The Missing Review - Lost And Found
Test of The Missing: The brilliant meeting between Limbo and Deadly PremonitionThe Missing: JJ Macfield and the Island of Memories, or rather "The Missing", as we already like to call it in France because of localization problems on online stores, has just landed on your favorite gaming machines, pending a possible overpriced Limited Run version. We played it on PS4, and we're telling you everything now.
Certainly, our favorite little Hidetaka "Swery" Suehiro has not been varnished in recent years. Building on the esteem success of Deadly Premonition, in 2014 he offered us D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die, an Xbox One exclusive as preposterous as the adventures of Agent York and Zach, a project in episodic format which, like the bird shot in mid-flight, has never been entitled to its second chapter, leaving us in full cliffhanger script. Shortly after, the friendly game designer was forced to put himself on the sidelines, due to health concerns.
Since recovered, his return has not taken place under the best auspices: Indeed, The Good Life, a game project with a tone and atmosphere quite different from what the creator used to offer in his works , broke his teeth with a failed crowfunding project, which had to come back a second time to finally be validated in extremis. In addition, according to the law of maximum pain, as the galleys must never stop being linked, for the game that interests us today, The Missing, the black series continues.
Indeed, The Missing: JJ Macfield and the Island of Memories has undergone a somewhat special treatment from its publisher, Arc System Works, unaware of the habits and customs of publishing (probably) and more gifted in fighting game creation (certainly). Indeed, the title of the game has been translated into all the languages of the territories in which it was released! Surely a dumpling of a commercial from the company of Yokohama ... But thanks to it, we were entitled to this magnificent and so charming title "The Missing: JJ Macfield and the island of memories" available on the Playstation Store French on the day of the game's release. And again, we can consider ourselves happy, we have escaped the field of macintosh.
This incident had the effect of spreading the word and giving it the benefit of unexpected free publicity. But before, players wishing to acquire The Missing encountered a wall of misunderstanding once in their shop, what happened to your servant, who completely missed the exit while he checks the news from PSN every week and that he looked forward to the game. This error had to make the news for me to look into his case. All this unfortunately had to slow down some purchases in the process, and given the distress of our dear Swery on Twitter, it is hard to believe the shameless publicity stunt.
Today's test will therefore have its own credo: to give The Missing some of the light it deserves. But with all that, we would almost forget the essentials. Does this light, The Missing, really deserve? This is what we will see.
You have to die to be beautiful
The adventures of J.J. Macfield take place on Memoria Island, in Maine, with an atmosphere of deep America that Swery used to offer his works. The island has the power to recall old memories, and it is on its banks that we find J.J. and Emily, by the fireside, the tent pitched, for a little romantic evening. Except that upon awakening, Emily disappeared, and The Missing replayed the scene of the Heavy Rain mall, since J.J. began by running across fields, shouting to find her missing friend. But very quickly, the dangers of the island begin to show the tip of their noses, and it is a terrible storm which will be right of our heroine the first time, by electrocuting it with all the power of lightning in a flowerbed of soggy flowers.
Yes, for the first time. Because on Memoria Island. J.J. cannot properly die. Suffer at most, each time she dies. Wearing a pair of high heels for rock climbing doesn't have to be easy, but J.J. is going to endure a lot worse during his initiatory journey in The Missing. Indeed, throughout the adventure, we will learn more about his life via text conversations that seem straight out of the past, a little in the form of a nod to the cinematic discussions of Deadly Premonition, at least in the beginning. Because these messages show that discomfort is present in the life of our protagonist. Heavy, sneaky, and ready to strike where it hurts the most. All this will lead to an astonishing and confusing final, where the light will be shed on all the mysteries surrounding JJ, and which even leads to ask a few questions and reflect a little on the human condition, or anyone can draw their own conclusions. . Surely, J.J.'s trip to this cursed island will not leave you indifferent, and should stay in your head for a little while ...
And all the more so since the overall design proposed by The Missing remains extremely bewitching. Whether at the visual level, with a few passages of video completely barred, or a super original staging at many times, and who knows how to grab the guts and this despite a strawberry technique - we will talk about this later - or even the sound part. The latter offers dubbing in English only - just like the texts - which sets the tone from the start with an actor game and a kitsch sound mix to your wishes. All this contributes to creating a familiar atmosphere, with compositions which give life to the universe, and effects which one would swear that they come directly from our dear Deadly Premonition.
Death suits you so well
Originality in its universe, you will understand, The Missing will offer tons. And this although the general principle of playability facing echoes another title, which has proven itself, Limbo. We even find the same stupid trophy at the start of the game - by the way, in real life, the first test of Ready Player One would not have lasted more than 10 minutes. The Missing is therefore a 2D platform game that will need to use your brain to progress, by solving the different puzzles that will litter your way, based on the gameplay possibilities to be solved. Some precision platform passages are also part of the trip. But where it is very strong with Le Manquant is that it will sometimes (very often) self-mutilate to solve a puzzle game! Indeed, some shocks reverse gravity, at the cost of severe fractures, but open new paths by walking, sorry, hobbling, to the ceiling. It will sometimes be necessary to sacrifice an arm to trigger a remote mechanism. We can also burn ourselves alive to transmit a fire from point A to point B, or simply to light a room. Be careful not to treat yourself by falling into the water! And if you are not afraid of height when you are in good health, after going to the stake or with fewer limbs, that's another story ...
The puzzles of The Missing are not very full-bodied, sometimes long, but draw their originality from the fact that they take us on the wrong foot with the need to die or mutilate to take the next step! This mechanism is delightfully gore, daring and irreverent! When you lose your limbs, a small icon appears on the HUD, with a strong Vault Boy design from Fallout, a barely disguised wink, to tell us which member (s) has been (s) separated from the rest of JJ's body. We will also fall into a few traps during the discovery of the puzzles, we will rail against certain long passages of forced walking, but we will nonetheless seek to collect all the donuts sown on our way, and which will be able to unlock some very nice little bonuses , like extra conversations, new costumes, or even a brisk walk for the NG +, again with new items to pick up and collect.
The default
You will understand, with its crazy atmosphere and its obscure, catchy scenario, with its striking final, and its playability certainly basic and a little plagiarized, but irreverent and original, The Missing clearly allows you to have a good time. However, the technical aspect will not improve the picture with an achievement worthy of a Horizon Zero Dawn. Indeed, the whole, developed under Unity, is presented in an ultra basic and angular 3D, which could probably very well turn on some of our old machines which take the dust in the attic.
Note also the presence of a blocking bug at the very end of the game on PS4, which almost made me go crazy, but which I bypassed by passing the language of my PS4 from French to English ... You are warned. However, there is no doubt that if you managed to get past these same flaws and appreciate Deadly Premonition, this will also be the case here, and we therefore strongly recommend that you play The Missing: JJ Macfield and the Island of Memories.
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