Gemini Rue (2011)

I played this briefly years ago, I vaguely remember finding the action systems too frustrating - you have to do shootouts and stuff, and I just couldn't get past them after a certain point iirc. So, I'll give it another go, but I may hit the same wall.

Okay, started. It looks great (about as good as a 320x200 16bit game can get, I reckon), and it's very atmospheric. It starts with you waking up halfway through a memory wipe procedure in some sort of facility then cuts to a different character, a police detective on a colonised planet following a lead to track down his missing brother. It's all very Bladerunner/noir, and extremely pulpy - the detective is named Azrael Odin and sounds like he gargles gravel. You get to a certain point and then it's back to the memory-wiped guy in the facility getting given a food slip and told to go get food. The puzzles can be a little fiddly - to climb from one balcony to another it insists on making you click on every railing and ledge, and rather than a verb coin it has a pop-up window so that doubles the clicks. There was also a timed sequence where I had to run back out the way I came within a matter of seconds to avoid getting shot. It autosaves right before, so it's not a big hassle, but it also feels more like a QTE than a puzzle. The PDA/database stuff is slick so far - drag names from one to the other, or drag them into the search box, it all works surprisingly well and hopefully won't become a hindrance or a bore. I got a shootout tutorial at the facility, and it's fairly complicated - taking cover, reloading, taking a breath, timing your shot with a little UI bar. I've set it to easy and hopefully won't be forced to quit the game because of it again. 

Fuck this game. I got a little further on both storylines, I was enjoying how it kept switching me over and dolloping on the intrigue, and then I got into my first proper gunfight and they are shit. Just no skill to them at all, boring and frustrating. Then I got into another bunch of QTEs - they just don't work with this game's fussy controls (use NPC on box, use NPC on wall, use box, tap A to move box to the left, use pipe to pull self over wall etc) and they're never going to be that exciting anyway in a tiny little AGS game, plus the autosaves are way too far back so you have to try to sneak your own saves in, which adds a bunch of clicks every time you fuck up, which is often because it's making you solve adventure game puzzles on extremely strict time limits. It's a real shame because I was enjoying the general vibe, even if it was all fairly cheesy and derivative.