games, I love this type of stories. If you like the genre, there's much to like in the story department.

GRAPHICS The game adopts the art-style made famous by Limbo: grey background with shadowy figures in the foreground. And it suits the tone of the game. The levels that you explore are big, with realistic architecture and believable level design, as well as having nice animations for the characters.

GAMEPLAY Being a fan of stealth games, I probably had my hopes up a lot when starting this game: depending on the level, you control from one to three characters by using your mouse only (similarly to This War of Mine), and each one has a different ability (lockpick, knock-out guards, operate machinery). While this may sound interesting and might open up multiple possibilities, the game is just too linear, with the only real choice being to knock-out or not some guards. Don't get me wrong, the gameplay has great concepts, but the execution is just too linear and repetitive in the long run that you just stop enjoying the otherwise well-crafted experience. There is also a bug (that the developers might have fixed by now) that sometimes alerts guards when you are sneaking behind them, forcing you to sprint towards them to beat them. The gameplay is very disappointing.

CHALLENGE Because of its linear nature, the game quickly becomes more about trial'n'error rather than strategy. The enemy A.I., while impressive at first because of their patrolling and checking of sounds and shadowy figures, becomes rather predictable making some of the later levels in the game easier to complete.

SOUND I love me a good jazz soundtrack, and this one doesn't disappoint: while it isn't as memorable as Gunpoint's or Grim Fandango's, it is pretty good and fits the atmosphere that the game creates. The same goes for the overly-serious voice acting made famous in late 40s noir movies, that I simply love.

REPLAYABILITY The 7 levels of the game don't offer multiple paths to some objectives, and the only collectibles are coins (that can be used to meaninglessly upgrade your character) and shrouds. The Steam achievements are mostly story and collectibles related, and coming back doesn't feel rewarding.

Overall, only fans of noir movies will enjoy the game because of its cliched story, dialogues and locations, otherwise you will spend most of the time complaining of the poor gameplay mechanics, its repetitive nature and other wasted possibilities.

Story: 8 Graphics: 9 Gameplay: 6.5 Challenge: 5 Sound: 9 Replayability: 5

ENJOYMENT: 7 FRUSTRATION: 7.5


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