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First, we think it\u2019s essential to make one crucial point clear: despite appearances, the official character, the developers and the press releases, this Vertigo game is in no way an adaptation of Alfred Hitchcock\u2019s film of the same name, which was shown in Hungarian cinemas under the title \u201cVertigo\u201d. The era, the characters and the script are entirely different, and only a few \u201cmeta\u201d quips link the film to the game. For example, one of the characters watches Cold Sweat in the cinema at the beginning of the adventure and later refers to it as his favourite film in an innocent dialogue.<\/p>\n
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As for the \u201evertigo\u201d in the film\u2019s title, i.e. the fact that both the film\u2019s hero and the video game\u2019s successor suffer from Vertigo, this is just another reference. This phobia, which was a dominant factor in the 1958 classic, does not play the same role here and is more anecdotal.<\/p>\n
The game\u2019s Hitchcockian quality is primarily due to the general atmosphere, which is reminiscent of the Twin Peaks series or Alan Wake. Moreover, the main character here is also a very troubled writer. In the introductory scene, Ed Miller wakes up on a bridge, sees his car plunged into a cliff, finds that his wife and daughter are dead, and then sees that his own father has thrown himself off the bridge. The problem is, his father died years ago, nobody is found in the wreckage of the car, and Ed has been a known bachelor for years.<\/p>\n
All of this is enough to question the mental health of our hero, who must work with psychotherapist Julia Lomas to separate truth from fake facts, sort out our hero\u2019s memories, and clear up more grey areas. Both characters are playable at certain game stages, and Sheriff Reyes is investigating the accident.<\/p>\n
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Although the variety of viewpoints makes the scenario relatively interesting, it has almost no effect on the gameplay, which remains minimal in all cases. A few movements in a relatively confined space, a few objects to observe here and there, a few dialogue choices that rarely have any natural consequence, and that\u2019s it! As for the \u201caction\u201d, there is no shortage of the inevitable \u201cQuick Time Events\u201d a la Quantic Dream or Dontnod Entertainment, such as pressing the A button or twisting the gamepad arm to simulate on-screen action.<\/p>\n
These real and fake interactions are all the more disappointing because, in addition, it often doesn\u2019t even matter whether you mess them up or not. It\u2019s just that they stimulate the player in the most basic way possible. The icing on the cake is that the game also has a lot of boring dead time when virtually nothing interesting happens.<\/p>\n
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I really don\u2019t understand why the brave Spanish developers thought it would be so cool and exciting to play as Ed Miller as a kid and have to put away… groceries! Putting paper towels in the cupboard, putting vegetables in the fridge and bread on the table using QTEs: gosh, it was all so exciting!<\/p>\n
To be fair, though, I should add that we were allowed to perform hypnosis on Ed in a significantly more creative twist to the game. This allowed us to relive specific altered memories previously recalled by the hero and explore inconsistencies to restore the truth.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, these phases are extremely linear. All you have to do is go to the right place on the timeline indicated on the screen (so the possibility of rewinding or fast-forwarding the plot is redundant) and click without thinking on the various interactive zones that can be discovered during the scene so that the game can silently unfold the plot. It\u2019s the plot that saves the game from disaster, as the story does have twists and turns, most of which are impossible to predict (except for the final twist, but that\u2019s understandable).<\/p>\n
The artwork in Vertigo is also commendable. The distinctive \u201cfaces\u201d of Pendulo Studios can be found, which helps you remember the different protagonists and instantly and unconsciously capture their personalities. In addition, the adventure would have benefited from being presented to us as an animated film rather than a game. It is difficult to ignore the various flaws in the game. On the not very powerful PCs, you can experience slowdowns (even if there is absolutely nothing extraordinary on the screen), various ugly bugs (text that pops out of the screen, a scene that suddenly goes dark, a character that becomes invisible for a few moments…) and too many loading screens, so Vertigo is not the pinnacle of programming.<\/p>\n
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