Lake
A Hallmark Channel movie in game form, so you get to decide how cliché the story will be.
Reminder for reviews: I'm only really going to talk about what stood out to me, so anything I don't bring up is most likely just fine.
If an issue isn't bad enough to detract from the experience, then that's a good thing - just like something not standing out as being noteworthy doesn't necessarily make it a bad thing.
It's perfectly fine for a thing to serve its purpose and nothing more.
MOVIES
- No new movies watched recently, although I have re-watched Sunshine which remains excellent, which is no surprise when you look at the talent involved on and off-screen.
GAMES
- Lake summary: It's 1986 - Meredith Weiss takes a break from her career in the big city to deliver mail in her hometown. How will she experience two weeks in beautiful Providence Oaks, with its iconic lake and quirky community? (IMDb)
- The sub-heading at the top of this post is accurate: Lake really does feel like a Hallmark Channel movie.
- Seriously, read the summary just above and it could be the set-up for any number of movies, although with a slight twist.
- First off and most obviously, it's a game so you can choose to interact with the population of Providence Oaks as much as you like.
- Secondly, there's two potential love interests to pick from, including a same sex option which I'm not sure Hallmark Channel has ever done?
- Thirdly, there are multiple endings that you can aim for, with one fitting the cliché of a woman returning to her childhood hometown and settling down with an eligible bachelor.
- The biggest issue with the romances in Lake is the same in a lot of these types of movies, which is everything happens a little too fast.
- Meredith is only spending two weeks in her hometown, yet can choose to completely upend her life for the sake of someone she's just met and doing so just isn't as satisfying as it could be.
- This really is a game that could've done with giving you maybe one extra week just to further flesh things out and add some real emotional weight to the choices you make.
- Then again, it is a fully-voiced game with multiple endings and I'm pretty sure that the developers, Gamious, already pushed the budget as far as it would go for this game.
- And that pushing up against what I imagine were pretty tight limits is the only thing holding this game back from being genuinely great.
- Further developing the romantic interests and other characters, plus maybe adding a few more people to meet and interact with is simple to write, but difficult to justify what would be massively-increased costs.
- As for what is actually the central gameplay mechanic of delivering mail, everything is simple enough and works well enough that you'll never get frustrated with the controls.
- Having Meredith delivering mail is also a brilliant way of getting her to meet people and get involved in their lives, even if only briefly should you choose not to stay.
- I don't really have any major issues with Lake other than its brevity meaning the pleasant, cosy experience is over far earlier than it feels like it should be, which is a shame.
- It also makes the game difficult to recommend too strongly as, while it's an entirely pleasant experience with no major issues, there's still that lack of genuine satisfaction once it's all over.
- Lake is a good game and it's nice to have the power to play into or entirely subvert the clichés of 'successful woman returns to small hometown and finds love', but it really could've done with a little more meat on the bone. [7/10]
TV
- No new TV shows watched since finishing The Clone Wars, but the plan is still for The Acolyte to be next.
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