First Reviews: 12 Minutes - Good Original Adventure Game With Hollywood Stars
First reviews of Twelve Minutes have started appearing in online. The title is collecting high ratings, though it's clearly not a game for everyone.
Twelve Minutes was one of the more unusual games announced at the recent E3. An adventure thriller taking place practically in one place and a twelve-minute time loop straight out of Groundhog Day or All You Need is Kill is definitely not an idea often used in games. But did the original concept translate into a good title? First reviews of 12 Minutes brought the answer.
Twelve Minutes - selected review scores:
- Attack of the Fanboy - 4.5/5
- GamesRadar - 4.5/5
- GameSpot - 9/10
- WorthPlaying - 9/10
- EGM - 8/10
- Game Informer - 8/10
- IGN - 8/10
- Screen Rant - 4/5
- Shacknews - 8/10
- Everyeye.it - 7/10
- We Got This Cover - 3.5/5
- Windows Central - 3,5/5
- Telegraph - 3/5
- PC Gamer - 53/100
As you can see, the answer of reviewers is not completely unambiguous, although after all's been said and done Twelve Minutes was received very positively. Even the least favourable text, by PC Gamer, gave it 53/100, and the vast majority of journalists gave notes from 7/10 upwards. What's more, even authors who strongly criticized Twelve Minutes clearly appreciated some elements of the game. I'm mainly talking about the cast of actors, i.e. James McAvoy, Daisy Ridley and Willem Dafoe, who perfectly played the three main characters of the drama. There are also no complaints about the storyline, which is the most important element in this type of game. The visuals were also praised, as they are simplistic but reinforce the feeling of isolation and being trapped in an endless cycle.
Less unanimously appraised was the gameplay, which is basically a classic point-and-click adventure. Most reviewers appreciated the multitude of possible combinations of items, with the help of which we gradually uncover the mysteries of Twelve Minutes. This requires making a lot of mistakes and learning from them, which can cause frustration, especially since the successive 12-minute cycles are very repetitive (the game doesn't grace us with new dialogues too often if we don't make progress). And we'll make a lot of progress on each playthrough - reviewers needed between 5 and 9 hours to complete 12 minutes.
Some critics have pointed out much some less subjective flaws. Some texts mention not so good controls, visual and other issues (PC Gamer's journalist had the misfortune to experience a crash and losing his save file) and average optimization. Moreover, even in positive reviews, the authors admit that the game could still give more freedom in terms of ways to progress.
In the end, Twelve Minutes is an interesting and at least successful title, but it's not a game for everyone. It requires a lot of patience to play, but in return gamers are rewarded with an interesting story and an experience not found in most games. Whether it's a title for you, you'll be able to find out tomorrow. Twelve Minutes will launch on August 19 on PC, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S. The game will be immediately available as part of the Xbox Game Pass service.
