GDC: Dexter hands on
Published: March 26, 2009
Mature gaming comes to iPhone. We’ve seen a lot games in our time here at GDC, and they were all pretty good
, but none were able to blow us away like Dexter the Game from Icarus Studios and Marc Ecko entertainment.
For those unfamiliar, Dexter is a TV show on Showtime about a serial killer who only kills other people who have committed crimes. The game will revolve around the first season of the show, with a few extra story snippets thrown in there. The developer told us that you will not have to be familiar with the show in order to enjoy the game, as everything will be nicely explained to you as you progress.
According the developer, the game is only 45 percent done in the development process; however, it still manages to have more graphical fidelity then any other iPhone I have seen so far. It is absolutely gorgeous. Everything from the in engine game play to the full FMV cut scenes completely blew me away. The sound is also incredibly impressive. This is first iPhone that, to the best of my knowledge, offers full 3d sound. This means that game actually simulates surround sound out of the iPhone’s tiny speaker, and is ever more visceral if you play with headphones. There was one level in particular, where, in order to figure out where you had to go, you had to follow the sounds from a car alarm. This was the only clue telling you where to go, and I found it very easy to pinpoint the direction of the noise and move to the designated location.
The developers felt that gamers need options when it comes to controlling a game on the iPhone, so they went with 2 different methods, the first of which is tilt based. To move you tap the bottom corner of the screen and tilt your phone to the left or right to turn in each direction. To sprint faster you tilt the phone forward, but that wasn’t available in the build that we played. The other control method is a more standard on screen joystick. This method, as the name implies, is a little joystick that appears on the bottom of the screen. If you’ve played an iPhone game, then you have seen this before.
The early build we saw was visually stunning. It has more detail work then any game I’ve come across on the iPhone, and believe me, I’ve come across a lot of iPhone games. The detail of the character’s faces is mind blowing. You can actually see emotion on the character’s in a manner that has not been tapped into on the iPhone. As you wander around the open city, and the smaller environments, you can’t help but marvel at the graphical fidelity of the world. It is as good as anything on the PS2, yes I said PS2, not PSP. They even give you the option to view the world in first or third person.
Here’s the real question on everyone’s mind, how does the game play? Well, there is a lot to do in Dexter. The world is very expansive, and it’s fun to walk around in it. In order for you to kill someone you have to prove without a shadow of a doubt that the person you are going after is guilty. You can not commit the murder until you have done your research on the individual after all. It just wouldn’t be fair to kill someone whithout knowing they deserve it. Researching the targets may involve some stealth chasing missions, looking for clues, as well as some other stuff.
Dexter’s day job is that of a blood splatter analyst. So, they made a very creative mechanic where you have to swipe your finger across the screen with different weapons to see what weapon may have caused the murder to occur. All of this is done to help you determine whether or not the person you are tracking is guilty of worthy of meeting the part where everything in the game culminates… the murder mini-game.
What? Did I say the murder mini-game? Yes, I absolutely did, when you finally confirm the guilt of a person you will capture them and end up with them tied to a bed. Here you will have an important decision to make, what weapon do you want to use to commit the crime? In the demo we saw he went with a bone saw, and to use the bone saw you place your finger on the iPhone screen and make a sawing motion back and forth. The screen doesn’t show the murder taking place, but the gruesome sounds coming from the iPhone more than make up for the lack of visuals. You hear the victim scream, and the sound of the saw is pretty nasty. It’s just the kind of thing I have been hoping to see/hear on the iPhone since I started this gig.
Another major aspect of this game is the mask system, Dexter has to keep his mask rating high enough at all times, or people will able to tell who he really is, and if that happens, it’s game over. So, keeping your mask up is done with the Mass Effect type of dialog system. Whenever you talk to someone you will be presented with three different possible answers. The way you choose to respond to people will either have a positive effect or a negative effect on your mask. It’s a really deep system, the likes of have not been seen on the iPhone.
The confrontation system is another form of communication in Dexter. When someone comes at you with a disagreement you will be thrust into confrontation mode. This is quick time event mini game. A bunch of dots will flash on the screen and you have to tap them quickly, if you succeed your mask will grow stronger, if you fail, your mask goes down.
So there you have it, all of this is from a game that is only 45 percent done, and is only the first episode of a 4 episode series. The price has yet to be finalized, but I’ve heard rumblings that 10 dollars is the likely price, and from what we have seen, it seems completely worth it. Stay tuned for our review when the game launches this summer.
Review disclosure: Any games reviewed on this page may have been provided to us by the developer for the purposes of this review. Note: the resulting review score is never impeded by this fact, all opinions are that of the TouchGen reviewer and not the developer. This is in keeping with our O.A.T.S oath. Read more about O.A.T.S here
5 Comments on "GDC: Dexter hands on"
No DPad on Thu, 26th Mar 2009 2:40 am
I think it’s interesting that we’re seeing Dexter coming to the iPhone. You sound impressed so I’ll keep an eye on this one. Normally I wouldn’t bother playing licensed titles like this.
I have a hard time thinking about “Mature gaming comes to iPhone.” though. Mature games will probably never be allowed on the App Store, just as a precautionary measure by Apple. While there is a “murder mini-game” as you say, that idea itself doesn’t sound mature.
Jay on Thu, 26th Mar 2009 3:25 am
there are 17+ apps
Legend.inc on Thu, 26th Mar 2009 9:17 pm
Dexter on iPhone! Woohoo.
silentrocco on Thu, 26th Mar 2009 10:35 pm
Singing:
I’m so excited.
And I just can’t hide it.
I know, I know, I know, I know, I know
I want it!
tgunnz89 on Fri, 27th Mar 2009 6:04 am
love the show. very excited.i so hope they do it right, but i think it might end up being a repetitive investigate, kill,getaway(mask)but we shall see