Hector: Badge of Carnage - Episode 2: Senseless Acts of Justice

Beginning where Episode 1 left off, Detective Inspector Hector finally confronts the terrorist inside the abandoned building. It doesn’t take long, however, for the titular protagonist to find himself in a life-and-death situation--a sniper rifle (controlled by a high-powered laptop) pointed right at his face. It is here where Hector: Badge of Carnage – Episode 2: Senseless Acts of Justice begins. Hector would have to quickly find a way out of this predicament or risk getting his brains blown off. Of course, it’s hard to imagine the game taking itself seriously. At all.

Well, this sucks.

What I like about Hector Episode 2 is there’s a bit more stuff to do here compared to the first episode. Episode 2 sports new locations and characters to grab items from, as well as extracting information via dialogue trees. Getting the information you need from various Clappers Wreake citizens isn’t exactly hard, though failing to choose the ‘right’ specific dialogue can hinder Hector’s investigation. Don’t worry though; you won’t be completely locked out from clues you’ll need to progress through the story, as the several dialogue choices only exist to slow you down. Eventually, you start to narrow down the dead end conversations, finally homing in the one that triggers a specific event. I never found it too much of a problem though, since some of the extra, seemingly useless, and random dialogue is fairly entertaining to listen to.

Atmosphere-wise, Hector nails the Hot Fuzz-esque, run-down town setting perfectly, featuring dirty backgrounds with great detail and sharp-looking animations to top it off. Hector isn’t shy about making inappropriate jokes and taking a crack at British pop culture and the Internet, and some of it is actually funny. Despite what qualms you might have for Hector’s style of humor, it’s actually got a nicely written narrative and an all-around amusing cast of characters. It altogether balances out the pacing between puzzles and its investigation tropes, while avoiding tampering with the story’s flow. You’d probably think that Hector’s logic in puzzles is rather...different, though experiencing Clappers Wreake’s wild eccentricities yourself makes you--much like Hector himself--eventually accept everything at face value.

When you’re at your wit’s end thinking you’ve run to a dead end, the game’s hint system is there to help get you back up. The best thing about Hector is the hint system is as cynical as always, encouraging you to rely on your own brain power rather than letting the game hold your hand all the way through. The hint system is also self-aware in a way, as it either praises or berates you depending on how long you spent the game without asking for help (and vice versa). Also, it’s easy to be frustrated at the game when you think you’ve figured it out, but then you’re stuck there exclaiming, “Why isn’t this working!?” Hector requires some unorthodox method of thinking if you’re going to get anywhere in the game at all.

Hector: Badge of Carnage – Episode 2: Senseless Acts of Justice isn’t terribly longer than the first, though this particular episode’s length feels more appropriate and the puzzles demand some outside-of-the-box thinking to tackle. Some take a while to wrap your head around, and solving them feels pretty satisfying. Episode 2 ended with a tense cliffhanger that makes me eager for how the third and final part of Hector’s adventure ends.

Image Gallery

Episode 1: We Negotiate With Terrorists

Episode 3: Beyond Reasonable Doom

David Gabriel, NoobFeed.