Still Life

The Good
- Graphics: Nice job! Graphics may not be breath-taking, but they are quite pleasant to the eye... in a dark, scary way. The characters and items are presented as 3D models, while the pre-rendered backgrounds are nice to look at. The lightning effects are well done, as well as reflection (the water looks pretty good).

• Story: Quite interesting and intriguing. You play two characters through present and past time, trying to solve the mystery behind several murders.

• Music/Sound: The music suits very well the mood of the game. Specially the music of the introductory sequence. The sound effects are also good.

• Videos/Movies: The video sequences are very well done and add a sense of "action" and achievement. Some of them are quite gory and dramatic, so young players should avoid this title. One high point is that you can watch any video whenever you want (once you unlock it).

• Acting: The dialogs are quite funny; the language used is (sometimes, not always) kind of rude / vulgar, but it adds a touch of realism I think.
  
  The Bad
  - Gameplay: Sometimes, gameplay is too linear. For example: you happen to find an item, but you won't be able to pick it up if a previous event has not taken place yet. Also some puzzles may be too hard (and sometimes annoying) for some people. But if you like challenges, this is your game.

• Other: The game actually is fairly short (if you are good solving puzzles, that is). Also when you finish it, it just leaves many things unsolved... a sequel would be nice (actually, a sequel is a must - the developers seem to almost force the need of a sequel; I didn't like this aspect very much). But this is my personal opinion.
  
  The Bottom Line
  "Still Life" is a point-and-click adventure/horror game, where you play as a female FBI officer (Victoria) and a male private detective (Gus). The main goal of the game is to discover the criminal behind a series of murders.. or at least you think so. The agent Victoria is an appealing character to play as; but sometimes the sequences where you play as Gus happen to be more intriguing. It's OK since both of their investigations are linked and you direct both of them. Several secrets and surprises await for them.

The storyline is great (and very dark) and it may suck you in completely, despite of the hard puzzles. Discovering the story of Gus (linked completely to Victoria's investigation) is very interesting. There are jokes eventually (simple humor, nothing perverted) that relief a bit the dark atmosphere of the game.

As for the puzzles... you may want to use a walkthrough for some of them... though it may reduce drastically the playing time. There's a puzzle sequence that it's actually popular for being very hard, but you can easily find a saved-game to by-pass it in the net.

The interface is simple and elegant. The inventory is very clean (there are no useless objects cluttering it). You can either combine items, use them or take a closer look at them (you can rotate and zoom for examining them, which is very useful). Another high point is that you can save anywhere with no restrictions. I found no bugs with my copy (Spanish version): I finished the game with no problems.

"Still Life" is a very good adventure/horror game, despite of its linearity and hard puzzles. For me, the bad aspect about it was... well, you should've seen my face when I finished the game... my eyes seemed to be a pair of question marks (?_?). Many things were left unsolved; that's the reason because I both liked and disliked its end: the need for a sequel. But as I said, it's just my personal opinion; yours may differ completely.