The Fall Reviews
The Fall is the beginning of an intelligent and engaging sci-fi story, one that'll keep you on the edge of your seat throughout every tricky brain teaser of a puzzle. With an excellent cast, a visceral, thought-provoking story and some great voice acting, the narrative has plenty of drive and it'll keep you guessing all the way to its tease of an ending.
The Fall is a flawed title marred by questionable voice acting, disappointing controls and, in classic adventure game fashion, segments where you'll find yourself rummaging blindly through the environment trying to figure out what to do next. If you can get past all of this, though, you'll find an innovative title with atmospheric visuals that puts a unique spin on old science fiction tropes through an intriguing storyline and some great meta-textual moments with the user interface. If all you want is a solid action-adventure experience, The Fall is probably not your best choice, but if you're looking for a more cerebral change of pace you should check this one out.
Arriving almost four years after the Wii U version, The Fall still manages to offer one of the most engaging takes on the age-old 'robot starts to feel alive' concept without feeling tired or rote. Sadly, the limitations of its gameplay haven't been addressed for this port, so while there's a great story to be experienced, the game itself remains a forgettable miasma of genres.
Great story can't cover for poor gameplay.
The Fall Part One's minor gameplay shortcomings don't even begin to tarnish the sheen on everything else. It's a seductive old-school sci-fi yarn, with characters that somehow manage to represent greater ideas and exist as fully-formed beings. Even though two more episodes have been confirmed, the game ends on an exciting conclusion that could function either as a cliffhanger or a definitive finale. If you're into books like The Martian Chronicles, there's no reason to let some potential head-scratchers keep you from a great experience.
The Fall takes inspiration from all the right games, merging Metroid-style platforming and atmosphere with Dark Souls difficulty and Portal writing. Its deep and thoughtful explorations into the technicalities of AI are intelligent and surprisingly thought provoking. It's unfortunately hindered by clunky mechanics and overly complicated puzzles that often border on the obtuse when it comes to the specifics required to finish them. Google will be your best friend when playing through this, but try and avoid cheating or giving up entirely; solving The Fall's conundrums is actually somewhat worth the hassle for once, proving to be a creative and rewarding challenge that shows creativity and promise.
The Fall is definitely more than worth your time and money, and whilst the experience may be over quickly, it will certainly be one that you thoroughly enjoy.
This is supposedly the first of multiple chapters to this story, and if the writing stays as strong throughout then it's going to be a tale well worth exploring, but hopefully the next title will reduce the difficulty a tad.
The controls could be more intuitive, as could interacting with objects, but overall The Fall's winning combination of great storyline, well-penned script and impressive game world makes it one of the best indie titles out there.
Not since Duncan Jones' Moon have I been this giddy about a science-fiction story that so expertly plays around with the genre, especially in dealing with artificial intelligence. I am in awe and eagerly anticipating the later episodes with much excitement.
Overall, however, The Fall was very enjoyable. For the $10 asking price, you receive a great story and solid game play in a four-hour episode. The game has a great ending that has me eagerly anticipating the next episode of the game.
Beginning as a universally relatable fantasy about overcoming red tape, The Fall winds up as a game about identity and civil rights without ever talking too much or treading too clumsily. The fact that this is the first episode of a larger game only makes its climax more thrilling. Just as there's a sense that your powwers are building as you play through The Fall, there's a feeling that developer Over the Moon's powers are building too. We like who they're becoming.
The control system needs some improvement, though, and the voice acting is far from the best ever done, but the narrative and exploration suit well those who are looking for a sci fi adventure in the Wii U's eShop.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
The Fall is a sci-fi adventure game that harkens back to the days of classic adventure titles and in some instances, brings with it both the good and bad aspects of the classic genre.
The first half was so frustrating I almost cried, and the second half was actually pretty entertaining. Oh, and the whole game was 3 hours long. And you can't use either mouse or arrow keys on the main menu for some reason. In short, fix these problems Over The Moon and maybe the second episode of The Fall will be all fun and not just the last hour.
If you're looking for a thoughtful sci-fi story and/or a point-and-click adventure in the LucasArts mold, and can tolerate the short running time, this is a good pick.
The puzzles overall are really fun to work out and are challenging at the same time.
The Fall makes you want more. That much is clear. I want to see what happens with A.R.I.D, I want to see how the ending of The Fall continues on in it's sequels. But I don't want to play those puzzles, nor anything like it again. I'm not happy with how short the game is, nor with the way it's split into separate games. The Fall should, in my opinion, be avoided until all three of the games are out there.
The Fall is a relatively short game, just a few hours long depending on how many puzzles stump you. The story is the most engaging thing, providing a unique take on the Three Laws of Robotics (although the laws themselves have been changed). There are really only three characters, but they're all well developed
'The Fall' is a great story and interesting discussion of synthetic morality, but ironically has some problems with its own mechanical side. It is possible that these issues were caused by the port to the Xbox One, but things like checkpoint saving are fundamental and cannot be overlooked. Regardless, I am happy that Over The Moon is continuing with the series, and hopefully we can expect the second episode before too long.