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Hector: Badge of Carnage, Episode 2 – Senseless Acts of Justice, which I’ll just be calling “Episode 2” for the duration of this review, is the long-awaited followup to Straandlooper’s iPhone point-and-click adventure game Hector: Episode 1; however, if you played the PC, Mac, or iPad versions of the game, the wait was of short to moderate length.

Either way, Clapper Wreake’s finest obese, alcoholic curmudgeon of a constable is back to hunt down a terrorist, wallow in depravity, and grumble about everything.

At first, I was a bit puzzled by the way Episode 2 began; it was nowhere near as raunchy or disgusting as the first episode, and the dialogue was quite clever, poking occasional fun at the conventions of the adventure genre.

This is when I learned one of the most valuable lessons that a relatively green game reviewer such as myself can learn: never judge a game by the first hour of play. For better or worse, the game soon degenerates into a level of distastefulness that meets or exceeds that of its predecessor.

Give Hector: Episode 2 some time, and you’ll have all the fly-riddled butcher shops and blasphemous strip clubs you could ever need.

The game starts where Episode 1 left off, with our portly protagonist staring down the barrel of an automated sniper rifle, forced to MacGyver himself a device made with found items that will disable the gun. The point-and-click gameplay is very similar to that of Episode 1, except for one part, where control can be shifted between Detective Inspector Hector and his annoyingly timid assistant Lambert.

Playing as two characters is an interesting twist, as the duo can only interact by exchanging items through a pipe in the wall. I’m glad to see that Straandlooper tried something new in this episode, did it well, and ended it before I got entirely sick of Lambert.

Episode 2 also has the same hilariously condescending hint guide that almost makes you want to get stuck sometimes, almost to the point of giving up early so you can read some of it. (Yeah, that’s the excuse I’ll go with for giving up early those few times…)

The story is arranged much like that of its predecessor, except whereas the bulk of Episode 1 revolved around performing three oddly virtuous tasks commanded by a terrorist, and helping those who might help Hector perform said tasks, Episode 2 is mostly based on investigating three pieces of evidence in order to find said terrorist, and taking information about them from those who have it.

The three intermingling branches approach is a familiar structure, but one that you’ll forget exists from time to time while you’re playing. At times, I was far too busy getting wrist deep into the horrible, filthy secrets of Clappers Wreake’s meat industry – and bearing witness to things that made me think that maybe ‘The Jungle’ was onto something – to remember that I was following leads in order to discover who had bought a gun.

In a way, the game is a series of moments connected solely by the items and information obtained at the end of them; luckily, these moments are for the most part entertaining in a gross, yet dry British way.

I should address a trivial complaint that I had with Episode 1, about how the inventory screen limited itself to pages of 5 items at a time, and there were a few annoying moments where I’d have exactly 6 items. Episode 2 is much more streamlined in that regard; it’s the same system, but throughout the course of the game, I never held more than 5 items at a time. As a matter of fact, I had a few “oh crap, now I don’t have any items” moments while playing. Beyond this, there’s not much to say about the interface – it’s nicely executed, tried-and-true adventure game fare.

Hector: Episode 2 is a worthy follow up; it’s amusing, it’s British, and it’s occasionally disgusting in that Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares-style “oh God, why did I think that it’d be a good idea to watch this while I’m eating lunch?” kind of way. It answered some of the questions left by Episode 1, and left me eagerly waiting for the release of Episode 3.

Hector: Badge of Carnage – Episode 2: Senseless Acts of Justice

Developer
Straandlooper, Telltale Games

Publisher
Telltale Games

System
PC, Mac, iPad (PC Reviewed)

Modes
Singleplayer

Release Date
August 25, 2011

*A copy of this title was provided by the publisher for review