Adventure Game Review: Hector: We Negotiate With Terrorists

This review was originally posted on the McMurray Internet Channel website on February 22, 2019.

Straandlooper's first episode of Hector: Badge of Carnage was originally released without Telltale's involvement for iOS, after which Telltale got the publishing rights, ported it to other platforms and helped make the other two episodes in the season.  Even without Telltale's involvement, however, the first episode still has plenty to make it worth playing.

The game is a raunchy comedy game, set in an English town called Clappers Wreake. That sentence alone sets the tone of the episode, as there are innuendos everywhere, plenty of taboo subject matter, with a dark, distinctly British sense of humor aplenty. The game follows a crooked cop named Hector and his naive partner, as they attempt to stop a terrorist and rescue the hostages. The episode title is perfectly succinct, as Hector will negotiate with the terrorist to satisfy all of his twisted demands.

The game is presented as a classic two-dimensional point-and-click adventure, and there are plenty of inventory puzzles to work out.  Some of them go to weird (and sometimes unsettling) lengths, but they all fit within the tone of the game. The voices are all performed by one person, which is amazing, as they are all very memorable.  The music isn't quite as memorable, but it does fit the tone of the game nicely.

The first episode is mostly a setup for future episodes in terms of story, as it's mainly a fetch quest to fulfill the needs of a terrorist. Once Telltale becomes involved the story begins to shine, but this first independently produced episode still has a lot to offer and is a necessity if you want to enjoy the full story. If you enjoy raunchy British-style comedy, you'll likely enjoy this game.

Final Verdict:

3½ out of 5