Part 9: Chapter 4-1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHrw...eature=youtu.be



One thing this game has over the original Still Life (probably the only thing) is that it’s not as heavy on the pointless, quick FMVs. This is a rare one.

So anyway, now we



GAAAAAAAAAAAME!



Meet Kate. She won’t be very helpful.

“Hi. I’m Agent McPherson, this is Agent Garris. What have you found?”





Recent occupation? What about the goddamn electric chair and the blood splattered tables and the poison gas vents…?

“I see. We’ll take a look around ourselves, just in case.”

Yes we will. I’m going to be impressed if Chuckles cleaned out the Saw dungeon in the night or so it took Vickie to get here.



Yay, dialogue. And by yay I mean why God why.



“Yeah. We go way back.”



Catty.



Let’s ask about snarky and yet talented doctors.

“Do you have information on the house? Who’s the owner?”



Well, it clearly had enough power to run the lights and the *electric chair*. Can’t you trace this kind of thing?

“An old decrepit house in the forest…you’d think we were in a horror movie.”

A really lousy sequel movie to another horror movie that wasn’t so great either, but at least one of the killers was neat.



Sigh.











Incidentally, this changes slightly if you didn’t have Paloma feed Vickie any clues, but just to Vickie complaining that they’re probably too late from having to find the place on their own. Branching gameplay, I guess.

“The killer had the entire night to act. The fact that he abducted Hernandez instead of killing her on the spot is a good sign.”

Yes, we’ve already established that he’s way ahead of the Keystone Kops and is just messing with us. Great sign.



Dialogue! My favorite.



“Let’s hope that this time around the killer has finally made some mistakes.”

Again, I’m not seeing any real way he could have possibly cleared out that whole dungeon setup in a single night.



Oh yeah, Hawker.



“Okay, thanks, Garris.”



Quit sucking up, Garris.

“James was a good agent. But he crossed the line. I’m not excusing him, Garris. But I understand what pushed him over the edge. Too much pressure.”



And finally we’ll ask about Chuckles.



Not unless we fire the entire department and give the case to Claire. Then it’s about 50/50.



I had to cap that one, I love Vickie’s expression that looks like she just huffed a tube of airplane glue.



Garris wanders off. We can’t break into Officer Kate’s car. Boo.



Scan up here for a goddamn invisible bit of pixels.



The only place where Paloma actually used that block of wood she was carrying. On a truck window. As opposed to smacking Chuckles in the groin and leaving.







So it’s back to the CSI kit. Break out your 3D scanner. Scan the tire tracks and the footprint. Analyze them.



Be on the lookout for a truck! Make? Model? Whazzat? Look for a truck, assholes!



And the foot is Paloma’s. Shocking.



To progress now, we need to ring up Claire.



“We haven’t found Hernandez yet. I’m leading the investigation in the field with Garris and the local police.”



“He vanished without leaving a forwarding address. But I plan on tracking him down.”



“Don’t worry, Claire, I’ll be sensible. And if I forget any of the textbook instructions, Garris will remind me.”



Exactly one dialogue choice. Was this needed, game?

“What’s new in the Chicago office?”





I don’t know who Kingsley is, but he sounds like he’ll fit right in with Miller. Who they inexplicably haven’t fired yet in the time jump.





On the bright side, Obstructive Chief Browning is apparently gone.

“Stop it, she can’t be worse than him.”

How’s the investigation going? Good? Well we can’t have that, you’re suspended! But first go downstairs and check on the deadly laser hallway, I’m late for the S&M dungeon!



DEPUTY DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWG

“That William. He feels indebted since his nomination...all I did was give him a boost. It’s thanks to his own skills that he succeeded.”

You should feel indebted, Vickie. Deputy Dawg is coming and he’s going to rescue this sad excuse for a game.



Does this game count as one?



Anyway, over here is another invisible pixel hunt.





You know the drill. Scan it, process it.



More info we probably already knew.



Curious.



…



…and Claire isn’t answering her phone.



Back over here is that railroad tie Paloma was checking out.



This is another bit that slightly changes if Paloma didn’t find it. Vickie just puzzles out that it came from a railroad on her own. Thrilling.



I don’t remember that from Paloma’s adventure, but it was dark at the time.



Snapping a photo of that adds it to our collection.





…

“I have a job for you, Claire…I’m sending you a clue to look at. A pretty little wood carving.”



That fence that was blocking off Paloma by the wood shed is down now. Head through and check this grate out.



Damn fine sleuthin there, Vickie.



More pixels to hunt here.



I don’t want to know about your sex life, Vickie.



Nevertheless, we’ll have to Q-tip that one.



I guess she took some flash bang shrapnel.





So Chuckles came by and fetched Paloma after she set off the stun grenades. Maybe he just started kicking her in the head and that explains the blood.



To the left of that is a…thing that Vickie can’t get into. She does have a loaded gun in her inventory, but pulling an Ace Harding and just shooting the lock is out of the question.



Nor can she be bothered to dirty her hands and wipe off the mud that’s foiling her. I imagine we’ll need to go find Paloma’s discarded spray bottle and mix up some mud remover, that will come in four vials, three of which explode and blow up Vickie’s head if you use them.



I’m just picturing Chuckles winging off arrows in his Psycho Mantis getup and it makes me laugh.





Go grab this, it’s needed.







Incidentally, no you can’t use the oil can on that rusty lock. That, too, would make too much sense and Vickie refuses.



So run up over here instead, which was where Paloma ran out of before falling on her face.



What awaits us inside? Well, more CSI-ing. A lot of it. Sigh.