Culpa Innata (PC)

GameSpot editors' review

• CNET editors' rating: 3.5 stars Very good
  Detailed editors' rating
  Overall score: 7.5 (3.5 stars)

• Reviewed by:
  Brett Todd
• Reviewed on: 11/26/2007
• Released on: 11/02/2007
• Originally published on GameSpot: Culpa Innata (PC) Review

If only all adventure games began life as projects "to leverage core technologies in 3-D face animation." According to freshman Turkish developer Momentum's Web site, the company originally set out to create a prop to sell facial modeling to TV animation, but it wound up with a really solid point-and-click adventure in Culpa Innata. Open-ended dialogue, an ambitious storyline, lots of intelligent puzzles, and characters boasting lifelike personality and motivation make this an adventure to remember. Only some fit and finish issues and some odd design decisions prevent you from getting totally wrapped up in this unusual tale.

It all begins with a story inspired by Turkish sci-fi author Alev Alati's Schrodinger's Cat novels. Much of the plot centers on the World Union, a federation that has absorbed much of the West by the time that the game opens in 2047. This is the sort of government that keeps members of militia groups in the Midwest up all night stockpiling ammunition, a United Nations on steroids that protects society by turning people into automatons. Drone life isn't all bad, though. Instead of a typical dystopian video game cliché, the World Union is a blend between Brave New World and Logan's Run. Life is technologically sterile, but everybody has been so hammered into insensibility by casual sex and instant gratification that they don't care. Of course, promiscuous totalitarianism doesn't sit right with the protagonist, a female peace officer saddled with the unfortunate name of Phoenix Wallis. An apparent murder of a Russian immigrant in her home city of Adrianopolis kicks off both a whodunit and a philosophical investigation into this slickly sinister future world.

Given that previous description, it probably won't come as a surprise that the game does come off a little on the pretentious side. You're beaten over the head too often with capital-B big ideas and blunt symbolism (Phoenix's government office is in a converted church--gee, how subtle!). Social commentary on what people are willing to sacrifice for security is fine and dandy, but too often the developer hammers home its ideals without any regard for human nature. It's pretty tough to buy that the entire Western world will be populated by techno-fascist drones preaching the virtues of selfishness, genetics, and random sex in just 40 years.

Background accoutrements of this society are even more incredible. Every citizen wears a personal-assistant earpiece that projects a holographic screen in midair. Residences and offices are protected by holographic heads. Most living spaces are decked out with couches, chairs, and knickknacks that look like they were dreamed up by sci-fi filmmakers in the '70s. The predominance of paisley-style color splashes sure seem to indicate that the design team studied the interior decoration in Logan's Run and Rollerball. Poor visual quality makes it harder to accept all this outlandish paraphernalia. With the exception of remarkably expressive and warm faces, the game is a mash of jagged lines and blurry scenery.

So ignoring the background to concentrate on Culpa Innata's characterization and gameplay is a more rewarding idea. Phoenix is one of the more believable protagonists to hit an adventure game in some time. Her growing suspicion about the true nature of the society that she's been indoctrinated to love is entirely credible, due to a top script and a voice actor who does a great job of capturing the peace officer's blend of naïveté and pragmatism. Most of the other characters in the game are equally convincing, thanks to personalities that are restrained enough to keep them from turning into typical game caricatures (well, aside from everybody's creepy obsession with sex). Varying quality of the voice acting is the only negative. Many people speak in monotones, and some of the ethnic accents come off cartoonish, particularly the Indian immigrant early in the game who sounds like the murderous twin brother of Apu from The Simpsons.

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