Final Cut 3: Homage

Final Cut: Homage
by Eipix Entertainment - March, 2014

Series links:  Final Cut 1: Death on the Silver Screen, Final Cut 2: Encore, Final Cut 3: Homage, Final Cut 4: The True Escapade, Final Cut 5: Fame Fatale, Final Cut 6: Fade to Black


Available at:
Big Fish as Collector's Edition / Standard Edition



…Eipix’s dramatic continuation of the Final Cut story line! A serial killer calling himself “the Director” has targeted your father’s movie legacy for his magnum opus, and he’s cast you in the starring role.

Your father’s projector appears again as a game-play feature, allowing you to switch between real-life scenes and the Director’s movie sets. Save your family from certain death as the Director tries to immortalize them as works of “art.” Beat him at his game of cat-and-mouse. And uncover the Director’s true identity before the final credits roll!

The Collector’s Edition includes:

• Play role-reversal as the detective in the bonus game!
  
• Collect old-school clapperboards hidden throughout the game
  
• Use the available Strategy Guide
  
• Win cool achievements
  
• Get wallpapers, concept art, and soundtracks
  

For the Standard Edition

• Strategy Guide
  
• Walkthrough (Big Fish)
  

Click images to enlarge
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Why is there ANOTHER brilliant game out, when I have no money? 

 

Frodo---its the  law of money:  when you have it and cannot find any clothes that will fit;
or games you actually want.      

I dl/d the demo to this game and thought  "I have already played this.   Don't I own this?"

Well,    thank goodness I realized I must've beta'd it a very long time ago.   Still wanted to
smack that reporter!    

Yes, luvtoread, they did 2 beta surveys for this one, one months ago and another just a couple of weeks ago! Guess you got the early one.

As for $$$, I was stoked at my supermarket this week. I am addicted to cola, and buy ridiculous amounts of it, but it is always on sale when I'm broke. Yesterday, was payday, and the colas were the cheapest they've been in my memory!!! YAY!!! 

Went coke-wild!! Will be bouncing around the house for a month! 

But saved enough for FC3 and Dark Tales 6 in the CE - now wait to pounce on next BOGO sale!

Justie, a BOGOF sale would be sweet.  The games I want to get are piling up...   

Final Cut Is The Deepest!*****

BASED ON COMPLETED GAME

FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Definitely the best yet of the Final Cut series, this game has a new twist that has it playing inside the world of another game. There’s also a new ever-present bad guy, reminiscent of “Dorian Grey Syndrome”. The mansion has changed yet again, this time we see it during the holiday season. (What’s with this Xmas obsession recently, developers? Yeah, I know it was Xmas just a little while ago, but that normally doesn't affect subject matter.)

SIGHTS & SOUNDS
The opening scenes are in sepia, movie quality graphics. Not my cup of tea, but they add authenticity to the game’s atmosphere of the art deco era, which has been faithfully portrayed in both the other Final Cut games as well. Someone on the team must be a real fan! The graphics in the locations are as superb as you could want them to be. The integrated people are always a buzz. The HOPs are crystal clear, with large well lit objects. I love the cursor.

The music is annoying. It is a ‘revving up’ tune, which is fine, but it just goes on and on. The voiceovers are good, but seem a little bit off. But I’m quibbling. A great touch is the ominous voice of our bad guy coming to us while we are doing an HOP! Creepy! Early on, there is a lot of monologue diatribes by the bad guy. Perhaps too much for some, but it didn’t bother me.

WHAT’S HAPPENING?
We meet with a journalist who says he is convinced there is a serial killer on the loose who is staging his murders like scenes from our father’s greatest movies. I really love this story. What a great idea! Anyway, before we can get really into it, a package arrives for us that is from the killer, and we are “invited” to return to our mansion and prevent another murder. It is our old gardener Frank who’s in danger, and where we find him is astonishing! We are on the deck of the ship from Dear Old Dad’s favourite movie “Sea Of Lies”! Brilliant! And don’t forget the humour and artistic talent doesn’t end with the game – check out the credits! (Although, Eipix, slow them down, I have trouble reading that fast!)

I was disappointed that we didn’t do any of the developer’s games from other series, but we did find ourselves on sets related to those we saw in the previous Final Cut games. Those of you who have not played the first two games of this series may well want to play them first, because it really does make it easier to appreciate the story and to better enjoy the joke.

GAMEPLAY
Varied HOP styles along with new and sometimes challenging puzzles keeps your attention in this game. There is every conceivable combination of HOPs, including interactive word lists, silhouettes, and HOPs within another, nested in much the same way as the game stories are. Plus matched pairs, multiples of, and ones I can’t give a name to. There is also a fun Match-3 alternative. The puzzles vary from ludicrously easy to "SOS where’s the walkthrough?" One puzzle I particularly love is a 3D maze. Really cleverly done and fun to play. I’ve been spoiled by having played every Eipix game, so I am used to their imaginative flair, but they manage to astonish me yet again with the variety of ways to progress through this game.

Getting around is tricky because the signature feature of this game is the film projector which alters our perceptions of reality. So a given place may swap between two interpretations by the flip of a switch, and you must achieve your goals by travelling between them. There is a directional hint, but if you are in the wrong “view”, you will have to refill it. There is also an interactive jump map which is unusual in the way it displays the various locations, but again does not allow you to jump between views. The journal has objectives and a diary.

There is one thing that could be better. The loading between locations is a bit slow. For the first time in ages, I saw a black screen between.

COMBINED IMPACT
Wonderful! I was not a big fan of the first Final Cut, but I could see its quality and artistic merit. This game, though, is five stars all the way for me. It was entertaining and beautiful from start to finish, and I just loved wondering what was coming around the next imaginative corner!

I recommend this game!

BONUS CONTENT REVIEW! SPOILERS POSSIBLE!

BASED ON COMPLETED GAME

BONUS CHAPTER
This is as good as the main game, even better if you like a more serious challenge, because I found the puzzles in this part of the game harder. The story is an offshoot of the main one that is played with a different character and occurs in the story while you are elsewhere. Very nifty. Was a bit disconcerting at first, I wasn’t sure what I was witnessing!

It took me well over an hour to play, and that includes a more extensive use of hint and skip than my norm. Most of the HOP types are represented, and there are plenty of new puzzles as well as a whole new “movie” to experience. One hilarious glitch was such fun I wouldn’t want it fixed. At one stage all you can see of a person supposedly in full view is his forearm gesticulating in synch with his voiceover.

STRATEGY GUIDE
Okay. In some cases, I would have liked a more detailed explanation.

COLLECTIBLES
The collectible clapper boards (49) are not as easy to find as you’d think. They are fairly visible, but it’s the remembering to look that’s difficult, because there’s so much more to do. There is a clapper board indicator in the bottom right that shows if you have found the one in this location yet. Likewise the morphing objects (15) can be found in the HOPs, and an indicator shows if you have found it or not. You only get one shot at them, because the scenes aren’t repeated.

ACHIEVEMENTS
Everything from doing the tutorial to watching the credits. The 18 awards are nicely presented as thumbnail images on the movie screen. Achievements include completion of the extras games as well. Even an award for replaying the HOPs to a certain standard.

SOUVENIR ROOM
The souvenir room has a single item from all the locations and you are taken back through each to find it. Its image is shown in the lower left corner. I found this part of the game the easiest of all, even though some souvenirs are actually hidden within the location.

GALLERY
Wallpapers (8), Concept Art (8), Photo Sessions (16), Videos (18), Music (20). No wonder the game remained fresh even after I’d been at it for hours! I’ve never seen such a long list of sound tracks.

MAKING OF
This is not just any old home video we’re talking about. It is a game in itself, which you get to play with the actual Final Cut team! They are full of surprises! I really love these people.

REPLAYBLES
Puzzles (32) and HOPs (15). The HOPs constitute another game, because you can play them to achieve perfect scores no hints, getting the morph and time and accuracy scores, expressed as up to 3 crowns, and there is an achievement for that as well. You can find the morphing objects in the replayable HOPs, and the places you still need to find them are indicated by a highlighted jigsaw puzzle piece.

This is a top notch complete-package bonus content. There is something for everyone and several hours’ worth of playing available, even after finishing the main game.

I recommend this game!