Overview
1112 Episode 01 is the first installment in what Agharta Studios hopes to make a dark series of mystery/puzzles games for the iPhone. The game is a point-and-click adventure that lays out the setting for this alternate-universe story. Unfortunately, 1112 is plagued by bad writing, confusing puzzle layout, and a healthy dose of flat-out nonsense. There are a couple of redeeming qualities but at the bottom line, this game is kind of a bomb.
Features
- “Fully Interactive Environments”
The App Store description states that players will have “full interaction with all visible objects.” In this game “fully interactive” amounts to click an object, choose from a few actions that could be carried out with that object, and 95% of the time have your character refuse to perform that action for an absurd reason. On the upshot, pretty much everything you see is clickable.
- Interactive Inventory
Use inventory items together, or rotate them in 3D to get a different view on the item. In exactly one case, this enables you to perform an action you wouldn’t be able to otherwise. In exactly one separate case, this gives you the information you need to solve a puzzle. Beyond those two instances, this is a feature with wasted potential.
- In-Depth Help Menu
The help system in the main menu tells you a lot about how to play the game. Unfortunately, this can’t be accessed in-game, which makes it a pain to reference on the fly.
- Hand-drawn Artwork
This is where the game shines. The visuals are very well done, and the art style is something that really would have immersed me in the game if the rest of it wasn’t so awful. I honestly don’t recall if there was more than one music piece in the game, but the one I remember was pretty good.
Breakdown
The Good:
There is genuine intent behind this game. Agharta Studios is trying to weave an interesting tale, and I appreciate that. The artwork is very well done and was probably the best part of the entire game. While the writing is nowhere near technically good, it does do a decent job of creating an atmosphere of unease and weirdness. On the other hand, that may have just been my disbelief at the strangeness of some of the character responses.
At the very least, the game worked. I didn’t encounter any bugs or crashes, and all features worked as intended. The problem was figuring out how the features were intended to work! There was some kind of autosaving going on, because whenever I left the game, I came back at the same screen I was previously on. If the game had been technically broken, I likely would not have made it to the end.
The Bad:
Oh, man. I was looking forward to this game, because by my thinking a point and click puzzle/adventure game would be very well suited to the iPhone. Sadly, the execution here is just bad. The idea of fully interactive environments is really cool, but the game just makes excuses instead of allowing players to really interact with anything. My favorite excuse was when I tried to take a painting off the wall. Louis (the main character) says “My pants are too tight for that.” What?!
From the App Store description, this game is supposed to be a mystery story. While 1112 is going to be episodic, meaning the story will continue, this is a terrible start. The first truly strange thing happened within the last 5 minutes of the game – the game lasted about 2 1/2 hours. Most of what you’ll do in the game amounts to aiding the main character in getting up and going to work.
In many of the puzzles throughout the game, it was unclear what I was supposed to do. In the rest, even though I knew what my goal was, I was still confused. I’m not being intentionally dense here, but the combination of vague dialog and a frustrating lack of real interactivity made it tough to make it through the game. There were a few puzzles that were sort of clever, but the frustration of figuring them out diluted my appreciation considerably.
Verdict
I appreciate the intent here and with work 1112 could be a great series. That said, This game is a mess. Episode 01 suffers from poor puzzle construction, strange and confusing dialog, and to be honest most of what you’re doing in the game is very mundane. The odd responses to attempted interactions might be funny to some, but that doesn’t cover for the fact that most of them are total cop-outs. This game is absolutely NOT worth eight dollars, and I can’t recommend that you buy it. I will try to review the next episode, so check back to see if the implementation improves. Otherwise, steer clear.
Our Rating
1112 Episode
- Developer: Agharta Studio
- Category: Games
- Released: 11-24-08
(currently 1.2.4)
(currently 4.99)
Stupid assed review, this game is a lot better than most minigame you can find on the appstore, I had no problem with the english (I’m still in the city but so far everything was really fun to read and well thought)
I heard the storyline is only starting at the end of this episode, still I expected nothing more from an episode 1…
o please all the review for this game suck learn to review a game u fucking suck this game is 10/10 in my book fuck u appleiphoneapps.com you guys are worst than ign learn to review this game is amazing its even going to be ported to the wii so shows you guys dont know shit what your talking about the grammar in this game is deccent its playable thats all that matters i hate motherfuckers like you that ruin a good games reputation ridiculous shit you deserve to give this game a second chance the new version of this game fixed everything u addressed and btw the reason why the game was so bad in version 1 is suppose its version 1 this game was first made for the french not for the US even tho the game takes place in NJ. This game was a good game stop sucking dick and review this game for what it is a actual good puzzle game i would of expected better from other review sites i thought this is indeed the best iphone game available it uses all the features of the iphone so really is it really a bad game or is it a bad reviewer ? Anyone who wants to buy this anoy this fuckers review this game is AMAZING the best game u can buy for the iphone =) so buy it and if not go jailbreak your iphone an try before u buy google jailbreak ull find the program but please if u like this game support the developer or will never get to see what happens to the main character in New York. The biggest clif hanger iv been left with yet i think this series is going to be a amazing to the reviewer go suck a dick an learn to review.
you said it the real review good points this game is amazing i completely agree with you this reviewer has no clue how to review a game AGREED!
i agree this game was very good they even over looked the graphics of this game.
- good graphics
- good plot
- the biggest cliffhanger will make u think wtf and keep you eager for the next episode
just getting started this game is gonna be good episode 1 was short but just wait for episode 2 its going to be crazy i wont give anything away like the real review did but its a crazy ending leaving you guessing for whats going to happen next. The episodes will continue and they will explain the mysteries behind the main characters headaches the begining clip was good this game is amazing the little video clips in the game are done so well so please give this game another review thanks
-much love to appleiphoneapps.com
Wow, someone here knows good grammars. “The real review”, is english not your primary language? Could it possible be French? Isn’t France where this application was developed? hmm…
Hi there! I’m the designer of 1112, While I completely disagree with this review, I wouldn’t dare to post such comments about it. Apprently the game is a love of hate affair, depending on the reviewers sensibilities and likeness;) So far I have either outstanding rating or very low rating (wich tend to prove the love& hate point)
Everyone can tell whatever he want about the game, I won’t hold any grudge about them;)
+ Every critics helps even if I’m not agree, there is always something good to get from it to make better new episode
PS : it’s good to see that we have “hard core” fans but please try to refrain a little bit you language :/
I need help what’s the password or where can I find the padbook that tells me the password
If I’m not mistaken, it has been 6 months now. Where is episode 2?!? This is a little crazy.
The only thing that is frustrating to me about this game is that hardly anything exciting happens in it. And this is almost completely made redundant when the game is looked at in the context that it is the first chapter of 6 chapters. Knowing this, I see the game as an introductory chapter to the story, where one learns the controls and background of some of the characters, and I have no qualms with the lack of excitement and twists.
I think the reviewers of this game who are reviewing it poorly are not considering that this is an IPHONE game and are not looking at it comparatively to other games on the iPhone platform and in the adventure genre. It would take a HUGE amount of programming energy AND hard disk space on the iPhone to allow more interaction with objects than there currently is (ie. allowing Louis to rip a curtain and then having the changed visual in the bathroom of a ripped curtain). If this functionality was implemented throughout the whole story it would not be a viable game for the iPhone because it would take up a HUGE amount of disk space AND it would not be economically viable to sell for $8 for the huge amount of programming hours that would need to be put into it. As I understand it, the major reason that iPhone games are so cheap is that companies and individuals can afford to sell them at a sub-$10 price because of the low amount of man-hours put into them. As it happens – I think it adds more interest to the game for the player to be able to click on almost any object and have Louis say something about it. I’d rather that than nothing at all (the two options I believe are viable in a sub-$10 game).
This game absolutely kills all other iPhone adventure games I have tried out in terms of i) graphics, ii) story, and iii) controls (ease of use of the controls are a dream compared to most iPhone games). My only problem is with how short it is, but with further installments coming out at a much cheaper rate, I think it’s well worth the $8 and was still a very enjoyable play – my favorite game on the iPhone so far.
It’s also very possible these people reviewing the game poorly don’t understand this type of story and don’t appreciate this type of humor…. I thought the game was superb on both aspects.
I completely disagree with this review. 1112 features the best artwork, story, interface, music and quality of any iPhone game! This game is truly the best in the whole App Store. Episode 2 is taking long because the developers had to sidetrack and make Rogue Planet.
I apologise for my earthy (though 100% precise) language (in deference to the developer who submitted a comment earlier).
Ignoring the reviewer (as we all should)- when will episode 2 (and 3) be released in English? I’d be happy to learn French just so I could play it (unfortunately that version is not available in the app store in my country as I live in a [primarily] English speaking country)?
Awesome game- so much hidden depth that you only find if you take your time.
PS. The safe password is….
[SPOILER ALERT!!]
[SPOILER ALERT!!]
[SPOILER ALERT!!]
[SPOILER ALERT!!]
[SPOILER ALERT!!]
[SPOILER ALERT!!]
[SPOILER ALERT!!]
[SPOILER ALERT!!]
on the mirror in the bathroom (wash yourself first).