Developer: KING Art, Nordic Games
Publisher: KING Art, Nordic Games
Platform: Mac, PC
The Raven: The Legacy of the Master Thief (part 1) – Review
Everyone once wanted to be like Sherlock Holmes and solve mysteries, right? Let The Raven: Legacy of the Master Thief be your guide to take you to a place where you can solve riddles like a real detective.
Story
The game takes you back to the sixties: the decade when famous people like Elvis Presley, Cliff Richards and The Beatles shone brightly. This period was also the era of The Raven. The notorious thief could steal anything without hurting anyone and without leaving any trace or evidence. The only thing the police could find on the crime scene was a black raven feather. The police had their hands full with this masterthief. The young investigator Nicolas Legrand was burned to find this scoundrel and put him in jail. Fate had other plans though: The Raven was fatally wounded and died in 1960.
Four years later, investigator Legrand got promoted thanks to his gained fame with the Raven-incident and he’s now inspector Legrand . Everything went great for him until some bizarre events occurred. Robberies without leaving evidence, the raven feather as a signature, … Inspector Legrand fears that he made a mistake and that the Raven is still alive. He reopens the case and gets (unwillingly) help from Constable Anton Jakob Zellner. This Swiss policeman thinks he’s a good cop, but his superiors think otherwise. He wants to prove his persistency and utility in this case, although he gets himself in quite some trouble.
You start the game as Constable Zellner on the train to Italy and you get the opportunity to keep an eye on the passengers. This would be quite boring if this was an ordinary train trip, but you’ll notice some strange things are playing here. When you get stuck in a tunnel, things are bound to get tricky. This continues even on the next stop of your journey: the ship MS Lydia. If you’re want to survive this game of cat-and-mouse, you’ll better watch your steps and above all: don’t trust anyone…
Graphics
The graphics in this game are really nice and totally fit this type of game. The overall style on the train and in and around the ship feels very sixties-like and are a positive addition. It helps you believe that you’ve been taken back in time. The developers chose to use real-time 3D graphics in full HD. This is very positive, because the level of the details and the finishing touch in the environment and the characters are very high. The facial expressions are quite vivid and the all the items in the environment are finished really well.
It’s possible to change the graphic settings in the options and you can adjust the resolution. A minor remark is that you can’t toggle between windowed mode and fullscreen.
Sound
The music this game is cheerful and fits this period. It doesn’t only make you feel like you’re in the sixties, but it sometimes also emphasizes a certain feeling during an event. The game doesn’t have a lot of different soundtracks, although you’ll probably won’t notice it because you’re trying to solve the different mysteries. There aren’t really a lot of sound effects in the game, but the ones that are available are very nice and realistic.
It’s possible to change the volume of the sound, voice and music separately. The developers also gave you the opportunity to change the audio language and the subtitles to German.
Gameplay
The Raven: Legacy of the Master Thief is a mixture of a point and click game with a good whodunit. You use your mouse to point the Constable in the right direction and to check out different hotspots. It’s very important to click on every hotspot several times, because not all the information is given when you only click it once. It’s also possible that you can pick the item up when you’ve read all the info.
Another nice fact is that you can combine items so you can use it for your specific situation. This really makes it necessary that you stay alert so you know where u can use combined items or on which way you need to assemble something. A downside is that the controls are sometimes dodgy and that the Constable is sometimes stuck between or behind furniture. You’ll need to click his way out of his difficult position which can be annoying sometimes and slows down the game. On the other hand, it would be weird if he could run through furniture, right?
The game has a main questline but also some sidequests. These side missions aren’t obligatory of course but they’re a nice addition. Another positive remark is the use of the Adventure Points. When you’re stuck and you want to see some hotspots on your screen, you’ll need to pay some of your points. No stress though, you can regain some if you complete side missions or if you advance in the main storyline.
The Notebook is also a nice feature in the game. Our good Constable writes every bit of information down about his search for the Raven. This book doesn’t only have this abundance of evidence, but you can also get some hints if you’re stuck. You’ll have to use your Adventure Points though. I have to remark that these hints weren’t available for the sidequests, which is a minor downside to the game.
Conclusion
The Raven: Legacy of the Master Thief is a twisted point and click game with really good graphics and nice music. The game takes you back to the sixties and sucks you into a game of cat-and-mouse between the good and the bad. This game is a really good start of the trilogy and I’m looking forward to play the next chapters!
The Raven: The Legacy of the Master Thief (part 1) - Review,
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[…] story continues from where we left part one. You can find the previous review here. I’m not going to spoil anything but Constable Zellner is pinned down and needs to do some quick […]