I'm waist deep in the semester, waist deep in homework, and waist deep in annoying roommates. It's the home stretch at school, and this is total war. And that's why it's nice to step back and slip into something a little more... casual.
Enter Phenomenon: City of Cyan, a new hidden object game from developer PuzzleLab. You'll be treated to gorgeous environments and some good brain-benders, but terribad voice acting lurks just beneath the surface, ready to strike!
[[phenomenoncityofcyan1.jpg]]
You play Monica Dipp. Okay, let's stop right there. Does she live on Ranch Dipp? Does she have an uncle named Cheese Dipp? But I digress. It seems that 20 years ago, Monica's mom, Eve Dipp, gave Monica a fantastic-looking necklace and then proceeded to overreach as all good scientists eventually do, blowing up her secret lair and causing strange things to happen in surrounding Cyan City.
Cut to present day. Monica, now a magically babelicious redhead, is back in Cyan City after receiving a mysterious note that her mother may still be alive. You'll uncover the secrets of Cyan City and encounter some techno-supernatural weirdness along the way.
Like I said, the visuals are pretty sick; this is just plain art we're talking about if you discount the clunky animations and stick to the painterly backgrounds. And the gameplay is solid, with tough hidden object maps and plenty of find-and-use goodness. But where Phenomenon goes off the reservation is story and characters.
The story's more absurd than most, and the voice acting is ear-bleedingly bad. Monica's voice actor is the worst offender and, you guessed it, she has the vast majority of the lines. It's almost like she intentionally emphasized all the wrong parts of words. Add to that the fact that much of the in-game text obviously wasn't written by a native English writer. These elements not only take you out of the story, they drive you about three states away from the story.
[[phenomenoncityofcyan2.jpg]]
Phenomenon: City of Cyan is great for all those gamers who couldn't care less about the story and who just want to find stuff. You know who you are, you dirty cutscene skippers. For those who actually do follow stories and read in-game text, you have better options.
