Games published by Worwyk Software
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Blackstar: Agent of Justice
Blackstar: Agent of Justice is a mediocre shareware adventure game that squanders decent graphics and puzzles by cramming in every 20th century stereotype you can think of.
Written by heavy metal musician Thomas Vitacco in his spare time, BlackStar stars a grizzled private detective with American Indian blood named BlackStar. The game starts out as just another day in the life of a private detective. But it's not long before you stumble upon a grisly murder and a more sinister plot. The graphics and attention to detail are undoubtedly BlackStar's strengths. The graphics are very well drawn, especially considering that this is essentially a one-person product, and there are plenty of specific responses to your actions, as opposed to the usual 'you can't do that' or 'there's nothing to see here' responses of most adventure games. Unfortunately, the user interface is far from intuitive: you have to right-click to exit any screen or cancel actions, a very cumbersome requirement that will take adventurers some time to get used to. Where the game suffers is in the most important element of the adventure genre: the narrative. While the storyline is no more hackneyed than that of most games, BlackStar is full of stereotypes that seem to exist only to gratify a hormonal, sex-deprived teenager who might be playing the game. For example, you can peek into people's rooms using the park's binoculars. Most of what you see are naked women or other 'adult' scenes, nothing important to the game. The fact that you can't see these scenes (or visit some of the more racy locations on the map) until you play the paid, registered version is further evidence of how the author considers 'sexual themes' to be a bigger selling point than, say, a 'good story and logic puzzles'. That doesn't bode well for gamers. And, in fact, the more you play the game, the more it will start to annoy you. Just when you get used to the quirky right-click interface, you'll become frustrated with how illogical it is. Like most adventure games, BlackStar is extremely linear. But instead of the story unfolding gradually and naturally as in most games, it's very illogical here. If you try to do something that is not directly the next step in the plot progression, BlackStar will say something along the lines of 'I'd rather not do that'. When you do exactly the same things after the plot has advanced (sometimes without your knowledge), it will inexplicably be able to do it. As a result, most of the game is just a matter of trying to click everything (and also use everything in your inventory on everything else, because many puzzles have no logical solutions) until you advance the plot. Can we say 'bad game design'?
Overall, BlackStar is simply disappointing. As a murder mystery/private eye adventure, it is not as logical or fun as Pleurghburg: Dark Ages, a free-to-play game. As a game that deals with 'adult themes' of sex and violence, it is as shallow and banal as Interplay's Voyeur games, and far less fun even than Steve Meretzky's notorious Leather Goddesses of Phobos 2. It tries to be cynical, sarcastic, and witty, and fails at all three. If it weren't for the neat graphics and some decent puzzles, it would certainly be a Real Dog in my book.
