Hector: Badge of Carnage Episode 2: Senseless Acts of Justice
First posted on 20 March 2014. Last updated on 24 April 2014.
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| Hector finds himself at the wrong end of a rifle. |
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| Somehow, Hector survives the explosion unscathed (he thinks anyway). |
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| Lambert recognizes the sign from Hector, however odd it sounds. |
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| Lambert finds an orphan living in a fridge in the back alley. |
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| The ladies do not appear to be too impressed by Lambert. |
Hector: Badge of Carnage
The season is comprised of 3 episodes:
- Episode 1: We Negotiate with Terrorists
- Episode 2: Senseless Acts of Justice
- Episode 3: Beyond Reasonable Doom
Hector: Badge of Carnage Episode 2: Senseless Acts of Justice is the second episode of Hector: Badge of Carnage trilogy from Irish developer Straandlooper Animation. Once again, the episode sees Hector indulge in an orgy of sleaze, destruction, foul language, and general filth as he continues his assault on common decency in the name of law and order. It cannot be denied that this is a colorful, joyfully irreverent, and engaging game, though its juvenile and British sense of humor may prove to be an acquired taste. If this particular brand of humor appeals to you, then you will find the game to be a truly enjoyable experience.
Installation of the game is simple. The game supports a number of different screen resolutions. It can be played in either full screen or windowed mode. Like many of Telltale Games' recent releases, this game is also available for the iOS platform.
Technically, this game is very well constructed. There is no need to make manual saves: the game automatically saves your progress as you go on. The cartoonish graphical style may not be to some gamers' tastes, but the presentation is professional. The voice acting is superb. Hector's vile commentary is delivered flawlessly. This is especially astonishing because there are only 2 voice actors (Richard Morss and Miriam Kelly) who provide the voices for all of the characters in the game. Surprisingly, it is actually an improvement over Hector: Badge of Carnage Episode 1: We Negotiate with Terrorists, in which has there is only 1 voice actor (Richard Morss).
When you first start the game, you get a recap of the events that have happened so far in the series. To be honest, though, the hastily narrated recap does not tell you that much about the back story. Fortunately, this episode works well as a standalone game. However, your enjoyment of the game will be much improved if you have played the previous episode.
After the recap, you find yourself playing as Hector, who is in the unfortunate predicament that he has found himself in at the end of the last game. He is trapped in a building which has been damaged by a bomb planted by a terrorist. To make a bad situation worse, he is in immediate danger of having his head blown off by a sniper rifle hooked up to a laptop, which will fire on him automatically if he moves. Once the opening scene is established, the game pauses the action momentarily to give you a brief tutorial (showing you how to examine, combine, and use items), before leaving you on your own to survive the immediate threat.
Soon after, you also find yourself playing as Lambert. This is the first time in the series that you can play as Hector's hapless assistant. You can switch between Hector and Lambert with a mouse click, helping Lambert to help Hector escape from the building.
Initially, the game is quite linear as you work through a series of puzzles to get Hector out of the building. After that, though, the game opens up as you move freely between various locations via a map to try to track down the terrorist who has been making life difficult for Hector.
As the story progresses, it quickly becomes crude to the point of being filthy. Early on, you learn that Lambert can recognize Hector from the sound of his bodily functions. Later, you find yourself arranging a date with a sex starved gun store owner, blowing up a toilet blocked up with feces, and passing off animal blood as human to a blood donation service. You also discover that Hector works for a special police department, the initials of which conveniently spell the word T.W.A.T. (Tactical Weapons and Tactics Unit). In all, this is not a game for adventure fans of a prudish nature.
Gameplay is typical of a point-and-click adventure. As you hover the cursor over points of interest in each scene, short text descriptions appear next to the inventory bar at the bottom of the screen. Clicking on a point of interest makes Hector comment on it, usually with some foul language. Double-clicking on it will make Hector (or Lambert) interact with it or pick it up. Items collected appear in the inventory. Selecting multiple items will attempt to combine them. Selecting a single item, then clicking on a point of interest will use the selected item on it. Double-clicking on another character starts a conversation with it. If items cannot be combined or an item cannot be used on a point of interest, Hector will let you know with a finely crafted insult. Hector's rude repertoire is somewhat limited though, so it can start to get irritating after a while, especially if you get stuck and have to start pixel hunting.
There is an integrated help feature in the game. Clicking on a question mark next to the inventory activates this feature. The help it offers is not unsubtle at all, telling you exactly what you need to do and where to go next.
If there is a flaw in this game, it is that the puzzles tend to be a little easy. It is often extremely obvious what you are supposed to be doing or what you are supposed to be looking for. However, as some puzzles are dialogue based, you may soon find yourself clicking through far too many dialogue options before getting any useful information. While this is not a big problem, there is definitely a tendency towards puzzles being a bit heavy on conversations.
The makers of this game will, without a doubt, be going straight to hell. They have created a game which steps far beyond the normal boundaries of taste and decency, though therein lies its appeal. By throwing common decency out of the window they have created a truly funny character with Hector and a hilarious story for him to strut about in. Consequently, this game is not aimed at a general audience. It is, in many ways, filled with juvenile filth. If this kind of humor appeals to you, you will surely enjoy the game. However, if you are easily offended, Hector and his friends may be best avoided.