Private Eye by Simon and Schuster is an action game that came out in 1996. It is an adaptation of a novel by Raymond Chandler called Little Sister. The way it plays out is like one of those interactive movies, but it has very little interactive capabilities. It is narrated by the case-hardened private investigator Philip Marlowe, who is best known by his representation by Humphrey Bogart in the movie “The Big Sleep” (good movie, I might add).
Philip Marlowe is approached by an incredibly prissy Orthamay Quest (heck of a name, but hey it is a video game) who has a missing brother, Orrin, that she wants him to find.
This game takes place in Hollywood LA where you will get to experience first hand the corruption of celebrities, blackmail, drug deals, and the all too familiar scent of murder. The setting is based in the 1940s and the clothes are stylish for that period of time.
During the game you do not get to choose to do too many things, but you will get to answer some questions that have multiple choice answers. These questions and answers you give have no bearing on the ultimate ending of the game. If you are a really good detective, you may find yourself coming up with the right answers and solving the crime before Marlowe does, but you still have to play it out so you can see if
you correctly solved the case. It is interesting, but still very linear.
You get to deal with fast talking agents, pretty yet dangerous scarlets (that is what they were called back then), both of which are perfect ingredients for a crime based game. You can switch between day and night, going back to the previous day, and there is also a map that shows you where you have been and where you have to go, or key places of interest for solving the crime. You do not get to snoop around and figure out on your own where the key places of interest to check out are as the map will automatically show you. I find that to be a very unattractive part of the game. It was just too linear for my liking and it was almost impossible to veer off the right track. However, it was still fun to be able to interact with such an interesting group of Hollywood people. Besides, if you read the book, you know what is going to happen anyway.
The animation is pretty decent and the voiceovers are really well done for a game of its time. The music is really good as well. With the voiceovers, you will hear little witty one-liners that come straight out of the book. This is a good game if you like this kind of crime solving games. You very seldom run across a game that is as true to the book as this one is.
