Resonance GUEST REVIEW

By Daniel Kay.

Kyle: Hello everybody! We got yet another guest review, this time by blog reader Daniel Kay. He did a very informative review on a tragically overlooked game, Resonance.

I hope you enjoy the review!

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Resonance is a 2012 adventure/point-and-click/mystery-detective game released for the PC.

REVIEWING STYLE:

--Green is for mild content.

--Blue is for moderate or very brief intense content, provided that it isn't too graphic.

--Orange is for intense content.

--Red is for very graphic or prolonged intense content.

Areas of Concern

Violence:

Mild Moderate Heavy Very Heavy Extreme Ban-worthy

Since it has 16-bit graphics, the violence in Resonance is not as explicit as your average modern game. But it has its fair share of moments, such as shootings, implied strangulation and one character’s legs and arm being severed by a laser. 

The most frequent instances of violence would be when you accidentally kill your character due to your decisions, the worst probably being when a metal crate falls from the ceiling, turning your character into a pool of blood. Most deaths also have some sort of blood (but little gore).  

--A scientist’s death is a main part of the plot and is pretty gruesome. He falls out of a compartment with his legs and one arm recently severed by a laser. His stumps are bloody and he is alive, but for not very long. You revisit his corpse in a morgue at one point.

--In one of the girl character’s dreams, she crawls through a vent with a lot of blood splatter. In another dream, a demonic creature is punched and falls down a flight of stairs to his death.

--The girl character also has a scene where it’s implied that she is strangled if you don’t solve the puzzle in time.

--One of the characters shoots another in the back of the head, resulting in blood and their death.

--Another character can shoot and kill two characters if the situation isn’t solved. The character with the gun is vaporized in one possible solution, though.

Sex/Nudity:

Mild Moderate Heavy Very Heavy Extreme Ban-worthy

The sexual content in Resonance is very light, as it mainly deals with flirtatious and occasionally suggestive dialogue. One main male character is seemingly attracted to a female main character, with the latter kissing him on the cheek at one point.

--One of the main characters is wearing only his boxers in his first scene (after waking up).

--When accessing a minor female character’s computer, you discover an unsent e-mail where she vents at her boss and semi-crudely mentions his wandering eyes.

Language:

Mild Moderate Heavy Very Heavy Extreme Ban-worthy

You’ll be reading and listening to a lot of dialogue in this game and it is peppered with a good amount of foul language. 

There are approximately a half-dozen F-words (most are spoken) in addition to fairly frequent uses of S**t, B*****d, D**n, A*s and others. God’s name is also used in vain a good amount of times.

Drugs/Alcohol/Smoking:

Mild Moderate Heavy Very Heavy Extreme Ban-worthy  

--One of the main characters has a flashback to her childhood, where she remembers a scene with her alcoholic father. He is shown carrying a bottle of beer and a lit cigarette. 

--There are also other drug and smoking references, mainly because one of the main characters is a police officer. And one minor character seems to be addicted to a certain medication.

Spiritual Content: 

Mild Moderate Heavy Very Heavy Extreme Ban-worthy

The plot mainly deals with science, so there is very little spiritual content. But the rare instances when it deals with it are pretty intense. 

--One of the main characters has multiple dreams where she is chased by a demonic-looking beast (he is even called “Hades” in Spanish). The beast is explained later on in the game, and when it's explained, it's not spiritual in the least bit and makes sense from an emotional standpoint.

--There are also angelic symbols and a reference to the Rapture. Finally, there are a couple scenes at a graveyard, where a main character “talks” to her deceased relatives, but doesn’t appear to be actually praying. 

Morality:

Abysmal Bad So-so Okay Good Very Good

Surprisingly, you don’t have many morally impactful decisions in this game, aside from a HUGE one at the end. And since you play as four characters with varying moralities, it’s difficult to summarize the morality for the game as a whole. 

Without giving too much of the story away, I’ll just say all characters seem to have good intentions for the greater good of the world, but one character’s morality change is part of the big twist. 

--One main character helps the overall good cause, but does so for his own selfish gains. 

Review of Game:

What it’s about: 

Resonance is a mystery-detective game about a physicist’s untimely death and the mysterious (and dangerous) device he was working on. Four characters’ lives become entwined and they are forced to team up and discover a hidden vault that houses the device and its meaning.

As an adventure game, it has the point-and-click gameplay and item inventory system associated with the genre, plus an inventory system memories. Players will control four different characters (a male assistant physicist, a female doctor, a male police officer and a male journalist) as they solve puzzles and make a series of discoveries and decisions.

Quality Conclusion:

I’ve always liked the adventure genre, going back to the days of playing point-and-click Star Trek games on floppy discs on my PC (man I sound old!). But I’ve only recently started to love the genre, thanks to a revival in the form of new adventure games like Machinarium, Botanicula and the revamped Monkey Island. Resonance differentiates itself from these games mainly in two areas:

1. It maintains old-school graphics similar to the 1990s.

2. It features a long- and short-term memory inventory system in addition to the standard item inventory.

But what makes Resonance such a great game is its fantastic twisting story and polished development. The latter is evident by its user-friendliness, innovative puzzles and modern graphical edges.

Basically, it’s one of those games you want to keep playing. I found moments where I should have stopped, but wanted to find one more clue, solve one more puzzle, etc. It’s among the best adventure game experiences you’ll find.  

Moral Conclusion:

It would have been nice if this game had some sort of rating, as I was surprised to find occasional bloody violence and extreme language. But I suppose that’s why I am writing this review, to help enlighten Christian gamers. 

Anyway, this game likely would have received an M-rating due to its approximately six F-words. There is plenty of other foul language, but that usually doesn’t impact the rating significantly. As for violence, it does have some graphic moments, but the graphics themselves aren’t detailed and the moments are few and far between.

The other objectionable content is also minimal, another surprise for a game with a deep, mature storyline. 

Overall, I’d say it’s a great experience for older teens and adults, as well as a great alternative to the bulk of blockbuster modern games that have huge amounts of foul language and blood/gore.

Verdict:

 

MODERATE CAUTION

(For rare, but fairly heavy violence, semi-frequent foul language and light spiritual content.)

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So that's it for Daniel's review! Feel free to leave him comments below, and tell him what you think of the review.

Just no personal attacks, m'kay?

I'll see you guys next week with whatever review goes up then. Peace out!