Review: 'Culpa Innata' breathes new life into PC adventure genre

"Culpa Innata," an adventure game for the PC from Strategy First, is set on a unified Earth in the middle of the 21st century. It's no secret that the once-thriving PC adventure genre -- with such celebrated titles as "King's Quest," "Myst," "Grim Fandango" and "The Longest Journey" -- is one of the least popular game types today.

Perhaps it's because the new "Halo" generation prefers a faster, more visceral gaming fix than a slower-paced, dialogue-heavy game. Or maybe the personal computer isn't very hot right now as a gaming platform.

However, if you'd like to try your mouse-clicking finger at a sci-fi story-driven game -- with dozens of characters, environments and puzzles -- you won't be disappointed with "Culpa Innata," a thought-provoking adventure that takes place 40 years in the future.

Comprised of most of Earth's countries, the World Union is labeled as an utopian society, devoid of war, famine and disease -- until a citizen is murdered in the "rogue state" of Russia, curiously coinciding with the accidental death of a prominent professor in Adrianopolis, a strategic border town between the World Union and Russia.

You play as a young woman, Phoenix Wallis, a junior Peace and Security Officer assigned to investigate these disturbing events. During the investigation, however, Wallis unravels a more shocking truth about the worldview she has sworn to uphold and protect.

Played from a third-person perspective, you move Wallis around by clicking the arrow in the direction in which you'd like her to travel. If an object can be interacted with, the mouse cursor will change to a magnifying glass for further inspection.

Puzzles she faces might include picking a lock, solving a Rubik's Cube, reinstating power at a facility to hack into a security program or following a recipe to make glue to patch a hole in the wall. At times you'll be asked to combine items in your inventory to create something new.

When you meet characters you can talk to, you'll be able to select questions or responses from a list of branching conversation paths, which can affect the outcome of the story.

While Wallis moves a little stiffly, the facial animation is quite remarkable. This virtual protagonist really looks like she's saying the words, which usually isn't the case for a video game.

A minor issue with the game is its technical instability. At the time of this writing, no less than three patches (downloadable updates) are available, which fix odd bugs, freezes and crashes.

But the fleshed-out story is what separates "Culpa Innata," which means "original sin," from other computer games of this kind. The Istanbul, Turkey-based developer did a terrific job in providing a fictitious historical timeline leading to the middle of the 21st century, offering plenty of meaningful dialogue and adding a few "wow" gadgets and special effects to match the futuristic theme. The music is also well done, if not a bit repetitive.

Shortcomings aside, "Culpa Innata" offers a deep and immersive experience that rewards players for unraveling a complex story, interacting with interesting characters and solving intelligent puzzles. The game might not single-handedly resurrect the ailing adventure genre, but it should serve as a reminder that these once-popular games are still alive and well. E-mail to a friend