L'Affaire Morlov Review

It's a spy thriller. Except, you're on the losing end of the stick. You've been framed, and worse, you're not quite sure what the hell happened, or who framed you. Just someone is dead, the police think you did it, and now. you're on the lamb. Can you uncover the sordid clues that lead to the real culprits of this dastardly deed? Will you be able to evade the police who're hot on your tail? Can you figure out what the $(*% is going on before it all goes to hell? These and many questions might just be answered.... if you dare to take the challenge.

This is an intresting idea. A port of a reasonable PC/MAC adveture title, with a reasonable premise. However, problems abound when it comes to gameplay. Sad as it ruins what could have been a very promising last generation CD-i title.

Visually, the graphics are pretty good. Following down the road of games like Ground Zero Texas (for Sega CD) and the CD-i FMV classic Voyeur, L'AM uses real actors in real-world locations. Some images seem

a bit rough, but ultimatly its forgivable. What isn't forgivable are the horribly poor transition videos (see above), shown in some cases to indicate travel between areas, they're too small, poor in quality and are usually to dark to be of any real use or add any substance to the game. Most character interactions though are done with the motion-pixels style video, so its pretty clean and is full screen.

Audtio is a bit grainy, especially in the small transition videos that have audio. Some of the outdoor conversations are also a bit rough. All around though, its not overly distracting. Just not as sharp as it could be.

Control... now thats another matter. The icon driven interface isn't bad, but is unreactive at some points, very anoying. Usually you have to save, and reload to get things back on track. A nasty glitch that appears too often. Also, gameplay involves alot of waiting around, and can be

unforgiving if you miss one very linear moment.

Acting in this one is very very very mediocre at best. Don't expect these people to win any awards. Some actually seem like they were brought in off the street, handed a script and told to act. I've seen 4th grade plays with more convincing characters. But then, I digress. I am a MST3K fan at heart, so bad movies and bad acting are more than tollerable. :-)

In the final analysis. this is a title for collectors, and those with a moderate amount of patience. There is a reasonable adventure underneath the frustrating interface. If you get past that, you'll have a good time. Also a good game for those who're big fans of foreign dramatic films. Due to subject matter and a bit of language, this one might not be for the youngsters. So, parents. You've been forewarned. ;-)