Blackwell Deception (iOS) Review

Anyone who has followed this series will recognise that it continually sets the bar just a little bit higher each time, and this is no exception. The story begins to delve deeper into the nature of the supernatural powers that Rosa has and the people who may have a malevolent interest in her. There is even further character development for the endlessly charismatic ghost Joey; his past being explored during the adventure. Ultimately, by the wonderful set piece finale, the stage is set for the concluding title.

The main gist of gameplay follows familiar patterns that series veterans will know well; using conversations with characters to build up more clues, which can in turn be used to discover further avenues for questioning. Additionally, Deception is truly in the 21st century with Rosa equipped with a smartphone, which can now be used to enhance puzzling further. This has a great effect on expanding the amount of thinking the player has to employ.

Puzzling in general has become more sophisticated here with far more emphasis used on combining both the talents of Joey and Rosa. A number of memorable set piece moments require the talents Joey has as a ghost of free movement, combined with Rosa's human ability to interact with physical objects. A series staple though is that puzzles never fall into the frustration trap. Everything here has a logical solution and a great sense of satisfaction at having picked up that hidden clue in a conversation.

One great addition here that definitely alleviates any frustration is the ability to increase the movement speed, which prevents those irritating waits when traversing back and forth. Additionally, things like the typing interface on the phone keypad have been improved and not having to travel back to Rosa's apartment to use the internet is a bonus.

It would be remiss not to state that as an iPad port, like all the previous titles, it functions excellently. Wadjet Eye Games deserve great credit for a user interface on these portable versions that is clean and functional. Continuing the theme of improvement, the graphical style has improved slightly again with character sprites being less jagged and the game's varied locales appear more detailed.

Finally, an important part of any point-and-click title is the quality of the spoken word. As mentioned previously by Cubed3, Rosa has a tendency to come across as quite monotonous. Even in moments of peril and emotional exploration there is never a sense of her being convincing in her words. Thankfully Joey makes up for it with his smooth arrogance, complimented by the witty sarcasm and cynicism he continually portrays, which helps, even despite Rosa's flaws, to make these two characters a great double-act. The soundtrack also helps with its jazz undercurrent, but also throws in a bit of 21st century style in a memorable nightclub scene.