Culpa Innata
Preview
In the golden age of mankind, violence and crime is unheard of.
by Marcus Mulkins
previewed on PC
The Devil In The Details
There are a number of -- I won't call them "flaws" so much as "quirks" to the game. The most major of these is the way that the dialog tree functions. According to the G.P.S.N. (the police force of the World Union) rules, a peace officer can only bother a civilian for questioning once a day, because more than that would interfere with their productivity. That means that once you walk away from a conversation, you can't go back to ask further questions until the next day. Now, when you add to that that when you choose a given thread from the dialog tree, the other options disappear, and subsequent choices are related to the option you chose, it becomes downright painful. Choose wisely! Or else! You won't be able to do a Columbo and say, "Uh, excuse me, I have just one more question" as you walk out the door. (I strongly suggest that you Save the game before EVERY conversation, just so you can Load and go back to explore other dialog choices.)
According to every betatester's and reviewer's article I've seen on the game, the puzzles are described as "challenging". (Often, the phrase is "totally challenging", or something similar.) That suggests to me one thing: You are NOT going to be able to complete the game without the aid of a walkthrough or access to a well-stocked Hints forum. One must remember that "logical" puzzles hinge on the logic of the designers - and more often than not they have a peculiar way of looking at the world. So your idea of "logical" and their idea very probably do NOT equate. Ergo, someone somewhere has to play the Good Samaritan and write a walkthrough to help you reach The End.
My own pet peeve of no consequence is the way characters stand and move. In watching the action so far, something feels subtly amiss. It took a couple run-throughs before it hit me. Though the characters themselves are beautifully rendered, their posture is uniformly simian. That is, they ALL stand with their arms bowed out from their torsi (plural of torso), like their muscles are getting in the way of their arms lying flat along their sides. Makes me think of a Sumo wrestler. Then when they interact, there's no animation to the arms and hands; they just hang there like so much dead weight. What's missing is gesticulation. Like, have you ever seen an Italian (or any of a dozen other nationalities) talking? The hands and fingers fly around like they're signaling in semaphore. In Culpa Innata the characters converse like they're standing (or sitting) at Attention.
What Does "Soon" Mean To You?
Momentum-DMT has already pushed back the release date at least once. Originally intending to release in the first quarter of 2007, they decided to "localize" the language of the game to where it would be released. "Localize" to Momentum-DMT didn't mean simply slapping on French, Italian, or German subtitles; it meant going back to the graphics and translating ALL of the signs and documents into those languages. As well as redoing all of the voice acting into those languages. Good for them! Do it right instead of simply doing a patch job. Unfortunately, that required a LOT of work which took a LOT of time.
At present, it looks like the game will be released in the US on October 16, 2007. Momentum-DMT has done the equivalent of putting their hands on a Bible and sworn that it will be released prior to 2008, no matter what. So it should be available as a present for the Adventure gamer on your Christmas list. The suggested retail price is $29.99, so that's pretty good for a game of this scope and size.
I'm still wondering where all the poor people and servants went in the World Union, though. I'll just have to wait until then to see if the game is immersive enough to make me forget about that nagging question.
