This was my first Final Verdict review and it was the game Blair With, made by Bloober Team.
Written Review.
Hey guys, there’s not an October Month in Review, due to real-life things, so I didn’t play anything to completion in October, except for Blair Witch, which I played on Halloween. I was unsure about continuing with the Month in Review videos, as while I enjoy doing, them, I’m not well versed in any form of editing and the videos that are around up to 30 minutes long take so long to make, so I may just try and get a video out about some games separately instead of doing the Month in Review vids. I’m not really sure yet, though. I’m hoping for more feedback on the Month in Review videos.
Anyway, I did finish the Blair Witch. First, off I have never seen The Blair Witch Project, so I can’t really judge how well the game and film tie in together, as I know little about the film itself. I know that it was a pretty popular film that was made in 1999 and I believe it popularised the found footage genre. I remember quite a few of my friends back then saying it was good, but, that’s as far as my memory goes on the film. Well, onto the game. It’s a simple premise, a child goes missing and you go into the woods to find
him and while things are normal enough, to begin with, things get somewhat twisted. You end up going from sunlit forestry to the dark of night and that’s when things really start to get interesting and the game really starts. You find a video camera near a campsite just before it becomes night and in the Video cam, there’s a tape, you have to watch, work out a clue and manipulate the area you are in with the cam. It’s a cool feature, and it really works well with finding more tapes for the cam and perfectly suits the found footage aspect of The Blair Witch.
The gameplay sees you walking through forestry trying to find the child, but, also trying to work out what the hell is going on. You solve some puzzles with the cam and, as well as that there are other environmental puzzles and you are seen at one point using a form of transport to get about and then collect items that can be used together to make something work which in turn leads to making a new path. The thing is you aren’t just exploring the woods at night, you do go back to the day, and there are sections that appear to not be in the woods. There are also sections that are kind of like combat sections, but, I didn’t really think much of them, it’s more a little section every so often where you’re basically defending yourself from something you can really make out. The Forest also has a section of 2 where you have to get through a leaf-filled area where something’s moving under the leaves and that seemed to be about getting the timing right on when to run. Lastly, Stealth rears its ugly head. I’m not massive stealth. Again there are other sections, but I think they’d give stuff away about the story and I don’t really want to spoil things for people, as I thought it interesting to uncover the character with the game.
The game seems to have a lot to do with the player character’s mind, it seems like he’s losing the plot, but, it’s mainly, at least to me, about his guilt and anger at himself that’s the driving force of the story. As the game progresses you get to know more about the character and his state of mind, both before the game and as it progresses The audio as with this kind of game needs to be on point. Luckily it is. It’s all about atmosphere, a sense of foreboding while out in the woods you get the feeling of being lost,
being helpless and being alone. I played this with a headset and the game can put you in a great sense of unease when hearing things seemingly all around you.
The thing is while I describe the music as really setting the tone for being alone you aren’t. OK, at the beginning you are in contact with someone on the phone and the police via a walkie-talkie. Both are used throughout the game, though the phone only when you have a signal. Another great thing about the phone is… It has Snake on it. I loved Snake as a kid, (laughs). The most important friend you have with you through the game though is Bullet. Bullet is a dog and a massive help through Blair Witch, he helps sniff out clues he pees on trees, and he’s ace. Most importantly Bullet is what keeps you going, without him at your side you start to fall into despair. He keeps you safe when those weird things appear and you can pet him as much as you want, Bullet is definitely one of the best dogs in a game.
Well, I said at the start I know very little of The Blair Witch Project and I can’t say if this ties in as a good Blair Witch game, but I really enjoyed the game, so I’d certainly say it’s a good game in general.