Deadfall Adventures is an action adventure staring the not so famous James Lee Quatermain, a descendant of Allan Quatermain. The prospect of a globe trotting adventure with treasure and mummies is an appealing one indeed. If only Deadfall Adventures can show some inspiration and not just repeat things we’ve already seen countless times over the years. I wonder if there’ll be any Nazis…
On the rare occasion that you do get a puzzle wrong and happen to die because of some hideous trap, checkpoints will not be your friend. It’s not the large set piece puzzles that clearly move the plot forward but the little ones on the way. Right at the start of the game a message appears to inform you that Deadfall is all about exploration and treasure hunting. But the first time I decided to do some I died and had to replay a short combat section several times.
Truth be told the puzzle was really quite simple but I missed the solution and it got me killed a couple of times. Unfortunately the main puzzles don’t really show much imagination either. No one will be surprised by the pressure plates on the floor where the aim is to avoid standing on certain symbols. Or the reflective mirrors that need lining up to shine light at the target and open the door.
I often consulted Allan Quatermain’s (James’s great grandfather) notebook as prompted to help me with the solution to a puzzle only for it to confuse me rather than help. Scribbled images that show you what icons should be shown on a swivelling picture-thing on a door will take longer to match up to the puzzle than just figuring it out without the book. It often makes the solution look complicated and saw me looking for clever solutions where I should have just got on with it and relied on the puzzles adhering to generic puzzle conventions. It’s a bit of a shame and means that one of the largest parts of the game is almost all rehashed material.
But it does give you a break from the combat. You’re time in combat will be split between fighting Nazis, Russians and Mummies. Because it really wouldn’t be a treasure hunting adventure without some Nazis. But fighting them is a mundane affair where the main objective is to predict where they will spawn and ultimately hide. Hiding doesn’t really feel like the German army I know but still. Even when they are ‘in cover’ taking pot shots at you they’re pretty easy to kill and you will often find little to no challenge to the fights. Unless you get inconveniently spammed with grenades and can’t escape. If you die it will probably be because of cheap tactics or bad luck.
Fighting mummies is somewhat more fun with an Alan Wake style ‘shine your torch at them first’ system. Holding a button down will focus your torch into beam and drain a quickly recharging battery. Once you have done enough damage with the light they will become vulnerable to your other attacks and you can finally put ‘em down. The guns are fun and I enjoyed using weapons from the period but there isn’t particularly a different feel between each weapon other than the visual designs. There are however plenty of guns to choose from and Deadfall isn’t afraid to throw them at you right from the start.
The shooting itself does tend to feel a little dated and several times I was reminded of the likes of Serious Sam. Not that that’s necessarily a bad thing but I was expecting more from the shooting mechanics. Although you can ‘aim down sights’, Deadfall just strikes me as a game from long long ago before we even new what ADS was. The combat just has that old, unrefined feel to it.
But the combat will in turn come as a relief from hearing the awful script. The voice acting isn’t great but I get the feeling the actors didn’t have much to work with. It comes as a surprise when you can’t predict what everyone’s going to say in the next 10 seconds. It does make Quatermain a lot less charming than I suspect he was supposed to be.
But it’s all too easy not to notice many of Deadfall’s flaws because it’s so good looking. The weapons could use a little more attention but that’s soon forgiven when you take a quick look around. The environments are well detailed and as vibrant as possible given that they’re mostly sand and stone. It’s the kind of game that makes you stop and take a look every now and again just to enjoy the view.
Unfortunately once you get past the gorgeous visuals and you’ve used most of the weapons a couple of times there isn’t much left to look at. Some of the puzzles at least make an attempt to engage you but for the most part they are unimaginative and absolutely nothing we haven’t seen before. It’s a real shame given the care that has clearly gone into the environments.
The same thing can be said for the combat. There are plenty of guns to choose from but they quickly get repetitive. Fighting mummies is definitely the most satisfying combat in Deadfall and takes a brief brake from playing ‘hunt the poorly hidden Nazi’. Focusing the torch to weaken your undead foes is odd but quite satisfying and adds a much needed layer to the otherwise lacklustre shoot outs.
Puzzles are nothing special but occasionally feel like more than just another obstacle. Mini puzzles that reward optional treasures would be more enticing if there was a more forgiving checkpoint system. The environments are impressively good looking but if you scratch off the rather thin veneer there’s little depth left to Deadfall Adventures. The poor script and voice acting plus far too many generic gaming conventions that we’ve all seen before make Deadfall Adventures just too boring to keep you coming back.
Reviewed on PC.
