Most NPCs had one or two canned lines of dialogue that occasionally included weird, mildly jarring non-sequiturs, but is consistent with the idiosyncratic nature of point-and-click adventures as extensions of the developers’ personalitiesĮven with these flaws, CDA is bound to be particularly meaningful to a player like me, and the task of reviewing it for a general audience is rather overwhelming.

Overall, the writing is a little uneven-the main cast is fairly well-characterized with distinct dialogue styles, but a few segments of heavy-handed exposition veer into overly theatrical territory. She pays monthly office rent and utilities and eventually hires an employee, to whom she then doesn’t pay a salary, which is funny when you consider the workers’ union subplot in the game.Īt the end, I’m confronted with the consequences of my actions: my heavy-handed approach means certain clients won’t work with me, and working with Tiger Lily elevates her to even more power. Single arbitrary weeks pass between cases-I’m not sure why Amira would wait a week before divulging a critical piece of information to a client. HORUS was a wasted opportunity to deepen in-game money management, as every flight costs a flat $550. You’re supposed to be able to save at your own discretion after you’ve chosen a main client, but this feature only worked for a short window of time as a result, when I failed a key case, I had to start the whole thing again. The initial part of the game auto-saves after each case. Small inconsistencies made for an occasionally frustrating playthrough. I came away part exhilarated, part bitter to be reminded of evangelism’s role in the relationship between Singapore’s conservative values and its outwardly secular image. It’s a pointed look at megachurch culture in Singapore, and one of the more compelling story arcs. Her case involves a local megachurch-the Temple of the Self-and the wealthy, dysfunctional family behind it. Eventually Amira must choose a main client-I went with shady information broker Tiger Lily, who runs a “health club” in the red-light district of Geylang. There are a handful of simple combat events which are very basic point-and-shoot scenarios, though you do get the choice to wound or kill. Amira uses a travel program called HORUS and an in-game clock to plan flights. Most cases are relatively short: examining and returning an object, decoding a message, or figuring out clues, which might take you to different cities. CDA’s main thing is Googling clues yourself-there’s a UI button to tab you out into a browser.

Chinatown detective agency