The Moment of Silence

The Adventure Company is known for releasing “adventure” games (hence the name The Adventure Company). What I’m referring to are point-and-click style games similar to the ultra popular Myst series. The goal in most of the games released by The Adventure Company is to figure out the mystery involved in the game by solving a series of puzzles in the game. The interface in the games is similar to each other; you simply point and click on an item or person to interact with them. The newest title, The Moment of Silence, looks to continue the tradition of challenging and engaging adventure games released by The Adventure Company.

The Moment of Silence revolves around Peter Wright, an advertising executive working on a government campaign for the Freedom of Speech. One sleepless night Peter witnesses SWAT teams storm into his neighbor’s apartment and take the husband of the family captive. It’s up to Peter (you/the player) to find out why the SWAT team took the man and what other mysteries surround his capture. The preview copy of the game had me talking to the wife and son of the captured man to find out why he was taken away. The wife doesn’t understand why he was arrested and Peter comforts the wife by reassuring her that he will find out what happened to her husband. The son is just as confused and doesn’t understand why anyone would want to hurt his father. 

The plot thickens when I called the police department to find out what happened. The police have no records of any activity in the area and claim the last incident they have on file for Peter’s address was some time ago. So why was the man arrested/captured? What could he have done that been so dangerous or upsetting? Why doesn’t the police have any records of the incident happening, especially when the SWAT team damaged the door during the arrest? Why did it have to happen to Peter, what type of connection does he have to all of these events?

In case you couldn’t tell, all of these questions are why the game is called an adventure game. The controls of this game were very easy to pick up and play, since the game is controlled with a user-friendly point and click system. The same layout of previous point-and-click games is used in The Moment of Silence. During the game all I had to do was move the mouse around the screen until the cursor changed, which indicated that I was able to interact with the item. The interaction would usually be specific to the event, item or character you’re dealing with. For example, when I moved the move to a person I could then click on the person to speak with them. When I moved the mouse to an item I could click on the item to either exam it or pick up the item.  If I were able to keep an item my inventory would automatically include the item. Simply moving the mouse cursor near the bottom of the screen would access the inventory screen. Anyone that has played Myst, or at least has some comfort using a mouse, shouldn’t have a problem playing this game.

The graphics in the preview copy were commendable. The detail of the buildings and surrounding were well done with some nice attention to detail. I noticed some reflections of the characters and other objects on the ground and on some of the walls. The character models were adequate but didn’t have the same polish and detail as the rest of the graphics. The voice acting in the game was decent as well but left me a little puzzled. The game is set in New York City in 2044, but it seems some of the characters have a British accent. The voice acting of the main character Peter worked well and wasn’t over the top. The dialogue in the game was well written with only a few repetitive statements (which were usually triggered by a mistake I would make). The one area with the voice acting and the graphics that could use some work was the lip-synching. The lip movements of the characters in the game never seemed to match what the actors were delivering.

It seems that The Moment of Silence is shaping up to be a solid title when it’s released later this month. The interesting story line, good graphics and easy controls are more than enough to please fans of the point-and-click genre. However, the point-and-click genre is not for everyone because some people feel as if they’re removed from the game. In fact, during parts of the game I was unable to move Peter to different areas for no particular reason except that the area wasn’t part of the game. These “blocked off” areas were clearly visible but still off limits during the game. But this is something that point-and-click adventure fans can surely overlook since the mystery and adventures are what keep them coming back.