Post Mortem

aka: Chaonengli Zhengtan
Moby ID: 7823
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Description official descriptions

Set in the 1920s, Post Mortem puts the player in the role of MacPherson, a retired private detective, whom is hired by Sophia Blake. His assignment is to find out who killed her sister and brother-in law.

The gameplay is similar to games like AmerZone: The Explorer's Legacy and other first-person adventure games, where the player goes hunting around for clues and interacts with other characters. During cinematics, the game moves the perspective to the third-person and offers different dialogue choices. The storyline is affected according to chosen lines.

Spellings

  • 超能力侦探 - Chinese spelling (simplified)

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Reviews

Critics

Average score: 72% (based on 40 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.3 out of 5 (based on 38 ratings with 4 reviews)

It was a dark and stormy night ...

The Good
This review concerns the English version of the original Microids release. The Adventure Company's version (for US & Canada) may be different.

The internet was flooded with previews, interviews and screenshots, so naturally anticipation was high when the game was finally available. I, too, was swayed by all the excitement and it was added to my "wanted list" as soon as the first few reviews came out. Now that I've played it, I wonder what caused all the hubbub.

My opinions about Post Mortem are so mixed, it's hard to differentiate between likes and dislikes.

The entire game is decidedly French. It takes place in Paris, but don't think you will get an opportunity to see the sights. The closest thing you'll see is a bistro which really looks no different than any ordinary bar and grill. All of the NPCs have French names, but very few actually speak with an accent (in the English version). The voices were well-matched to the look of the character they were portraying. But, on the minus side, some of their tones and inflections were unrealistic (especially that of the main character, MacPherson). Also, whoever typed the English subtitles made many mistakes so that what you were hearing wasn't exactly as it was printed on-screen.

The overall interface is easy to use, although scrolling through your large inventory can become tedious. If you have the proper inventory item, new topics of conversation are available with the one person on whom you can use it (a little bit different). The game includes a great navigation map on which new places are added as you learn about them. There also seems to be no limit to the number of games you can save.

The graphics seemed realistic enough for my taste, but no new ground was broken here. Panning around in 3D is nice ... and necessary for finding important "hot spots". Brightening your screen and/or adjusting gamma lightens up the darkest areas - and there are plenty of those. Finding important objects is easy without the "pixel-hunting" problems of some other games.

Post Mortem's saving grace is its puzzles. Even though the theme of the game reminded me of Black Dahlia, 90% of this game's puzzles are new, fresh and well integrated into the plot. The most memorable one for me is the Lockpick puzzle in which you must actually decide which picks to insert, where as well as figuring out how to jiggle them around in the proper way. Ingenious! Those of you familiar with a "Magic Box" will recognize those math-related problems. Otherwise, you'll be making a sketch of a suspect based upon interrogations, finding the differences in two pieces of artwork (and marking them), deciphering an alchemical formula, and otherwise reading documents and finding objects to solve others.

Post Mortem is not a short game and it'll take you more than a weekend to finish, even using a walkthrough.

The Bad
I mentioned some of the quirks in the above paragraphs, but below are the things that irritated me most about Post Mortem.

  • Long installation - even for the "medium" selection
  • Graphics cards - some of you may find you can't play the game. Others (like me) are forced to play it in a lower resolution or without the best effects. Why this was done for an adventure game is beyond my reasoning.
  • Character body movements during conversations were unnatural and sometimes just plain weird.
  • Game lockups - one specific one is fixed by the SP1 patch. But, be forewarned and disable your anti-virus software before starting the game.
  • Repetitive Music and ambient sounds - especially the cutesy French bistro sfx that popped in, even during serious scenes.
  • Reading Documents from the notebook menu didn't work very well. Sometimes the only way to read all of them was by clicking on each one individually.
  • The purported "3 distinct endings" aren't really different enough to warrant replaying it.

    **The Bottom Line**
    You'll find accolade-filled reviews on all of the major gaming sites for this game, but for the life of me I can't see what all the excitement is about. I liked it, yes ... but, because of those reviews, it didn't live up to my expectations. There's a bit of blood and nudity, sure, and the theme is dark ... but it lacked immersive suspense. I never really cared what happened to the characters. Anyone who thinks this is a classic hasn't played enough games. It falls far short of that mark, in my opinion. But just because it's not one of my favorites, don't let that stop you from playing it. It's definitely worth 3 1/2 stars ... just not 5.
  • Windows · by Jeanne (75956) · 2007

    Alright, the first review! I'd better make it a good one...here it goes.

    The Good
    Well, the graphics were the first thing that caught my eye, naturally. The storyline and the plot are both intriguing...and overused. You start out as a witness to a grisly murder of a couple in bed at the Hotel Orphee (that's OR-FAY for all of you who hate to mispronounce words). In any case, you wake up from a psychic vision of sorts (yes, your character is a clairvoyant as well) and answer a knock at your studio door. It's a woman named Sophia Blake, the sister and sister-in-law of the victims who were murdered. To make a long story short (too late), You play Gus McPherson, a private eye turned painter who gets involved in a macabre murder mystery that gets more and more bizarre as it unfolds. I liked the game honestly, being a fan of such classics as The Colonel's Bequest and The Dagger of Amon Ra. I did, however, have a few complaints.

    The Bad
    First of all, the acting was terrible. The emotion put into the speech varied to such a degree that it was obvious each actor recorded their lines individually and the production crew just threw it all together into a recipe they called dialogue. On top of that, as far as "multiple endings" are concerned, you really only have three options. You can play through the game as a private eye, a journalist, or an insurance agent, and your "ending" changes accordingly. I haven't played through all of them yet, so I can't describe to you what happens (don't you hate when people do that anyway?) So I would say, besides the sometimes overly eccentric plot and always annoying acting, I can't say too much else badly about the game. Try it out, you might very well like it.

    The Bottom Line
    If you're into mystery, suspense, sometimes a little fear, this is a good game to try. I say "good" because it's certainly not the best. It is fun though, and I think anyone who is a fan of the genre will get wrapped up in the world of Post Mortem. Have fun, and happy gaming!

    Windows · by Aaron Jones (14) · 2003

    Good enough!

    The Good
    This game has good story and easy to play. A couple has been killed by a strange man (he looks like Jack the Ripper) in a hotel room in Paris. The story then becomes strange but we can still understand it.

    The Bad
    Average graphics and bad ending. This game was built in 2003, so the 3D graphics aren't interesting. The ending is too short for a long-period game like Post Mortem, but thanks to Microids because they made three possible endings for this game.

    The Bottom Line
    Well, the game is good enough for me as I finished it on November 2007 in just 5 days. This game is good for adventure game lovers and it has simple gameplay, just point-and-click something on the screen to play. However, it isn't recommended for children because there is some blood, violence and sexual activities included in this game.

    Windows · by Sherlockindo (85) · 2008

    [ View all 4 player reviews ]

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    • MobyGames ID: 7823
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    Contributors to this Entry

    Game added by John Chaser.

    Additional contributors: Unicorn Lynx, Jeanne.

    Game added November 27, 2002. Last modified February 5, 2024.