THE COMPLEX
The doctor will FMV you now
Should you be a connoisseur of B-tier FMV games (like I am), you’ll know you’re in for a good time whenever you see the Wales Interactive Logo. This latest title is billed as an ‘interactive movie’ in the same vein as Late Shift. Two scientists find themselves under lockdown with a critically ill patient, her condition the result of dubious scientific practice. As Dr Amy Tenant, you’ll reckon with the results of your research, and decide whether any of you will get out alive.
By tapping the touchpad, you can get a read on how your choices affect other characters’ opinions of Amy and cause fluctuations in her personality, all conveyed in percentages. For narrative fans it’s a comfortingly familiar gimmick, but during our playthroughs we see little to suggest the numbers have much of a real impact. That doesn’t mean the story can’t go wildly off the rails as a result of your choices, because it absolutely can.
With nine endings and 100-plus scenes, there’s plenty of replay value, and seeing everything is made easier by the fact you can skip scenes you’ve already viewed with u. However, after playing a few different story routes, it becomes clear that the narrative design is playing things fast and loose rather than merely offering a different perspective on the same story. For example, one route obscures the full extent of what Amy knows, creating a disconnect between you and your protagonist that is a massive no-no in games like this (as anyone who’s played Heavy Rain will know).
DOCTOR YES OR NO
And that’s before we get to the liberal use of trolley problems. Yes, choosing who to sacrifice has bite but here, weighed down by all the games that came before The Complex and did it better, that bite feels a little toothless. Thankfully, convincing performances across the board mean we’re not quite gummed to death – we do care about the characters. All the same, it feels no less cheap the third time we’re faced with it.
However, perhaps the story’s most egregious flaw is that its best character is trapped in a plastic tube for almost the entire thing. The story’s main thread of bioterrorism has unrest in the fictitious former colony of Kindar as a backdrop. Your patient,
Clare, has personal stakes in both, but unfortunately she is relegated to wisecracking from quarantine, eventually facilitating the conclusion of protagonist Amy’s moral arc. It feels like a waste and, while I’m not saying things should go to the extreme end of a lockedbox drama, something akin to a playable version of the Ryan Reynolds movie Buried could’ve been interesting.
What saves The Complex, beyond the lead performances and relatively high production values, is its B-movie tone.
This is an FMV game that absolutely knows what it is, terrible puns, hammy dialogue, story contrivances, and all.
VERDICT
“AN FMV THAT ABSOLUTELY KNOWS WHAT IT IS, HAMMY DIALOGUE AND ALL.”
A stripped-back, branching narrative with nice production values that is nowhere near as slick overall as the likes of Erica. You’d better be here for a B-movie. Jess Kinghorn