My thoughts on episode 4

[Jack Stryker]

Firstly, I want to say that I was quite amused at how you guys squeezed me into the game.  Especially when Erica said that it's "Obviously not his real name."  She do know me vewwy well, don't she?

Anyway, one thing that I was glad to see was additional ways to die or lose.  That was one thing that made episodes 1 - 3 a little too easy.  There were very few of them in those episodes and they were pretty easy to avoid, if you have a brain.  This time, Erica really has to be on her toes and make careful decisions to avoid getting busted or meeting the Grim Reaper too soon.  That sense of urgency is something I enjoy seeing in games. 

I won't lie and say the puzzles weren't difficult.  They were.  But this time they were not only quite clever and well-thought out, but aside from an occasional game hint, I was eventually able to figure them out on my own. 

As for the story...

Spoiler (mouse over to reveal):

Well, it certainly was something!  I liked particularly the conversations that Erica and Cordelia had in the Smith house and the way the car scene afterward went.  It really brought a smile on my face, seeing Cordelia and McAdams get told.  The fight scene in the end was awesome too. 

The ending, well... it was nice, if a little on the depressing side.  Seeing what happened to Keith and Cordelia in the end made me feel kind of like Batman at the end of Arkham City; which I won't spoil.  I was also happy to see Erica talking with John, but then when I saw him vanish and his fresh grave appear, I went "Whaaaa...? *sigh*"  Still, it was nice to see Erica replace Max's rose and finally make good on lunch with Sully.

Lastly, I'm afraid I noticed three bugs:

Spoiler (mouse over to reveal):

1.  When doing the mission in the beginning, to trick my- err... Jay's- accomplice, I made a wrong choice the first time; which got both Erica and Jetta killed.  Though I'm not really sure how the guy pulled that off, since the gun never seemed to go into his hand and instead flew up into the air, hovering about a foot away from his hand.

2.  After getting the items from the bathroom in the Smith house, I returned later to see if I missed something and found those items back in the medicine cabinet, despite still being in Erica's inventory.

3.  During Erica's conversation with Brian in the end, the subtitle showed Brian's final line as "So you caught him.  Now what?"  Now, I don't remember what he actually said at that point, but I'm pretty sure I didn't hear him repeat that same line from the beginning of the conversation.

Overall, I give this episode 8.5/10

[stika]

I'm glad you liked it, Jack!

As for the bugs, I'll bring them to the team's attention, maybe we can fix those

EDIT: As it turns out they've already been fixed. So the installer should be updated soon. YAY!

[KatieHal]

Thanks for the feedback, Jack! Glad you enjoyed the game