Blacksad: Under the Skin
About the Game
John Blacksad, a New York black cat P.I. in early years after the World War II. Counting minutes, waiting for the next gig, and then she comes in. A purr-fect feline dame with a sad expression on her face, accompanied by a heavy category bodyguard gorilla, Jake Ostiombe. Now Jake was an old friend, but the feline beauty, Sonia, is a client.
Story & Setting
While based on the comic book series, Blacksad: Under the Skin tells an official and new story, and is not a game adaptation of an existing one.
Gameplay & Core Systems
The game plays entirely in third-person perspective and action-camera follows the character but changes angles to give it more cinematic feel meaning players are often not able to look where one wants and is left to explore only what the camera shows. Camera can slightly be moved offset from its fixed position which is in most cases used to find hidden album stickers which can be accessed via main menu. In many cases missing to pick up a sticker before looking at story-related objects will not give players a second chance. During the dialogues there are often many different options how to react which build up a character stats and will often have serious consequences and possibly branch the story. Most of dialogues are also time-based and will result with a default answer if nothing is selected before the time runs out.
Standout Features
- There are four different Hall of Fame sports albums, each spanning two pages, one per sport, namely American Football, Baseball, Boxing, and Hockey.
- There are few limited locations where John Blacksad can search in first-person perspective, usually when looking at multiple things on a desk or some such place, but these are few and far between.
- Objects of interaction display an icon when John is facing them, and in case there are multiple available, individual ones can be selected.
- Blacksad: The actions that Blacksad does and things that he says affect his stats which can be checked at any time during gameplay.
- There is no inventory system and things that Blacksad is carrying, which are few, are with him all the time and he will automatically used them at the right location (i.e. lockpicks).
- Some of which can be contemplated upon and often paired (not while reading the notebook, but during deduction which can be activated during gameplay) which will produce further piece of information (i.e. having knowledge about the footprint in the paint, then having the knowledge of suspect's shoes, one may deduce if the suspect is guilty or innocent).
- There are 8 different stats and each has its opposite and percentage bar shows toward which players are leaning (i.e.
Presentation & Atmosphere
Display support includes HDTV 720p, HDTV 1080i, HDTV 1080p, and HD Video Output.
