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Detective Gallo

Detective Gallo

Point and chick.

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When it comes to genres, point and click adventures are probably easiest when it comes to guessing what you're going to be tasked with doing; you move your cursor and click on things while speaking to people and finding objects that can be used to solve puzzles later on. Detective Gallo is straight out of this playbook. It feels like a lifetime since we had to help George get past that goat in Broken Sword, or we wandered around an island full of monkeys, but the formula is still more often than not conservatively preserved.

For those up on their Latin languages, you'll know that "gallo" is the word for a cockerel, which makes sense as the titular character is a rooster who works as a private investigator. The Italian developers must have decided to use Gallo for the name rather than the abbreviated form of the British-English translation, for some reason. Living in a world full of talking poultry, this wisecracking chicken must solve the murder of several plants. Yes, plants!

From that brief summary of the story, you can probably guess that the game is rather kid-friendly. That said, it's also fun for bigger kids too (such as the 30-something reviewer who played it). It's fundamentally a noir detective story with a Dick Tracey-style P.I. on the case, but there's plenty of good humour and funny moments thrown in that will make you chuckle like a hen at a comedy show.

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The dialogue is spot on, and the whole thing is brilliantly written and acted. Gallo comes with a New York drawl while there's a cactus who checks out the ladies in the town like a stereotypical Latin lover. In terms of story, it's witty and creative, and the puzzles aren't overly taxing either (although it comes with enough challenge to keep your brain active).

One thing we loved is that once an item has no more uses, it disappears from your inventory, meaning that the trial and error system of trying out every single combination until something works doesn't become too laborious. Some games have been let down by the ever-increasing number of options to trial, and it's nice to see that the developers have avoided this pitfall.

Detective GalloDetective Gallo

The story from the start is beautifully set up too, and at no point does it drop the pace. There are the usual bunch of characters that you would expect in a noir detective story, like the client in distress, the shady gun runner, an equally shady vendor at the shop, and the key informant you can call when you want to know the word on the street, and all of them come with their own little quirks and personalities which are really nicely portrayed.

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A backstory is hinted at with each of these characters, and it feels like both the developers and writers have really thought about the world they wanted to create, even down to the infatuated cake-seller that Gallo tries to avoid or the club he doesn't want to enter because of something that happened previously.

In terms of all the activities, point and click fans will know what to expect, and while there is the occasional timed challenge, all in all it's a pretty standard adventure. That's our only bugbear - it doesn't really try anything new. This 2D adventure is sold on its story, graphics and world, rather than offering any innovations. At least it looks the part.

Detective Gallo

The overall appearance of the game is outstanding, with every single animation and illustration created by hand. The vibrant colours and the great designs really set it apart, and it even reminded us a little bit of the hand-drawn Disney films, which is quite the compliment indeed.

The controls are pretty standard, and on the PS4 you can use the stick, d-pad, or the touchpad. Also, if you get a bit lost for clues, you can always use Gallo's senses to see what's available to click on, but our fat fingers sometimes caught the touchpad accidentally which made for some frustrating moments as our cursor whipped away from where we wanted to click.

Another thing we didn't like was the save system, as the game doesn't automatically bank your progress; you have to go into the menu and do it manually. Then, when you reload the game, the option of 'saved game' isn't available, as you have to open the options menu to find it. A minor quibble, but a quibble nonetheless.

Running at between three and four hours, there's just enough story to keep you entertained, but we would have liked more in the way of content, or even different investigations. That statement probably speaks volumes about how much we enjoyed the game, as it's always good to be left wanting more.

So, it's a good-looking game with a beautiful visual style; the story and the characters are well-crafted; and the dialogue is pretty witty. It's not too hard a case to crack either, and it's nice to play an adventure that can be enjoyed by both young and old alike. The herbicidal story is a welcome break from the heavier games of today, and while it's not a genre classic there's a fun point and click adventure to play through here.

Detective GalloDetective Gallo
07 Gamereactor UK
7 / 10
+
Great story, looks good thanks to distinctive art, decent voice acting.
-
A bit on the short side, doesn't really offer anything new.
overall score
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Detective GalloScore

Detective Gallo

REVIEW. Written by Roy Woodhouse

"The story and the characters are well-crafted, and the dialogue is pretty witty."



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