| Shadow Of Memories Time travel and murder mystery are both the ingredients of Shadow Of Memories but sadly as this review will tell you it hasn't quite got the gameplay to go with it. Saying that doesn't mean that SOM hasn't got decent gameplay because it has, it just means that it basically has no gameplay at all, just the bits in between of the many cut scenes where you are required to wander around impressive locations going backwards and forwards through time to prevent your own murder, you can't really class SOM a game, the title interactive movie is more fitting. The graphics aren't too far away from a film either with some excellent lighting and shadows. But a minor fault is the slightly dodgy animation of your character Eike Kush which makes him move as if he has wooden legs but otherwise SOM has some of the best PS2 graphics yet! The cut-scenes mainly show this off as the in game engine is being used and all the characters have facial expressions which allows you to know what they are thinking, this is combined with some convincing lip movement and some decent but not exactly great voice acting. Strangely SOM has no violence included: the only person who you can kill is yourself I'm afraid and many times throughout the game you will be facing death and then its your job to change Eike's fate with some genius puzzles, for example going back through time and preventing the planting of a tree which your killer will use to hide behind in the present day and that is just one example. But I won't tell you anymore as it will just spoil the enjoyment if you ever decide to play it. A little more thought could have gone into the speech through time as words that were never invented are spoken like "awesome" for example but fortunately this isn't a regular thing. SOM is a great game! Although not great enough for purchase as even with multiple endings it just doesn't have enough to keep you coming back but rent it and you will be hooked to the end!Simon Wigham 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Opinions Round-up |