Developer Mad Orange's title Face Noir attempts to revive the classic genres of point-and-click and film noir in one fell swoop
I take a sip from my glass of scotch and place it gently on my desk as the embers from the match light up my last cigarette. A silhouette covers my frosted glass door before a sultry, long-legged woman walks through. Her dress as bright red as her lipstick, she tells me she’s got a case that may be of interest and I perk up. I know I may not be a great noir writer like the likes of Raymond Chandler, but it’s hard not to get caught up in the mood after playing a game like Face Noir.
Developer Mad Orange recreates the sepia-toned and moody atmosphere of the 1930s with a point and click adventure game that harkens back to the classics of the genre. The story follows Jack Del Nero; a rugged functioning alcoholic ex-cop who follows the noir detective stereotype to a T as he begins on a routine investigation that quickly devolves in to international conspiracies and murder.
What really shines in Face Noir is the attention to detail of the genre and the time period as a whole, Mad Orange clearly understands what needed to be done and this is a high point for the game. The backdrops are gorgeous and moody, really capturing the essence of depression era America while remaining faithful to noir clichés.
