Night Call Review
Played on Xbox One (base)
Developed by Monkey Moon & BlackMuffin
Released 17th July 2019
Led by project leader Laurent Victorino and writer Anthony Jauneaud, Night Call began to draw heavy inspiration from LA Noire quite early on in its development. The way the development team approached this game was like writing a 'cookbook': the pacing was planned in such a way that players may enjoy it in short bursts and play between 10 and 15 minutes, with a single in-game night session lasting between half an hour to 45 minutes. Having such contained time frames with a protagonist that embodies "ordinary" - having zero outstanding detective or crime-fighting ability - Monkey Moon and Black Muffin really shot for the stars with this semi-innovative title.
Story
The story of Night Call is great and unique. You play as a taxi driver in Paris trying to uncover the identity of the serial killer that failed to take you as a victim. The story unfolds at your own pace through 6 nights of gathering clues by using your clever yet therapeutic manners in dialogue. You can uncover the secret of your chosen killer, from the game's standard "Judge" to the more mind battling of the "Sandman". I thoroughly enjoyed the events, pacing and story the game explored as I tried to grab every possible tail of clues that'll help me while also coming across the citizens of Paris' own story of love, stress-inducing work or vigilantism.
Gameplay
The gameplay of Night Call is that of an indirect choice-based game. While your actions have consequences and effects on future events, they aren't portrayed clearly in front of the player, and that's one of the design choices I admire. As you drive between 10 PM and 4 AM, you'll need to focus on your cash balance for the payment of secrets or cleaning out the vomit in your car, the fuel you use up from driving around the city to even how long you spend going from place A to B as each could potentially sacrifice your options and versatility. The money taken every night is too much as you barely gain any from customers and that really ticked me off towards the end of the game's week as I just narrowly evaded debt.
While taking precautions in your resources, dialogue is essential in uncovering the world of Night Call but also pulling out very small and inconspicuous details that might help you find the truth. I love this small world-building and detail nitpicking but the characters themselves that you interacted with in your taxi journey were either a hit or a miss. After driving 6 in-game hours, you get the chance to use those clues you uncovered to link them between the suspects you have and the other hints you got; from the form of execution of the killer to the messages left behind at the crime scene and little backstories and possible reasons of the suspects that'll go through the trouble of getting blood on their hands.
Characters
The characters you come across are intriguing in terms of their own depth as you can come across the same people on different nights multiple times. While some runoff as a short, hit-or-miss gag, others land an emotional perspective of theirs on to the player. While some encounters like The Masked Joker, offer tense situations or interesting dialogue, others give off a single plot point that you'll, unfortunately, be unable to see again. However, these were interesting characters. Out of the numerous customers, I drove, some were forgettably boring and vanilla or downright assholes, while others had a chance to be unique but didn't expand enough to see it through.
Atmosphere
The atmosphere of this noir, crime thriller is an amazing aesthetic. The sound of cars zooming past, or pipes functioning is some good detail to audio as the soothing jazz or dead silence looms in the car or apartment. No technical problems, or flaws to point out other than that I wish could've seen and heard more from the 4-hour journey I had catching the Judge.
Story- 8/10
Gameplay- 7.5/10
Characters- 7/10
Atmosphere- 9/10
Good
Night Call really nails that "short'n'sweet" vibe I've been trying to find since I started writing reviews. It's brief in its appearance, but it's effective. It's a game that is more artsy than it is filled with quality, however, if you're like me and you find quality within the artsy, then you'll enjoy this short joyride.
