Still Life: A Masterpiece of an Adventure Company: The Adventure Company In Still Life, you take the role of modern day FBI agent Victoria McPherson as she tracks down a brutal Chicago serial killer. The game starts off as a fifth victim is discovered, and you search the apartment for clues. In a very ?CSI?-fashion, Victoria must use black lights, cotton swabs, and ?Luminol? spray to gather whatever evidence she can. But the game doesn?t just take place in 2004 when McPherson has all of the modern forensic sciences to back her up. Early in the game, she discovers that a case her grandfather worked on in 1929 shared a lot of similarities. Could this be a copy cat killer? Are the two cases really related? As you switch between the two times and locations, you?ll face many puzzles. Some of these puzzles are straightforward, but a lot of them are tricky and involve some thinking. The demo I played took me through the first parts of both the Chicago case and the Prague case (in 1929). In that time I unlocked safes, operated cranes, collected evidence the eye couldn?t see (under normal circumstances), and other little challenges that were placed within the storyline rather nicely. This is good, because there is nothing that I dislike more than adventure games that force you to go through a puzzle that doesn?t make sense or really has no bearing on the story. Though Still Life has a Mature rating (something it righteously deserves given the nudity, violence, and blood), there were times in the little bit of the game that I played that I felt the cursing was forced and was there for no other reason than to help sell the ?M? branding. Thankfully, this feeling was only there a couple of times since there wasn?t a lot of cursing throughout the entire game; it was just highly concentrated at several points. Both locations/times in Still Life have a distinct look. Chicago has its rat-infested apartments filled with dirty, graffiti-covered walls, as well as the modern, clean environment of the city?s police station/morgue. Other locations (like Victoria?s father?s house) seem to be a nice blend of the two -- though his house isn?t a dump like the first scene in the game, it isn?t quite as shiny and new-feeling as the local PD headquarters. In Prague, you get the feeling that you are looking at an old film with muted colors and older music. These effects alone helped to pull me into the time, and the various buildings there only made it feel more real. When I first stepped into the old chapel (that was converted to a morgue), the difference between there and the clean environment at the basement of the Chicago PD was overwhelming. One was shiny, sterile, and a place you probably wouldn?t mind visiting (if it weren?t for the bodies on the tables), while the other?s stone floors were stained with blood, had bodies lined up along the wall, and was run by a half-deaf mortician. Still Life?s murder(s) seems to grow more and more violent with each victim (and also seem to draw a lot of inspiration from Jack the Ripper). His desire to accomplish whatever he has set out to do is getting stronger each time he kills. It is up to you and the two McPherson?s to stop this killer completely, before all of the prostitutes of Chicago and Prague are killed. This demo has really sold me on the game. I can?t wait for Still Life to hit the streets. Its challenging and unique puzzles, coupled with a compelling story, make this a game any adventure fan will want to play. But I do need to say that Still Life is not for young eyes. -J.R. Nip, GameVortex Communications AKA Chris Meyer Related Links: Still Life Home Page