MISSING: An Interactive Thriller - Episode One Review

There was once a time when I likened episodic gaming to FMV games: a brief trend that had promise, but lacked longevity. With the staggered release of MISSING's chapters, I stand doubly corrected.

MISSING: An Interactive Thriller - Episode One, despite being titled in all caps, doesn't rush to unveil the whole of its plot. The story is like a PG-rated Saw movie. A family man is kidnapped and subjected to (mentally) torturous puzzles in a basement while a police investigator assigned with tracking down the kidnapper investigates crime scenes. In the hour of gameplay in the first episode, that skeleton of a plot is all the player receives. I am tempted to call this lacking, but given that this is a cheap FMV title, I will instead liken it to the way the film is shot: minimalistic.

Unlike the FMV titles of yore, video in MISSING is crisp, clear, and professionally shot. While neither of the main characters chew the scenery, their actors don’t bring anything special to the table. They are believable, but don’t draw me into their conflicts. While the basement-like environments that dominate the game are rather plain, they are conducive to the hidden object puzzles that constitute the majority of gameplay. The puzzles I was presented with were on the easier side, but they involved just enough mental acuity to keep them satisfying. I was quite surprised to find quick time events sprinkled into the methodical searching and reasoning and while they aren't as offensive as they could be, they seemed like they were thrown into cinematic segments to make them feel more interactive.

With such a small portion of game, there is little else to say: the soundtrack is adequate, the sound effects passable, and the price reasonable. MISSING has my attention, but the next episodes need to escalate quickly or risk being mired in mediocrity.