Telling Lies! review

Telling Lies! is an investigative thriller game with non-linear storytelling where players, as Karen Douglas, a former FBI agent, have to browse through secretly recorded video conversations of four different characters to uncover the truth.

Telling Lies is a full motion video (FMV) title; basically an interactive movie where there’s no real gameplay per se. In this case, as shown when the game first begins, you have to search various terms to find snippets of videos and where you have to piece the puzzle together to find the lie and discover the truth.

You have to search words which are found in a bevy of videos on Douglas’ external hard. Looking up words bring up videos which include the searched term; most of the time, once you start the video, it will be around the time the word is said in the video. It’s actually a pretty fun, very useful and interesting mechanic as it avoids re-watching all videos trying to spot hints found earlier.

So unless you have a keyboard connected to your console, typing with a controller can be cumbersome as you have to hover each letter and press a button to type it. I mean it’s fine when browsing in the Xbox marketplace, but when it’s the game’s mechanic/controls, it kind of hinders the experience. That’s the major obstacle when porting mobile device games to home consoles. Having the option of the game recommending search terms would’ve been a welcomed addition.

Most of the videos show the characters talking to a camera but no one responds. It does fit in with the big picture where you’re watching the other part of the conversion in a different video, so it all comes together, but it sometimes comes off as awkward when you see a character just sitting there, listening to someone we can’t hear. Also it doesn’t feel like they’re talking to someone too because they are staring straight into the camera.

While it would’ve made the porting to home consoles from mobile devices extra work for the developers, this game would’ve greatly benefited from having conversational choices so it would feel like there’s a “normal” conversation going instead of being creepy, un-nerving one way conversations. You also have to pay attention to “conversations” considering that you’ll hear specific keywords you’ll want to search to find additional videos. It doesn’t really guide you, so it requires your attention.

Thankfully, if you missed a few lines or passed out while waiting to hear the character talk, there’s a nifty rewind feature which lets you go back to any time in the conversation, so you can pick up where you left off or find additional clues on what you’re looking for.

Telling Lies! is a FMV, full motion video, which features Logan Marshall-Green, Alexandra Shipp, Kerry Bishé, and Angela Sarafyan. All four characters deliver a pretty solid experience despite it coming off as weird because when playing it’s basically a one way conversation. Angela Sarafyan’s performance as a cam girl was a bit stiff and didn’t feel that believable compared to the rest of the bunch. Logan Marshall-Green is a dead ringer for Tom Hardy, not only in looks but performance. I had a bit of minor flashbacks to Hardy in Venom. On the audio-side of things, most performances are well delivered but there’s a lack of distinct soundtrack; a few forgettable ambient tracks here and there.

Overall, the title is definitely a unique and interesting experience. While this genre can be of an acquired taste due to the lack of proper gaming, it’s definitely a unique experience to sit through and it’s gets us as close as we can to interactive movie. Sure, this one comes off a bit odd mostly because of the one sided conversations you experience by watching videos, but as any great mystery movie or books, this is riveting.