Is a Cute Mouse Enough?

My free month of Origin Access (basic!) has allowed me to do some things that I normally don't do in gaming--experiment with titles I might not try.  I perused their list of available options and picked out a few notable ones...and then I decided to pass on them.  Weirdly, I ended up downloading all 80 gigs of Star Wars Battlefront II only to play through 95% of the singleplayer campaign only to realize that I wasn't really having that much fun.  Let me explain--I enjoy Star Wars, but I'm not the play every game, watch every thing, do all the Star Wars things kind of fan.  I wanted to see what the game had to offer and even though I was initially sucked in by the absolutely beauty of it (it's gorgeous and it feels authentically Star Wars), I quickly saw exactly where the story was going and also got irritated at the combat.  It drives me bonkers when shooters kind of want you to be stealthy.  I don't want to faux-sneak around and then end up shooting everything anyway!  Eventually, I decided that I was done with its nonsense (hordes of baddies just blindly charging at you--just running around shooting stuff--but, flying in a TIE fighter or X-Wing was super cool).  I uninstalled those same 80 gigs with no regrets.

Rather than go for the questionable big dogs* (Origin Access is chocked full of the major EA titles--your Battlefields, your FIFA's, your Need For Speed, etc.) I decided that my free month would probably be best spend playing through the shorter indie options.  I was intrigued by a game called A Ghost of a Tale and opted to give it a whirl.  In A Ghost of a Tale, you play the role of Tilo, a mouse minstrel who has wound up in jail.  You quickly learn that Tilo's wife was also arrested, but that she is missing.  Tilo desperately wants to find his wife and luckily someone in the jail wants to help him for some reason--someone slips the cell key to Tilo and encourages him to come find this hidden individual.  The rest of the game has players helping Tilo sneak around the jail and surrounding areas in order to complete quests and reveal pieces of the story of his wife's arrest.  (Probably 12-14 hours play time.)

Pros:

+ Anthropomorphic cast of critters is very cute.  Tilo is a tiny, cute little mouse; the guards are all creepy looking rats; there's a salty frog pirate.

Who can resist a cute little mousy!

+ Nice environments.  There are many different areas to explore and the entire game has a visually pleasing aesthetic.

+ Quests/sidequests.  There are many tasks to be completed and enough to keep you busily running around.

+ Music mechanic.  There are times during your interactions with other characters that you meet that they will request that Tilo perform a certain song.  It's a cute mechanic and the songs themselves are fun to listen to.

+ Humor.  There are jokes and humorous interactions throughout the game that will make you chuckle.  Kerold, the pirate-frog is quite a character.

+ Story.  The main storyline was deeper than I expected and it was worthwhile to learn about the other characters in the game.

+Cute costumes.  Part of the challenge in the game is to track down several costumes that are used to help Tilo complete quests.  Pirate Tilo, Thief Tilo, and Ranger Tilo are all great.

Cons:

- My biggest irritation with this game was the fact that I just didn't feel like many things were explained well.  Tilo earns experience points for his actions, but there was no explanation about how to use them when he leveled up.  There were some basic explanations about how to use tools and hiding places, but when it came to helpful hints to at least nudge you in the right direction...it was very lacking.  I spent more time looking things up than I would have preferred to.  I will admit that part of that was my own error--you find florins (the currency) sprinkled throughout the game.  Early on, it explains that the blacksmith is your main source of information and upon talking to him you find out that you can pay him to reveal vital pieces of information--like where things are located on the map.  There is literally no other use for the currency in the game and it's never clearly explained.  The same can be said of some of the quests--in one quest you learn of a smuggling ring and are told that the mark of this group is hidden in the sewers...but you're never shown what the mark looks like!

I suppose you could chalk it up to making a more authentic, less hand-holdy type of gameplay, but I was frequently frustrated by the lack of information in the game.  There's a lot of trial and error and just not having a clue about what you're supposed to be doing or where to find something.  I think the game could really benefit from some additional explanation about mechanics.

In the end, I would cautiously recommend A Ghost of a Tale.  If you're not upset by looking things up and just want to enjoy the story experience...by all means, do it.  Personally, I had to look up way too many things and felt way more irritated at the game than I would have liked.