Normality
Kent Knutson is a teenager who lives in the city of Neutropolis. The city is controlled by a totalitarian regime, which prohibits people to express any emotions that would deviate from the prescribed norm - such as joy and happiness. Kent is arrested by the Norms, the police force of Neutropolis, and put in prison for whistling a merry tune. In prison, he received an anonymous note that tells him that there is a resistance group somewhere in the city, which seeks to overthrow the dictator of Neutropolis. The question is - how can Kent find that resistance group?..
Normality is an adventure game done entirely in 3D, similarly to Under a Killing Moon, though with more colorful, cartoon-like visuals. Besides the somewhat unusual (for the genre) engine, the game plays like a traditional puzzle-solving adventure, primarily relying on manipulation of objects Kent is able to pick up and put in his inventory.
Comments
The game's ok. The cast is even less memorable than in the previous games though, and the overarching story just feels cheap. Also, with this type of story, I don't see why there was a need for continuity with that of the previous titles (this just enabled a tiny additional twist, which didn't seem worth it).
I'm pretty disappointed with this game. Since it's a highly praised VN, I assumed the story would be solid, but the mysteries are easy to figure out, the characters receive little to no development and the endings are all pretty forced when compared to the flow of the overall story. On the other hand the plot is interesting before the endings, and there's funny dialogue every now and then. The puzzles are alright, too, although most of them are fairly straightforward.
I'm pretty disappointed with this game. Since it's a highly praised VN, I assumed the story would be solid, but the mysteries are easy to figure out, the characters receive little to no development and the endings are all pretty forced when compared to the flow of the overall story.