Official Review: Calvino Noir (Computer)

By Eric Zander, Aug 24, 2015 (updated Aug 24, 2015) 3 3

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Aug 24, 2015
  • Release Date (NA): August 27, 2015
  • Publisher: Calvino Noir Limited
  • Developer: Calvino Noir Limited
  • Genres: Stealth, Side Scroller, Adventure, Story
  • Also For: PlayStation 4
  • Single player
    Local Multiplayer
    Online Multiplayer
    Co-operative

Review Approach:

This is the second time that I've done a video review for GBAtemp and I've improved a lot since the last review.
Calvino Noir is a mystery game where you conspire with multiple characters to start a revolution.
Eric Zander

Hey guys, today I have another video review for you.  My unique method of judging the game is listed below the video.

I ranked the game based on the combined total of the following categories: 
*Music* How memorable and great was the music?  --/10
*Story* Was it thrilling?  Cheesy?  Or non-existent?  --/15
*Level-Design*  Were the puzzles challenging without being frustrating?  Was the layout amazing or sub-par?  --/10
*Replay Value* Do you feel the urge to come back to play this later?  --/10
*Controls* Did the controls feel natural or clumsy?  --/15
*Graphics* Were you utterly blown away from the graphics or cringe while looking at the art?  --/5
*Appropriate Difficulty* NOTE that a high score does NOT equal a high difficulty.  If a game was too hard, then it receives a lower score than one that had an appropriate difficulty.  To get a perfect 10, the game needs to have just the right amount of difficulty.  --/10
*First Impression*  What was being conveyed at the start of the game?  --/10
*Immersion*  Was a tear shed?  Did you feel a personal connection to the story?  --/15
*Overall* Total score.  --/100

Please feel free to leave suggestions for how I can do reviews in the future!

Verdict
What We Liked . . . The music was amazing and really made the atmosphere pop. The story was on par with the best noir books. The graphics were not very intensive but still looked beautiful. The game was extremely immersive. What We Didn't Like . . . The game is fairly linear. There isn't a lot of replay value. It was a bit too easy for my tastes.
9 Presentation
I was surprised at how interested I was in the story. It’s not too difficult to understand the plot, yet it isn’t spoon fed to you. A big part of the immersion comes from that fact that every bit of dialogue in the game is completely voice acted so I actually felt a connection to the main characters.
6 Gameplay
I personally found the game very easy and it only took a couple of hours for me to complete the whole thing. I had issues with the controls initially, but I soon realized it was my own incompetence. There isn’t a whole lot of incentive to deviate from your path, as there is an indicator that tells you where to go.
7 Lasting Appeal
There are choices that you can make in the game to get the characters to say different dialogue, but the ending result is always the same as far as I can tell. So while you can change certain things through successive playthroughs, you won’t get much more information. If you like rereading mystery books on the other hand, you would likely want to replay this game.
8.3
out of 10
 Overall (not an average)
As stated in the video, I give the overall score of the game an 83/100.
Prans, shaunj66 and T-hug like this.

    3 comments

  • Issac
    Issac
    Nice review mate! I would suggest that you tone down the volume of the game when you're talking (especially if there are voice clips in the game). I got really interested in the game!
    Aug 24, 2015
  • Ericzander
    Ericzander
    Thanks for the suggestion! It was hard for me to judge what was too much and too little. I did end up turning down the game quite a bit though. I'll do it more next time.

    That music's just so awesome!
    Aug 24, 2015
  • Prans
    Prans
    Nice one! Like Issac I'd suggest you to lower or even remove the in-game voices while you do the review. It'd also be nice if you could add a GBATemp banner in the video somewhere... Just my thought though! I know it's your personal channel but just wanted to suggest this.

    Keep up the good work!
    Aug 25, 2015