The Perils of Man (PC) Review

Mysterious disappearances, unexplained rescues, and intriguing adjustments to the timeline further into the adventure - there are some fantastic ingredients included in The Perils of Man, along with some intriguing conundrums to tackle. However, it all starts off painfully slowly, with far too much tracking back and forth to figure out long-winded solutions that should have been far more streamlined for entertainment, and attention-keeping, purposes. Not the best of starts, at all.

Visually, unlike the gorgeous 2D animation of A Vampyre Story, where Bill Tiller was fully in charge, this instead plumps for the same 3D modelling that put fans off Broken Sword 4: The Angel of Death so much. Tiller is listed as being on the game design side of matters here, which is perhaps why there is the visual change. Sadly, just as The Angel of Death was lacking in visual character, here everything actually drops a level lower than that, ending up looking like an Escape from Monkey Island cast off, except without the charm of Guybrush Threepwood to help it scrape through. Characters have a 'hollow' - and sometimes even 'dead' - feel to them, despite effort clearing being put in to make them have a lovely shaded effect in promotional imagery; in-game there is a real lack of substance. Some may say the team has gone for a Tim Burton style, but it never quite works as well as any of Burton's work.

Why the focus on the presentation? Well, simply because it is often what differentiates generic puzzle adventures of this ilk. Sad, but true. Aurally, at least, the soundtrack is truly emotive, but the voice acting is somewhat hit and miss, with odd emphasis put on certain words during conversation, and not in a hint-offering manner, more in a poorly directed fashion, not giving the voice actors the correct guidance (although, for instance, surely it is obvious that word 'sigh' should not be read aloud, instead acted out in noise form…).

The Perils of Man relies on the trademark 'gather anything and everything' mechanic, and then hope for the best when faced by a roadblock, which is fine to an extent, as long as everything else works smoothly. Times have changed, and people are far less forgiving when other point and click adventures have developed considerably. Sadly, though, it comes with an extremely clunky and painfully slow to use inventory system and item combination mechanic (patience will be tested when trying numerous combinations out). There are also far too many instances where there is a lack of explanation of what to do next, as well as puzzles that are not obvious in the slightest, with aimless wandering around with no progress being made occurring to the point of wanting to give up. If it was not for the satisfaction of some smarter brainteasers later into the adventure, and the overall feeling of a strong effort going into attempting to make this as entertaining as possible, this would be one to completely ignore. As it is, The Perils of Man is pleasing concept that lacks perfect execution.