Murdered: Soul Suspect Review
Welcome to our CHEATfactor Game Review of Murdered: Soul Suspect. We review the game and then factor in how the available cheats affect the overall game experience.
 

Reviewed on: PC
Developer: Airtight Games
Publisher: Square Enix
Rated: "M" for Mature

 
CHEATfactor Game Review
by Joe Sinicki
Presentation 7/10 
On the newer consoles and higher end PCs, Ronan's character model animates well, especially in the cinematic sequences. The rest of the world feels flat and dated though. At least the voice acting isn't terrible.
Gameplay 5/10 
The detective sequences are dry and boring and worst of all being a ghost is rarely fun, and it rarely even has benefits beyond walking through walls.
Lasting Appeal 5/10 
This feels like a game that I should have hours dicking around in, being a ghost and messing with the living; but all I can do is mess with their TVS (which they don't even react to).
Overall 5/10 
With Murdered: Soul Suspect, Square Enix takes an interesting idea and proceeds to do almost nothing with it. Soul Suspect does get some things right, but every time it does, it does four or five mind bafflingly dumb ideas that stop the game's potential dead in its tracks.
CHEATfactor 0/10 
 

Maybe my hopes were too high for Murdered: Soul Suspect. I was hoping for an interactive version of Peter Jackson's criminally underrated movie The Frighteners and what I got was more like something out of A Haunted House. Square Enix's paranormal detective game starts off with a unique and intriguing idea but thanks to a lack of direction, identity and an interesting campaign it squanders all potential it made for itself. Sure, you'll have some fun with the game but it misses nearly every mark it sets for itself in spectacularly disappointing fashion.

"...Ronan, a detective who is killed in the line of duty chasing a serial killer."

 
   
The idea behind Soul Suspect is both simple and intriguing at the same time. You play as Ronan, a detective who is killed in the line of duty chasing a serial killer. It's now up to you, as a ghost to investigate your own death and catch the killer you couldn't in your life. You'll investigate crime scenes, search for evidence and try to get information out of suspects and witnesses. So yeah, it's L.A. Noire with ghosts. In fairness though, Soul Suspect does offer some unique gameplay twists; at least it does in theory.


The big twist is that since you're a ghost you won't be able to physically manipulate objects around you and you'll have to use your ghost abilities like walking through walls and even possessing the living to get your answers. It's an interesting gameplay mechanic that unfortunately doesn't play out nearly as well as it should. The investigation mechanics boil down to you walking around aimlessly in an area until you see an onscreen prompt to investigate something. You'll have a clue counter on the bottom of your screen and you'll just keep wandering around until you reach all of them; or enough to make an educated (or not so educated since you can really just keep guessing with little to no penalty) as to what the game wants you to find out.

The investigation mechanic feels unnatural as well. In L.A. Noire you were given subtle clues to where your next lead was but Soul Suspect seems intent on taking your hand and leading you through each investigation and showing you the answer. Clues are often marked and you won't have any trouble finding them that is of course if you're looking the right way. The game really only lets you check out clues and leads if you have the camera pointed in just the right way. There were quite a few missions that I found myself having to recheck areas because I just looked past them by an inch.

"...potential cool ideas Soul Suspect fails to capitalize on."

 
   
But hey, at least you're a ghost right? That should be fun, messing with the living and all. Not so much. While being a ghost does have it's perks, they're far outnumbered by the strange design choices in the game. You can walk through most walls (it's explained pretty well and early why you can't walk through them all) but there's little reason to do so other than looking for more clues or just to spy on the living. You can also posses the living and read their minds or will them to do what you want, but again your options are limited. The most mind boggling design choice is that you're given the ability to use “poltergeist” abilities and mess with electronic items…but no one even notices, no one reacts. Early in the game I kept turning the power off on the TV of a guy who was so enamored with it that he wouldn't even speak to his wife. All this yet he didn't even acknowledge that I was messing with the TV, he just sat there as if nothing had changed.

It's almost maddening how many potential cool ideas Soul Suspect fails to capitalize on. Once you become a ghost you start to see other ghosts everywhere and it's cool to see them and hear their stories. Some will send you on missions but they're nom more than fetch quests and last no more than a few minutes. There are some pretty badass demons that try to hunt you down, but they turn into nothing more than an annoyance when you're trying to get past them.

With Murdered: Soul Suspect, Square Enix takes an interesting idea and proceeds to do almost nothing with it. The investigations and lacking and the ghost abilities feel tacked on, a crime when the game is based on them. Soul Suspect does get some things right, but every time it does, it does four or five mind bafflingly dumb ideas that stop the game's potential dead in its tracks.

 
 
CHEATfactor
 
CHEATS USED: Steam Achievements
 
As of this writing there are no cheats available for Murdered: Soul Suspect. Stick with Cheat Happens for more as they become available.
 
DOWNLOAD THESE AND OTHER EXCLUSIVE CHEATS