Oh, these noir detective stories that keep us in states of complete fear, pessimism and confusion of everything that is happening. These genres easily "being dragged away» us to yours stylish And dark atmosphere, letting us know that life can sometimes be far from beautiful. After all, when you have watched or played this masterpiece, then as soon as you go outside, you see a crowd of happy psychos, it’s unclear what they are rejoicing at. One of these people comes up to you and asks: “Why are you so sour?»? And you answer: “Well, there is a reason to rejoice»? You know, it’s somehow strange to remain happy in a country where everything is saturated corruption, theft And debauchery. And after that you realize that the things you were taught at school or in college are not true. by yoursreal"The teachers were precisely those cool detective guys who saw the truth and those striving alone to achieve at least some positive result in this world. They are ready to do anything to achieve a good goal. And so, I was sitting one evening and playing a masterpiece called Blues and Bullets. I played like this until late at night, until I wanted to sleep. But after I put my "bakery", I started having very pleasant, but at the same time terrible hallucinations. I saw a black and white city with red hues, where I was walking down the street and observing all possible human vices: screams came from the walls of the brothel, then gangsters arrived in Tatra 87 and shoot up this damn establishment.
Such a clear thread.
But then, at the other end of the street, I saw a man in a raincoat. I kept walking, but he was getting closer and closer to me. At some point he pulled out a revolver. I stopped. He pointed the gun in my direction and fired. But it didn’t even hit me. Turning back, I noticed that a certain man with a huge bloody knife had fallen dead. And damn it, my savior turned out to be himself Eliot Ness. "You should tell people in your real world about me, and I’ll help you with the story"- the national hero told me America. And today, I and Mister Ness we’ll tell you about a game whose name you already know. "Please call me Eliot».
Chapter 1: Remembering the Past.
After that terrible incident on the street, we reached the home of America’s hero. Mister Ness turned out to be so hospitable that he instantly poured us both a glass of good old bourbon Blanton’s Straight From The Barrel. Detective classic, what can I say?. After drinking, I took out my notebook and pencil and began the survey Eliot Ness (upright font with quotes is me, oblique font with quotes is Mr. Ness).
"Well, my dear friend, begin your work».
"So Eliot, you are primarily known throughout the world for the act that you and the famous group “The Untouchables" managed to plant Al Capone behind bars in 1931. But can you tell me a little about your early years??»
"First of all, I will say that I no longer do detective work. I was born on April 19, 1903 in the city Chicago. My parents’ names were Peter And Emma Ness, our family was quite large, I was the smallest child of my five brothers and sisters. My father and mother were Norwegian immigrants and had their own business-bakery. Not the "bakery" you’re thinking of right now. My family was truly spiritual, true Christians. So my parents sent me to a Christian high school. Unlike many children, I always loved to read, and in general, I was an honest and decent person. In 1925, after graduating University of Chicago at the Faculty of Business and Law, I began working as a loan officer. But over time I realized that this kind of work was definitely not for me. In addition, in Chicago scum have already begun to appear, it seems Capone, it was this fact that inspired me to become a cop. Therefore, I soon returned to the university to study a course in criminology. In 1927 I went to work at Treasury. At this time Capone was a "real devil" in Chicago, then-president USA Herbert Clark Hoover wanted to end him, this case was assigned Ministry of Finance, and more specifically, to me».
“And how did the investigation progress?”?
"At first, I generally thought that the case would be closed sooner, because the whole city was then bought by the mafia, including Capone. I understood that I should look for like-minded people, so in 1929 I created a group called “The Untouchables». At first there were 50 people in my group, then there were only 9 left. They were cool guys, young at the same time, they were excellent shooters, planted bugs, and were masterful with explosives. I talked quite a lot with journalists, telling them openly about my further actions, but in fact, in this way we collected information about Capone».
“But in order to put such a big fish behind bars, you and your team clearly needed to exceed your authority.”.
"That’s why we were called "Untouchable». Yes, we had to exceed our powers, which often contradicted the laws USA, but all for a good purpose».
“And in the end, you completed your task by planting Capone!!»
"We had two main tasks. First- Capone should go to jail. The second is to transfer all the “savings” of this mafia to the government. We completed the first task, but here’s the money Capone were transferred to the accounts of other shell companies».
"But the main thing is that Al ended up in prison".
"I think so too».
“What did you do then??»
"Well, I worked in several other cities, dealt with bandits. By the way, the city Cleveland, thanks to my efforts, it has become one of the safest cities in America. In 1942, I retired safely, having received a modest increase and an award watch. Then I moved to Pennsylvania and began to live a quiet life».
"You have a family"?
“By the way, about this. At first I was married to Edna Staley. Our marriage did not last long, from 1929 to 1938. Then I married Evelyn Michelou, who was an illustrator by profession, the marriage lasted from 1939 to 1945. Unfortunately, the marriage did not work out again, and in the end I married an artist Elizabeth Andersen Seaver. The wedding took place in 1946, and our marriage would have lasted a long time if not for my death in 1957 from a heart attack. I only have one child, this is my adopted son Robert».
"Wait, wait. Do you know about your future death??
"It came a long time ago, namely May 16, 1957.»
“And you know that some time after your death a book was published named after your special squad? And about a cool movie Brian De Palma "The Untouchables", published in 1987 with Kevin Costner as you"?
"The book has been read and the movie has been watched many times, Kevin Handsome».
“I have one more question then. A…A…A… How are we even talking here if you, “kinda like", slightly dead?»
"Didn’t you guess, because you’re imagining and dreaming about all this?. Have you played enough Blues and Bullets so many hours that it’s hard to count. You were so impressed by this atmosphere that I considered you The Chosen Ones and lured into this dark abyss, where time has no meaning. But it’s time for you and me to review the game about me, otherwise we’re a little late."
Chapter 2: Let’s start the review.
Let’s start with some facts. This game was developed by a Spanish studio A Crowd of Monsters and released July 23, 2015. And more specifically, only the first episode of this game. Yes yes, episodic studio policy Telltale Games had a very strong influence on A Crowd of Monsters. So far, two episodes have been released, the last of which was released on March 8, 2016. 5 episodes planned. Previously, the Spanish studio distinguished itself with only a couple of games on mobile phones, so, Blues an Bullets is their first major project.
"Yes, I glorified the developers».
"Eliot, don’t interrupt".
Blues and Bullets appeared in the catalog Steam thanks to a successful campaign in Steam Greenlight. The concept of the game was born as part of a student project The Last Dance in 2009 (she managed to get into the honorable mention list at the festival IGF 2010). Subsequently, the developers formed their own studio; At the same time, some of them worked in large companies such as Electronic Arts (Battlefield 2) and Disney Interactive Studios (Split Second). Wrote the script for the game Josue Monchan, famous for adventure games Runaway, The Next BIG Thing And Yesterday. According to the developers, when creating a black and white color scheme with red tints, they were inspired by classic American comics and various works in the noir genre.
"The visual style we have chosen will allow you to immerse yourself in a believable comic book world with hints of German expressionism"- note the creators.
Among their sources of inspiration they name works Frank Miller (Sin City), as well as the films "Seven" David Fincher and "Metropolis" Fritz Lang.
Now we move on to the story itself. And first of all, I would like to note that it is very interesting and intriguing, and the episodic system only fuels interest. The plot here revolves around the fact that from a fictional American city Santa Esperanza small children began to disappear. They are kidnapped by an unknown maniac who is clearly obsessed with all sorts of religious things and rituals.
“These are the marks left by the killer”.
"your mother. You know, it kind of reminded me of the first season Real Detective.»
It is worth noting that this action takes place in the 50s. Eliot has already retired and opened his own restaurant, which is called Blues an Bullets.
"Wow, I also dreamed of such a business, but it didn’t work out».
But in fact, the plot https://drip-casino.co.uk/ here is much cooler (this is not a spoiler). As it turned out, one of the kidnapped victims turned out to be the granddaughter (sometimes they let you play as her) of himself Al Capone, who by the time of the game had already served his time in prison. And here he invites Eliot to his hotel on an airship to persuade him to find his missing granddaughter. “Enemy turned to enemy” is a rather unusual premise.
"Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa. Firstly, Capone was already dead by the time the game takes place, he “threw his hooves away” in 1947 due to cardiac arrest. Well, okay, I don’t mind what they “made up” about me. But the airship LZ 129 "Hindenburg" crashed already in 1937».
"That’s right, Eliot. From this we conclude that the game takes place in an alternative universe.".
Yes, despite the fact that the story is completely fictional, it already makes us understand that the plot and script have a huge scope. And the fact that the plot was created, even though it is based on some historical facts and characters, is even better, imagine how boring it would be if the developers made a story entirely based on real events.
The game itself Eliot very different from his real prototype and from the movie one he played Kevin Costner. The character was given all possible cool and charismatic noir clichés: addiction to alcohol, sullen internal monologues and sharp tongue, some violations of the law of varying severity, and just cool.
But ah Al Capone is not shown as a psycho and a madman, here he is such an ordinary, reasonable and elderly mafioso.
"Well, of course, the dude served 19 fucking years in prison, although in real life he was only there for 11"
Before talking about the gameplay, it’s worth saying a few more words about the plot. Believe me, the matter here is not limited to just one maniac. And that’s not what I mean flashbacks. Speaking of them. In addition to the actual investigation, we, together with Eliot sometimes we are transported to his distant past 20 years ago, where he still struggled with Al Capone. Here is the story and myself Eliot everything is as interesting as in the present tense. And in these very flashbacks some character traits are revealed as Eliot, so and Alya, where else can the latter tell us about his cruelty?.
"Well, well, after all, in some places they didn’t start writing».
“Well, yes, there is such a thing. But still, in some places they “made it up”. You are at the very beginning of the game, in the very first flashback you burst into the villa drunk Capone, after shooting the guards".
"WOW. Cool of course, but in reality you, drunk, would simply be killed».
Chapter 3: Gameplay.
After a long walk around the city, we returned to the house Eliot. Haha, you can’t even call it a walk. On the way to the house, we blew up and simply demolished a gangster motorcade. After drinking and smoking a little, my friend and I decided to continue the review, now we will talk about the gameplay. And we must admit that the authors adopted many gameplay aspects from other games and implemented them with dignity. Let’s start with the most basic thing: investigations. It is clear that the Spanish studio performed them in the manner L.A. Noire. The player combs the environment, carefully examines objects and finds evidence. If the game is from Team Bondi And Rockstar every time you approached the evidence, such quiet music played (if you wish, you can turn it off in the options), then in Blues an Bullets These same physical evidence are marked with a special icon in the shape of a red eye. In fact, the authors are not trying to mislead you in any way, they simply lead you by the hand, noting evidence every time you approach them. But nevertheless, inspecting crime scenes in this dark red the atmosphere is very interesting. You know, examining every corner and every clue is like admiring some landmark. After you have collected enough evidence, a special deduction table opens, ala games about Sherlock Holmes. There you must logically connect the available facts, and discard some, and answer a number of questions, like: “What weapon was used to strike?" or "Why didn’t the victim resist??» However, you cannot put evidence in the wrong order on the interactive board.
"Hmm, that’s too easy».
“But everything has its advantages, Eliot, After all, it’s very exciting to take part in such investigations. You know, it happens that you can’t find some evidence and spend all your nerves trying to find a solution on the Internet. Impressions are so bad. I had a similar case in L.A. Noire, when I spent 2 hours looking for a damn secret passage in the director’s studio.»
"You’ve been looking for this unfortunate passage for 2 hours? What about the quiet music playing that gives you a hint?.»
“Yes, I only realized towards the end what these quiet sounds mean”.
"It’s really interesting to look at these things.»
"Well what did I say.»
Now let’s talk about another aspect of the game. In addition to various inspections and conversations (we’ll get to dialogues soon), there are also shootouts. They can be described simply: this is a third-person rail shooter that involves shooting enemies from cover. Here we can only shoot, but Eliot he moves to another position after killing all enemies in a certain zone. For the most part, enemies are weak and constantly poke out from behind cover.
"And I keep wondering how I managed to shoot a whole crowd of security guards at the villa while drunk?»
“But rather not from you, but from your game prototype.»
In general, this aspect of the game leaves much to be desired, but thanks to it, the player gets used to the role of a tough detective, and this mechanic makes sense in the context of the narrative. There are also well-delivered QTE, where if you press the wrong button you die.
Well, now let’s talk about the coolest aspect of the game, which no cool detective can do without. This dialogues, performed to a very high level. The characters here discuss not only some details of the crimes, but sometimes just have emotional conversations. Right at the very beginning of the game, Eliot A police girl he knows comes to a restaurant for lunch, and he treats her to blueberry pie. They talk there about their personal lives, and about what kind of cop you need to be, and so on. Or, in the same restaurant, a cheeky cop demands you bring him a burger alive. And now the interesting details come. Just like in games from Telltale Games, you have to choose answers and make moral choices that will affect the plot branches, but not the story itself.
But in conversations, you rather choose the style of your behavior rather than just dialogue phrases. Somewhere you can lie, somewhere to say the truth, somewhere to speak with sarcasm or try change the subject. And thanks to these very conversations, the characters’ attitude towards you is built. And sometimes, you will have to make some kind of moral choice, and sometimes even during. For example, in a flashback in the house Capone you should choose very quickly how you will deal with Alem: being with him is enough condescending with a small share irony, or behave rough with the mafioso in front of his son.
"And what did you do to my insidious enemy??»
“I believe that according to the classics, the enemy should treat the enemy very condescendingly and calmly.»
It is still difficult to judge the scale of these very branching dialogues and moral choices, because only two parts of the story were released, but I will say that I noticed some branches in both episodes, so everything is connected with each other.
"My friend, we’ve been sitting for a long time already. There’s "Match of the Century" on TV.» Germany And Italy in 1970.»
"I’m coming, Eliot, I’m coming.»
Chapter 4: Graphics and Sound.
While watching this match, me and Eliot I immediately felt a sense of nostalgia. Italy won against Germany with a score of 4:3. To be honest, we weren’t rooting for anyone. Well, seriously, why root for someone if you already know who the winner will be?? And besides, these are not our teams. We rather liked precisely those very feelings of tension and coolness that reigned at the stadium then Azteca V Mexico City. What a pity that matches like this are extremely rare these days. Now it’s time to talk about the sound and graphic components.
"Eliot, are you ready?»
"Subjective bell tower activated, I’m ready.»
What can I say, the graphic style of the game, if assessed according to the standard system Logvinova, 10 out of 10. Visually Blues and Bullets makes a great impression. Character models and environmental elements in dark colors, along with the skillful use of shadows and contrasting red color will definitely remind the player of the films from the series “Sin City", and the developers use all the indicated techniques very harmoniously. And thanks to instrumental melodies made in the style of blues and jazz, the player is even more immersed in this atmosphere.
"I agree about the style and soundtrack. But again, look, the chosen visual style should fulfill one more role – to cover the flaws of the graphics, which are out of date by about 9 years. And for some reason my game prototype doesn’t move too fast, although in the 50s I was still in shape. In addition, according to some reviews in Steam, I see that some players are not happy with the optimization.»
“But you know, thanks to the atmosphere, the story, and the direction in general, you just don’t pay attention to the downsides anymore. And by the way, for me, far from being on the top-end PC, the game worked at a decent level; according to the system requirements, it is not that demanding.»
In terms of the soundtrack, it is also worth noting the magnificent title song performed by the Spanish singer Izä, and wrote the music itself Damian Sanchez.
Cold day, it´s a cold day
Cold day, it’s just a cold day.
In the beginning of the end
At the beginning of the end
This rainy day
This rainy day.
I´m waiting for some kind of sign
I’m waiting for some sign
I try not to fall in to the void
I’m trying not to fall into the void
I don´t care about anything
I don’t care about anything
SEE THE WORLD IN MY EYES
If you could see the world in my eyes
NIGHTS COME AND GO
Where the nights come and go
NOW IT’S GETTING DARK
It’s getting dark now
MY WAR IS LOST
My war is lost
DEVILS IN MY HEAD
Devils in my head
THERE WILL BE A LIFE
Life will come there
WHEN I FEEL MY HEART
When I feel it in my heart.
How can I feel it?
How can I feel this?
Just before this sorrow stops
Only for a short time does grief stop
that I couldn´t feel before
But I couldn’t feel this before
and now I see that this show must go on.
and now I see that the show must go on
I found myself
I found myself
in my body
in my body
dazed in my thoughts
dazed in his thoughts
the memory won’t escape me,
the memories won’t leave me
why should I care?
Why should I care??
All my dreams pass before my eyes
All my dreams pass before my eyes
I see the truth,
I see the truth
I´ve got doubts
I have doubts
the blues in my head
Blues in my head
I can´t give everything away.
I can’t give it all back
SEE THE WORLD IN MY EYES
If you could see the world in my eyes
NIGHTS COME AND GO
Where the nights come and go
NOW IT’S GETTING DARK
It’s getting dark now
MY WAR IS LOST,
My war is lost
I AM LOST,
I lost
I AM LOST
I lost
THERE WILL BE A LIFE WHEN I SEE MY HEART
There will be life when I feel it in my heart.
BLUES AND BULLETS.
Blues and Bullets.
And what else was done at a decent level is the voice acting. You won’t believe it, but Eliot voiced by the English itself "Geralt from Rivia" Doug Cockle, and one of the key secondary characters was revived Jules de Jong, who performed the role Faith in Mirror’s Edge.
“That’s how cool the creators approached everything.»
"Do I really have any complaints?. Although some aspects of the game are executed cheaply, the main thing is that with soul.»
"Crap, Eliot, I wanted to use this phrase in the verdict!!»
"Don’t worry, we’ll come up with something no less pathetic.»
Project Blues and Bullets has great potential. The foundation for an excellent thriller in the form of well-thought-out characters and a mysterious plot is already present in the general concept of the game. Generally, Blues and Bullets offers an unusual fusion of historical characters, noir style and very interesting game mechanics. Despite the fact that only 2 episodes have been released, this game can already be included in the collection of “best detective noir quests”. Therefore our assessment: amazing, amazing and again amazing. We recommend the game for everyone (under no circumstances download from torrents). Looking forward to the rest of the episodes.
"And we didn’t give a damn about the cons.»
"Yes, Eliot, and we didn’t give a damn about the cons.»
Pros:
Amazing atmosphere.
Wildly intriguing plot and variety of situations.
Amazing dialogue and lively characters.
Charismatic main character.
Great directing.
Quite a fun gameplay.
Cons:
“Yes, we don’t give a damn about the minuses.»
After we did the review, I said goodbye to Eliot. I went outside, the city was still the same gloomy, but a little calmer, it was not for nothing that we bombed gangsters. But suddenly, 5 meters away from me, I saw a sexy beauty. She was wearing a white blouse, a knee-length black skirt with a red strap, her stylish tights and black heels looked absolutely gorgeous. She herself was a brunette, and her hair was styled in a bob style. Holding her left hand at her side, she began to approach me with a slow and smooth gait, and I approached her.
DYSH DYSH came from the apartment Eliot, she ended up falling dead.
"Eliot, why the hell!?»
"I forgot to warn you, never trust such women. Hey, see you on episode three.»
I woke up. It was about noon, the sun was shining through my window. The head was still buzzing from the shots, and an empty bottle of whiskey and a revolver lay on the floor Colt Python, which to me Eliot gave as a souvenir. The notebook where we wrote the review was on my table. Well, it’s time to transfer everything to StopGame.ru.
Best comments
I usually don’t write comments, but..
Despite the fact that the first two episodes were really gorgeous (incredibly stylish, despite the terrible technology, and the music is generally beyond praise), I HIGHLY DO NOT RECOMMEND purchasing. And here’s why:
With the planned episode release schedule of 12-15 weeks, it has already passed since the release of Part 2 7 months, and no word from the developers since May at all no news. Rumor has it that the screenwriter and most of the team left them, and that the game was generally abandoned. The only thing that somehow says otherwise is the developer’s twitter, where they made exactly two entries in September (Like, everything is bad with us, but the game is not canceled, don’t worry). On Steam, the developers also do not respond, although they were active before.
People are already asking for a refund (Steam, by the way, returns the tenth attempt), so I advise you to wait. If suddenly episodes continue to be released, you can buy the game, if not, you’ll just save money.
You can also read the steam forums, where people discuss this topic (not very actively anymore).
It’s a pity for the money, I bought a full season pass right after the release of the first episode, and it’s such a bummer.
By the way, thanks for the review. I discovered a new game that I really liked and was hooked from the first minutes. And this rarely happens to me.
Well, now I hope that the third episode will come out someday. I’ll even buy myself a bottle of whiskey for this occasion. For complete immersion, so to speak.
That would be great. The game, although low-budget, is made with soul. But, unfortunately, in our time, not everyone is able to travel on one soul. But a reputable publisher in the person of Telltale Games would clearly correct the matter. Just a game in their format.
Well, why immediately at Stopgame. I gave this rating purely because of my emotions, being not yet an accomplished person.
Yeah, that’s the story.
When I started reading the entire first paragraph I couldn’t understand what kind of nonsense this was. What talk, what childish fantasies. And then, when the review began, everything suddenly fell into place. So concise, so interesting and so unusual. The conversations, essentially with oneself, are written perfectly) the pros and cons are interestingly described, thank you, by the way, for not only praising it, despite the fact that you obviously like the game. This is what it means to approach a topic in an interesting way. And I don’t know what’s in the game itself with dialogues since I haven’t played it, but your dialogues are written simply incomparably, but this is a banal review of the game and that’s essentially it.
Py.Sy: I rarely write anything, but I couldn’t pass by silently. I went to buy the game, I’m too greedy for interesting dialogues and plots, whether in games, movies or any other sources. Thanks for the tip.
Handsome. By the way, I recently noticed that people were very actively discussing the game on the Telltale Games community. Look, maybe they will act as publishers.
Oh, thank you very much. Expect a nostalgic review of the cult game in the same style soon. I won’t say what game.
No, well, basically you’re right somewhere. But again, look, how will the developers make the game if, according to you, their game will only be bought when all 5 episodes are released. After all, part of the money from sales clearly goes to the implementation of other episodes. Where will the money come from if there is no publisher?. That’s right – from sales. And in my opinion, demanding money back is generally stupid. The project turned out to be suitable, and even a masterpiece. This is nothing like No man’s sky, where the developers did not fulfill almost all their promises. So people, if you value the Blues and bullets project itself, then if possible, buy both episodes of the game, believe me, it’s worth it.
Thanks man. Soon expect a nostalgic review of the cult game in the same format. It won’t be possible without dialogues, but I decided to push the boundaries of my chosen writing style.
Just through the dialogues themselves and direct speech, I think it’s much more interesting to conduct a review. So that this is not a banal retelling of all the pros and cons, and it’s just interesting to read. And BLUES AND BULLETS is definitely worth buying, you will be delighted.
Two episodes – yes. Season pass – at least until the release of the third episode (if there is one at all) – is not needed.
Yes, it’s not even that, but the complete lack of feedback from the developer. Over the past five months (Carl!) there are only two tweets from them. Steam is silent, there are no updates on the website, the same on the game website. If they had communicated with the community, the situation with the game would not have been so uncertain, and the opinion about closure would not have become so stronger.
The situation was very reminiscent of The Detail (Detail is very similar in concept to BaB, but with a very tiny budget): there, too, the project had to be closed earlier, but the developers honestly came and explained, they say, there is no money, so we will release not 5 episodes, but 3. And the plot was put into 3, and not cut off.