The fog slowly clears and an airplane wheels out of a hangar onto the runway. An explosion reverberates through the crisp morning air as a door blows off the side of a hangar. Two figures emerge and a brief conversation takes place. The couple parts after what seems like a final goodbye, and the man runs after the plane onto the runway. He’s too late though, and his troubles don’t end there. A greasy man shoots him in the chest. The man that has been shot is Private Investigator Jack Del Nero. This is Face Noir.
Face Noir is the first game from developer Mad Orange. This classic point-and-click adventure game tells a fairly typical hard boiled detective story set in New York during the Depression (at least until the end). It is an interesting concept, aside from the facts that the game has a horrible name, is not particularly pretty to look at, features some questionable voice acting and writing, and at times lacks the polish gamers have come to expect from retail products.
Still despite these issues, there is an underlying charm to the game that kept me playing. Over the course of the six or so hours I spent playing Face Noir, I became invested in the flawed lead, Jack Del Nero. I wanted to know why this ex-police officer turned cynical, alcoholic private investigator was being framed for the murder of his ex-partner. As the game progressed I fell further down the rabbit hole, finding myself excited about what the next revelation would be.
However, charm only gets you so far, and fortunately, Face Noir is also buoyed by an absolutely phenomenal soundtrack, an unobtrusive game design, and a seeming love from the developers for both point-and-click adventure games and noir storytelling.
Adventure games are rooted in story, and narrative is arguably the most important aspect of the genre. But they are still games and need to be played. Too often that fact is forgotten. Face Noir does a great job of presenting puzzles that make sense for the player, be they traditional adventure puzzles or dialog based ones. Rarely did I find myself questioning what the game wanted me to do, although there is a puzzle in the end game that had me scratching my head. Everything seemed appropriate to the setting and as such made sense. This fact kept the game on point, allowing the narrative to flow at a natural pace while still making me to feel like I was accomplishing something at the same time.
While the story is engaging, and the gameplay is just what one wants out of a point-and-click adventure game, it is the soundtrack that really shines. Featuring a slew of slow-tempo, moody jazz numbers, Face Noir’s music is a treat for fans of classic noir films or this particular style of music. Each number feels like the perfect selection for the scene it compliments and it is clear that regardless of Mad Orange’s other issues, they have a deep love and understanding of film noir.
Unfortunately, Face Noir does have those other issues, and these prevents the game from being a truly great entry in the adventure game space. The visuals are a mixed bag, with environments looking quite well done but characters moving like robots and sometimes getting stuck due to poor pathfinding. Worse, though, are the character close ups that make the game look downright dated, with poorly animated faces featuring an overall lack of detail on their models. Possibly most detrimental to the overall quality of the game are the voice acting and sometimes questionable writing. While Del Nero is mostly handled well, every other character has moments of poor delivery or dialog that just doesn’t quite fit. For a game that relies so heavily on setting, poor writing and acting can at times be head scratching.
In the end though, even with these issues, Face Noir mostly succeeds at what it set out to do. And I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t anticipating the next piece of the story. In and of itself, that fact says all one needs to know about Face Noir.
Note: This review was written with material received from the publisher. For more on our review process, please read here.
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