There’s a very particular audience in mind for the first episode of Hector for the iPhone: it’s aimed squarely at devotees of the Lucasarts adventure games like Secret of Monkey Island and British police parodies like Hot Fuzz. This first episode offers just enough, plot-wise, to get you interested in the next one, and it’s chock-full of some extremely amusing situations and witty dialogue.
You play as Hector, a crude but effective officer of the law in the tiny UK town of Clappers Wreake. While the game skirts around the edges of what’s acceptable on the App Store (the game is not explicit so much as suggestive), you’ll meet plenty of miscreants and perverts in this first episode. There’s a prostitute whose garter belt makes for a fan belt for your beat-up police car, and a heroin junkie who falls asleep in a life-sized sex doll package, with hilarious results.
Nothing dodgy about this situation.
Hector has been called from a post-binge slumber to his latest case: A nut-job has been picking off police officers in a hostage situation. Getting to the scene of the standoff is your first major task, and then you’ll have to meet his three unusual (and civic-minded) demands. One of these includes shutting down the town’s largest pornography outlet, which gives the developers an opportunity to make plenty of naughty jokes.
The animation and voice work in Hector episode 1 is top-notch. We found ourselves enjoying the cutscenes consistently, even if we were occasionally frustrated by some of the gameplay mechanics. Compared to highly polished App Store adventure games like Broken Sword: Director’s Cut, Hector’s controls can be a tad unwieldy. You’ll have to “pixel hunt” for interactive objects, dragging your finger over every part of the background. One tap looks at an object while two taps interacts with it, which can lead to some incorrect commands or skipped dialogue.
Wonder if the porn superstore contributed to Ali's blindness.
Also, the game lacks a hint system, which can lead to a few frustrating dead-ends. In Secret of Monkey Island, you could shake the device for an instant hint, but Hector forces you to figure it out on your own, or look up the answer online. This may be because the entire episode will last a few hours if you explore exhaustively, and much less if you look up the solution.
Hector: Episode 1 is a great start to a promising new adventure series. Though it ends on one heck of a cliffhanger, we’re sure this loudmouth lout will be back soon with another ridiculous assignment. If the series continues to improve, it could turn into a Must Have even outside of the specific intended audience.
33 Comments
This is probably the best adventure game, the App Store has ever seen.
Clunky controls?!?!?! Oh boy.... this game is a (pretty perfect) miracle, really.
UK slang as a minus?!?!?
....don't know what to say on that (and I'm German).
I can't even get out the first room
Overuse of UK slang!? Are you effin' kidding with me? If anything, English is from England. Everything American would constitute American slang. And clunky controls and no hint system? Are you quite daft? Maybe a stupid American like you needs a hint system, but you are really bringing down the confidence people have in this site.
What an utter twat you are.
i am american, so twat is the same as twit, right?
Gotta love that English charm.
What? I can't understand you with that thick accent.
What? I can't understand you when all you do is mispronounce words and spell words wrongly. Did you even go to grammar school?
On a side note, no, twat is not twit.
Spot of Tea, Govna?
Really? "Spell words wrongly" what an idiot.
Got to agree with the previous two commenters - how is usage of english slang a minus?
I love your podcasts, however I feel that you have attempted to scrounge out a few (nonexistent) negatives just to fill up your review.
Hi Andrew,
It's Kevin, part of the dev team from Hector: Badge of Carnage. Thanks for a great article, glad you enjoyed yourself. We put a lot of sweat (and various other bodily fluids) into every part of Hector (aw, this is sounding more sordid by the moment), and we were incredibly lucky to have such a great team of people working on it.
I thought it best to pop in and mention that there IS an in-game hint system, although it too is a bit puzzling. It's your partner, Lambert: the lanky fellow at the Hostage situation (of course, this requires that you reach the hostage situation unaided, which is a bit of work in itself). If you get stuck on the terrorist's demands, Lambert's dialogue options change to suit. He won't give you a direct answer, but in amongst his near-pointless ramblings, he'll give you a clue (even though he hasn't got one himself).
And, though I abhor the things, there's also a walkthrough (or crawlthrough in Hector's case), which soon will be accessible from the Credits page of the main menu, and from theHECTORfiles.com website. The crawlthrough is also in the abusive Hector vein, and a joy in itself to read, but personally I wouldn't until you've finished it for the first time. I say "soon will be"... it's done, but we wanted to give the old-fashioned head-bashing puzzle-solvers a few days to immerse themselves in Hector's world, and get through it unaided, which is still the most satisfying way to enjoy a good puzzle game.
In any case, thanks for all the hype and exposure in the months leading up to the launch, and the great review. Cheers!
3/4 is a good review score! Just has a little room for improvement for Episode 2.
As much as I loved Hector's dialogue and animation, I disagree with the above comment that it's the best adventure game on the App Store. Beneath a Steel Sky, Broken Sword, and Monkey Island are full-length adventure games on the iPhone, and Hector falls a little bit short of those.
And by the way, the UK slang is not really a major deal. It just made me miss out on some of the dialogue, which I enjoyed. The control scheme, hint system, and overall length were more significant factors in determining the score.
Ya, but the difference is, Steel Sky, Broken Sword and Monkey Island were once $20-30 games back in the nineties, which meant they had to make 20-30 hours of game to make it worthwhile. Now the iPhone comes along, they're just converting and re-releasing. This is one episode, like one act of Monkey Island, (or one episode of the new Sam & Max). So of course it's shorter than the re-released classics.
You're basically saying that Act 1 of Hector "falls short" of a full-length adventure classic. I'd say that's pretty damn good. I'm loving Episode 1, and I'm in for Episode 2 regardless.
No offense but most of the slang, even though not familiar, is pretty easy to put in to context. I didn't find the controls clunky in the slightest. The fact that you didn't find the hint system tells me you clearly didn't try to find the answer to the puzzle in the first place. In a game like this when you're stuck you search high and low and explore every option to find the answer you seek. If you had done so the hint system would have been found very easily. Anyways I guess what I'm saying is I would have given the game 9/10 I think 4 star rating systems suck!
Ok so have we waited long enough for the walkthru? I'm stuck at the porn shop....plugged the frayed cable into light socket and into vibrator box...won;t let me blow the joint yet? I cant see anything left to do there that I can intereact with or take....what next? I've fixed the clock and gave the money to the fundraising guy.....this is the last demand left to do HELP!!!!!
Hey there you need to get the bottle out of the cuboard in the clock tower and fill it with the moonshine then go back to the basement and pour it on the building suport
Thanks, I actually had tried this about a million times but it just wouldn't work, just figured it wasnt the right option and gave up. But now that I knew that was the answer it finally worked. weird...Bummer that was the end of the game though! This was a great game all way round! When is the next episode? Can't wait!
Thanks I couldnt figure this out at all!! I went back to the park and crime scene a hundred times I even put the cable n the box but couldnt blow it up!! Thanks!!!!
Wait, talk of point and click on the iphone and no mention of all fridges are psychotic? Will give hector a go when the price comes down.
Yeah, that one is a gem too!
You gotta bring this to the iPad (with the same price of course :) )
Stuck trying to fix car. I see that I need garter but how do you get it from her? Looks like ticket will get u info from drunk on charging battery but you can't give him the ticket when he asks for it. Help!!
RE: Stuck
Stuck trying to fix car. I see that I need garter but how do you get it from her? Looks like ticket will get u info from drunk on charging battery but you can't give him the ticket when he asks for it. Help!!
You gotta give the drunk some booze he'll shag the fat broad and she will drop her garter in the alley. pick up use the crowbar to open the key locker, then free the kid, then have to old lady taze him...use his electrified body and garter to fix the car
Thanks. Couldn't find booze so I took empty bottle from cell filled with coffee and gave to drunk. Took his mouthwash gave to hooker and followed you from there. Thanks.
How do I get 25k I have bag and wig
How to get in the pornshop door behind
i cant even get througg the first part ):
I also can't get out of the first room, and game keeps crashing even on 3GS..
Any hints from anyone would be good!
Where do you find the crowbar?
@Gorge: you can find the crowbar on the ladder in alley
@Bones: I cant use the electrified body and garter to fix the car, could u tell me how?
I've done the clocktower and the porn shop, and have the wig and red purse for the exchange in park. But I don't know what thing I'm supposed to have or how to get it to do the exchange or if I'm the one to use the disguise or someone else. Please help.
U dont have to have a thing just keep talking to him until he gives you the briefcase. You have to say something like 'I'm yanking your chain a little'...something like that and eventually it will give u a selection like 'Give me the money and i will call you with the location' and then they will give you the money but you have to keep talking to him until that option comes up
Can anyone pls tell me how the hell do you get out of the first scene?!?!
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