Gray Matter is industry veteran Jane Jensen’s point-and-click adventure game that explores the relationship between magic and science. Did this title fail in an underwhelming puff of smoke or were we all left feeling spell-bound?
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REVIEW-UP:
Jane Jensen is a name you probably know if you’re an adventure gamer. Creator of one of Sierra’s best-known series, Gabriel Knight, many fans revere her as one of the best writers in the industry. Her point-and-click Gray Matter had a turbulent development history since its announcement in 2003; initially dubbed Project Jane-J, the title suffered many unforeseen delays which included changes in both the developer and publisher. So was this game worth the eight-year wait?
The lovely Kevin from The Mental Attic put me onto Cognition: An Erica Reed Thriller over Christmas, a title for which the mighty Jensen was brought in as a story consultant and one which I thoroughly enjoyed. He then suggested I try Gray Matter to get my next adventure fix and so, seeing as his suggestions haven’t let me down so far, I thought I’d give it a go. In some respects I wasn’t disappointed – the story builds wonderfully and the backdrops are gorgeous – but there’s just one major thing which keeps me from adding this title onto my favourites list.
During a trek to London to pursue a career as a stage magician with the infamous Daedalus Club, Samantha Everett – or Sam, as she prefers to be called – suffers a motorbike breakdown in Oxford on the doorstep of Dr David Styles. This troubled neurobiologist lost his wife in a tragic car accident three years earlier and is determined to make contact with her from beyond the grave. Posing as a prospective assistant, Sam helps David with an experiment by recruiting student volunteers; but the mysterious outcomes lead her to believe that a great illusionist is stringing them along, while the Doctor is adamant that it is Laura’s ghost. Will the truth be something that either of them can comprehend?
On the surface this is a story that explores the relationship between magic and science, and the power of the mind. But deeper down it’s a tale of two people in very different situations who are both learning to come to terms with a terrible loss. Jensen is renowned for doing extensive research for her games and it’s obvious here that she put a lot of working into studying neurobiology and neuropsychology for Gray Matter. In addition, the title’s portrayal of Oxford is wonderful; from the town’s winding streets and quaintly-named pubs (I may not have seen ‘The Windy Dog’ in real life but I’ve been to a pub there called ‘The Spread Eagle’), to the existence of Mivvi ice-lollies (remember those?).
Fancy a pint at the Windy Dog?
Gray Matter is your classic, third-person point-and-click adventure game. Players take on the role of either Sam or David throughout its eight chapters; our heroine’s sections primarily revolve around solving riddles set by the Daedalus Club and performing magic tricks on unsuspecting victims, while David is more concerned with finding items to strengthen his memories of his late wife. The inventory is hidden at the top of the screen until your mouse is moved over it, with a left-click prompting your character to comment on an item and a right-click selecting it for use. In addition to the items they pick up both Sam and David have access to a diary which lets you review their dialogue and re-watch cutscenes.
A feature I particularly liked was the map as it enables players to visit places they have access to and keep track of any outstanding tasks. A gold label means that there are tasks still to be finished; a silver location means that only bonus tasks are left; and a grey label means that everything in the area has been completed. This system greatly reduces the amount of needless backtracking but unfortunately it can’t all be avoided. Some hotspots in certain locations don’t become active immediately while others may illicit different responses at a later point in the game. They’re pretty easy to find though and pressing the spacebar reveals all of a room’s interactive objects; this means that there’s no dreaded pixel-hunting, although sometimes the feature does respond a little sluggishly.
The interactive map reduces the amount of needless backtracking.
Gray Matter is quite a big game – it took me around eleven hours to complete – and at times I found myself unsure of what I needed to do next. Each chapter has five or six different objectives; for example, in the first section Sam has to learn more about Dread Hill House, find out if the Daedalus Club has a presence in Oxford and recruit volunteers for David’s experiment. It can sometimes be hard to figure out how these relate or what action is required to progress them, as the characters themselves don’t give you much of a clue. Fortunately progress bars show the percentage completed for each objective and these provided a little guidance when I was lacking a direction.
The puzzles are good in the sense that they’re worked into the storyline particularly well, as none seem out of place and all are solvable with a bit of logical thinking. But most don’t provide much of a challenge so seasoned adventures may feel somewhat disappointed if they’re hoping for a mental workout. Highlights however are some of the final puzzles which take place in the Daedalus Club itself; they’re no ‘Le Serpent Rouge’ but intriguing nonetheless. Sam has to make her way through a number of doors as she tries to navigate the unusual underground lair of the elusive establishment, and solutions to the smaller brainteasers come together to reveal a solution to the larger mystery.
The Daedalus Club puzzles are a highlight of the game.
Another feature I liked was our heroine’s book of tricks. At key points in the game it’s necessary to find the items required and then perform each step in the proper sequence to complete an illusion; this is done by placing objects over different areas of Sam’s body and then clicking on a magic wand. This mechanic is innovative and a nice compliment to the standard point-and-click gameplay but again, the challenge element is somewhat lacking. The game won’t let you perform the wrong trick on someone and the pertinent bits of the instructions described within the book are written in capitals, so it’s sadly reduced to little more than an exercise of trial-and-error.
I just have two questions about this area of the game. Why does Sam’s target never get suspicious, no matter how many times she fails to perform the trick correctly? And if she’s a magician who’s potentially good enough to get into the notorious Daedalus Club, then why does she need to consult a magic book written for children before trying to pull off an illusion? Similar to how the Magic Circle never reveals its secrets, I guess we’ll never know for sure.
If Sam is such a great magician, why does she need a children’s book?
The backgrounds used in Gray Matter are beautiful and have a hand-painted feeling to them. I loved the way that if you looked at them a little closer, you’d notice small details you may have missed at first; dust particles glistening in a beam of sunlight, a spider spinning a web in the corner of a dusty basement, steam rising from a vent in the street. But as seems to be the case with a lot of elements of this adventure, for every positive there also seems to be a downside.
After completing the game, I pointed out to Kevin that a number of characters look different in the cinematics than in the actual gameplay. And it’s not just the fact that the clothes they’re wearing are sometimes different – it’s their facial features as well. For example, the vain Helena looks almost bland in-game but it’s clear she’s meant to be absolutely stunning when watching the cutscenes (and speaking of clothes, she really needs to get some that aren’t so tiny). Kevin tells me that I’m just being picky (and he probably has a point) but this, combined with the the totally-different-art-style cutscenes and creepy-looking dialogue portraits that appear when the subtitles are turned on, made for a bit of an inconsistent experience.
David… is that you?
As with Cognition, Gray Matter is a family affair: Jensen wrote the story, her husband Robert Holmes composed the music, and his daughter Raleigh Holmes is the lead singer of The Scarlet Furies whose beautiful songs are featured in the game. I loved Holmes’ music, particularly the main piano theme which I wished could have been longer. It’s sweeping and melodic, but there’s an undercurrent of sadness which pulls gently at the heartstrings and this suits the atmosphere of the title perfectly.
Apparently, each chapter within the game has a bonus objective which is supposed to encourage players to look at everything and exhaust all possible dialogue options. But to be honest, I didn’t even notice what they were and didn’t see that there was any payoff when I was able to score a hundred percent in a section. Unfortunately this feature, along with one other, isn’t enough to make me want to replay the title in the near future and I can’t see that many players would find much replayability value here.
So speaking of that ‘one other’ point, remember I said at the beginning of this review that there’s something which keeps me from adding this title onto my favourites list? Well, that thing is the ending. I loved the basis for the plot and it’s superbly written, and the way the suspense builds throughout – are the mysterious occurrences caused by David’s late wife or is a master illusionist stringing everyone along – is wonderful. But it all came crashing down for me at the end. I won’t give anything away here but I couldn’t help but feel a little short-changed, and the use of a deus ex machina just seems like an easy and cheap plot device to wrap up a conclusion.
Despite its shortcomings, Gray Matter shows glimpses of a great game with real style and substance. It’s definitely worth picking up if you’re hoping to get caught up in a title with a plot that makes you think but puzzles that aren’t too challenging. But if you’re a seasoned adventure gamer looking for your next Jane Jensen fix, I’d personally recommend that you give Cognition: An Erica Reed Thriller a try rather than hanging out with Sam and David in Oxford, no matter how pretty it is – sorry guys.
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