Erica is a unique undertaking in the FMV world that worked out well and has set new standards for the genre. It brings an engaging story to life with superb acting, and enough interactive choices for the player to make it a cut above the rest in its genre. It does waste time in unnecessary interactions on occasion, but nothing too detrimental to take away from the mystery and intrigue of its narrative.
I won’t lie to you, dear readers. When I received the email from our senior editor Steven McGehee saying we received an Erica code, I was giddy as a kid in a candy store. Why? Well, because I have toted the idea that full-motion video games could be incredibly entertaining, complicated, and meaningful for the better part of 30 years. Ever since I first laid eyes on Dragon’s Lair in 1983 at my local Gold Mine arcade in Atlanta, Georgia, I knew that the simple concept of FMV could be far more complicated than naysayers could predict. The choosing of actions, much like a Choose Your Own Adventure Book, was far too fascinating to pass up in an interactive format. To be great, it would just need some TLC (tender loving care) and some clever narrative design. Putting time and effort into a story would make for a truly interactive movie-going experience. Who wouldn’t want that?
Also, guess where Erica stands in that equation? Let’s talk.
Official Synopsis
Erica is a young woman who’s thrust into the middle of a murder mystery, connected to the traumatic events of her childhood.
If we give you any more details beyond that, then we’re spoiling the story. Just know that the story has a lot of layers and you really need to think about how things are going to play out before committing to a choice. Seriously, this isn’t the type of game you pay attention to on the side — you MUST watch it as you go, process what might be the right path, or you’re going to miss some important details that will affect the outcome.
Spoiler warning aside, Erica’s gameplay design lies solely within the narrative path laid out in front of you, which the gamer must choose as the game continues. The game wants you to build a story through the choices provided to you. Depending on what path the players take, the choices might equal out to something good or bad, and those choices affect how the rest of the story goes. It’s really just that easy.
On the surface, it’s a simple task of trying to Phoenix Wright your way to the most logical and correct choice. Not that Phoenix Wright is an incredibly easy game, because even with the most logical of gamers playing, it can be quite difficult. Rather, the choices which seem logical can be far more multi-tiered in reason, which makes for a difficult time when choosing the right path. Regardless, player choices equal out to a certain outcome. The story can play out differently in multiple ways, which makes the replay value of this title high.
What did I tell you? FMV can be far more involved than most think. It just needs some tender loving care with the narrative.
Speaking of care…
The story is so good that each decision doesn’t come easy. Harking back to Choose Your Own Adventure books, the game plays each situation so close to the heart that the player won’t easily figure out if what they chose was the best choice or the bad choice. Sometimes the game doesn’t tell you a damn thing about the consequences of your choice until later down the road. You usually don’t find out how you did until way down the line. All of which depends on the narrative and how it’s constructed — in this case, the narrative is well-crafted. This story is close to a high-end BBC production, maybe even a Pirot-esque murder mystery, where the story throws you a pile of bones that may or may not mean something important down the line, that you won’t be a step ahead of the consequences of your action. It’s a web of deceit right in your face, where you simply have to choose the best way out of the spider’s web. No matter the direction, the journey has a complicated level of difficulty in order to get loose. It also has a motivating factor that will have you going back to try different ways to play the story out.
That’s the beautiful complication of the genre with respect to Erica, where the storytelling can hide everything if the storytelling is thought through and done right, which is the case here. For example, you might think you’re telling Erica to do the right thing, but it might actually be the wrong choice in the long run. One particular incident that comes to mind as an example is a choice to help a patient out in a mental asylum, or at least be nice to them. If you choose the wrong choice, then that situation doesn’t turn out too well and the relationship is ruined, even if you feel morally justified in making the right choice.
It’s crazy…no pun intended.
With a good narrative intact, and some important choices to make in the long run, does the game ever trip up? I mean, it certainly sounds like it is doing the right things so far in this review. Well, it’s not perfect.
Sometimes the game does feel a bit forced with how you interact with it via an iOS device. Sometimes the game delivers gimmicks through the mobile device rather than meaningful controls that take you somewhere in the story. For example, the game starts with the lighting of a candle/lantern. You flip the lighter open (swipe of the screen), you make contact with the wick (swipe down of the screen). The lighter lights. While the lighting part might seem cool, the purpose of interacting with said candle/lantern is a bit wasteful. It doesn’t have much bearing on the story beyond just showing off how cool it would be to light something. You could certainly say it’s a tutorial, and you wouldn’t be wrong for the most part, but there are other moments in the game, deep in the game, which unnecessarily ask you to interact with objects in a similar tutorial fashion. Also, the interaction isn’t a choice sometimes, rather it can be a hurdle in order to progress the storyline. The takeaway from moments like the lighter is that the game is ‘neat’ and ‘interactive’, but the impact that it has on the story or the niche of the narrative is lost. That’s my biggest complaint about this game. Sometimes controlling a decision or action can be simply a waste of time and meant to show-off, rather than to be purposeful. And time usage for this game is best suited for the progression of the story. I don’t need to see parlor tricks to justify the game’s existence.
Complaints aside, for an FMV game this is some high-quality shit. I’m dead serious that the production value could rival a BBC production, which is a huge compliment. The story, the characters, the shroud of mystery cast over the narrative design makes the effort of playing through bundles of interactive moments and choices well-worth the price of admission.
Overall, Erica is a unique undertaking in the FMV world that worked out well and has set new standards for the genre. It brings an engaging story to life with superb acting, and enough interactive choices for the player to make it a cut above the rest in its genre. It does waste time in unnecessary interactions on occasion, but nothing too detrimental to take away from the mystery and intrigue of its narrative.
