Game review: Blade Runner

Blade Runner. Los Angeles, November 2019. The dream-like world that captivates me every time I see it. Watching Blade Runner usually has me mesmerised by the beauty of the film, the deliberate slowness as though every moment is distilled. No matter how good the plot and dialogue, it's the atmosphere and direction that really make it the film I love. I maintain that Blade Runner is one of, if not the, best-realised visions of the future I have seen on screen.

The 1997 game is an almost-perfect rendition of the world presented by the film. (Yes, this means dark, moody lighting and constant rain. But it's okay.) Rather than being a quick cash-in from the movie, the game was obviously made by people who care about the film, and with a lot of attention to detail. The sound alone brings the game to life, bringing the film to mind with sounds you never even knew you had registered at the time — the curiously comforting background sound of the elevator; the chattering-shutter noise of the ESPER machine (also known as the infamously-ludicrous-seeing-around-corners photo machine) used for the title credits; the whooshing noise made by the spinners as they, well, spin on landing and take-off. The developers also got hold of the rights to the Vangelis soundtrack and used it occasionally through the game, though not as often as I would have liked.

But the game is far from a direct copy of the film. It takes place within the timeframe of the movie, but rarely overlaps with it. You don't play Deckard, but a rookie blade runner, Ray McCoy, investigating a different set of replicants. There are, however, many of the same locations and characters as in the film — JF Sebastian and the Bradbury Building, Tyrell and Rachael, Gaff, Chew and others. There is also the occasional references to occurrences from the movie: Zhora's "retirement", Deckard's visit to the Tyrell Corporation, Dave Holden having been put in hospital, and so on. Although there is thus a certain amount of piggybacking on the film, the game very definitely relies on its own cohesive storyline.

Gameplay

Unlike many games, there aren't any meters on your screen, no inventory icons or measure of how many bullets or how much money you have remaining. Although it's in the point-and-click genre, there aren't any little text labels that pop up over objects you are hovering over. Nor are there subtitles (to my knowledge). The net result is a game that totally immerses you in its own reality. You have a clue database that you can switch to (fullscreen) and which details what you have found or learned so far. I did like the idea of being able to sort clues by case, suspect or crime scene, and filter out certain types (e.g., photographs or interviews), but ultimately I can't see that it had any effect on the way the game progressed.

The graphics are very good, doubly so for 1997, but are of course quite low resolution and unfortunately get a bit pixellated when playing in character (and not a cut-scene). However I did like the realistic foot-shuffling, occasional random walking around the room mid-conversation (and the other character swivelling or moving to face them again) and, thank god, feet that actually connected with steps when running up or down stairs! (The Longest Journey annoyed me somewhat in this regard with the dubious "floating down the stairs whilst randomly moving one's feet" technique.)

And finally, the most impressive aspect. The developers really tried to give you a new game every time you play. As well as having the choice to make major decisions on which the plot pivots (for example, whether to retire a replicant or to be sympathetic and let them escape), there are apparently a number of pre-determined elements which are randomly set for every new game. Game characters may have different agendas each time you play, may decide to shoot you or not, or have their human or replicant status determined randomly. Combined with your ability to alter the course of the game on your own, this adds up to a huge number of branching possible ways to reach the end of the game, via one of (I'm told) more than a dozen different alternative endings.

All in all, a very impressive game, and one that I'll surely play many times in future.