Blood Shore is the latest FMV to be published by Wales Interactive. As a huge fan of their games I jumped at the chance to play through this. Blood Shore follows a group Live Streamers, wannabe celebrities and even Death Row inmates as they take part in a show called Kill Stream. After jumping out of a plane onto an unknown island they must kill their way to the grand prize. Smart mines placed round the island activate over time, forcing the group to move closer together. Sounds familiar right?
As you play through the different scenes you’ll have to make some difficult decisions that affect how you get on. As you would expect, there are plenty of twists and turns to discover as you make various choices in the game. After two full playthroughs you’ll be able to move through the game quickly by skipping to all the choices. With over 500 at your disposal there is plenty to discover. There is a tracker within the menu that gives you an idea of how you are doing across certain metrics, romance, insight and audience are just some of the examples.
Unfortunately the game is let down by some of the acting and characters, maybe I’m being really harsh but having just finished Squid Game (I appreciated the budgets will be significantly different!) and watching the amazing performances I found it really difficult to watch how some of the actors sold the way they reacted to shooting a gun to kill someone. At one point one contestant looks at someone he has just killed and says ‘Sorry!’ like he had just knocked a coffee out of her hand.
Despite my issues with some of the characters, they aren’t all bad. Nick Romeo, who you play as for example is a washed up movie star with a hidden agenda, so its will worth finding out why he is part of the game. The host was great as is one of the other contestants with a shady past. The rest are pretty forgettable to be honest.
I didn’t dislike the story, even after the sudden ending in my first playthrough. Having played so many of these titles I knew that playing in a different way would open up the story and I’m glad I did because I discovered some great story arcs. I really enjoyed how the game mixed between the contestants on the island, the presenters and those in the audience. Your decisions had an effect on their opinions of you which was good to see.
Look at his face!
You won’t be surprised to hear that the further you dive into the game the more you notice how some scenes are stitched together, unfortunately a couple of times I noticed scenes that you could tell they didn’t really make the effort with. I also had one choice use the same scene incorrectly no matter what choice I made which is frustrating.
Overall Blood Shore just didn’t click with me, despite enjoying unlocking more of the story to find out what was really happening. The acting and some of the production was frustrating at times and that ultimately lets the game down. Maybe with a bigger budget and more time this really could have been a good title. If you are looking to get into FMV’s check out Late Shift or the Shapeshifting Detective first.
