Who doesn’t like a Koala, right? They have been all over the news lately with all the troubles in Australia, sadly enough. In this noir humorous interactive story, you control Roy Stone, a koala detective looking for his missing lover.
What we liked!
- Australian influence: You can find a glossary in the extra menu as the game features heavy use of Australian English, stuff like sticky beak (nosy person). As this game is heavily focussed on conversations you’ll have to get used to this unique Australian language but it gives Stone a special kind of atmosphere.
- Fantastic soundtrack: Each time a song starts you see the name and artist, a nice touch by developer Convict Games that shows the importance of the licensed tracks. They have a wide range of genres, from techno to hip hop. As a music fan, it was lovely to discover new bands! So thanks Convict Games, I love your taste in music!
- Emotional and unexpected story: I did not see that ending coming! The satisfying spunky story is the main reason why Stone stays above water. It starts pretty basic but has some unexpected twists, not to mention that everyone will love the playable character.
Somewhere between
- Voice acting: This is really hit or miss, the accents are really well done but the emotion doesn’t always feel right. For a game that is mainly about conversations, it feels that more attention would have been welcome.
What we disliked
- Boring gameplay: My main issue with Stone is that the gameplay isn’t that exciting. You travel from your home to the local bar or another place to have a conversation and that’s about it. You explore every location, press a button to see what Stone has to say and that’s literally it. No mini-games, no puzzle solving or any gameplay mechanics whatsoever. I’m aware that Stone is more an interactive story experience but it would have been so much better if the gameplay had more punch.
While the idea behind this game is fantastic the execution is far less great, while memorable for narration it simply lacks fun gameplay.
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