Alfred Hitchcock – Vertigo Review

thesixthaxis.com:

You’ll be pleased to know that playing Alfred Hitchcock – Vertigo never induced an actual feeling of vertigo in me. Instead, playing this game provoked strong feelings of disappointment, boredom, bafflement, and – when it comes to the appalling frame rate on PS4 – nausea.

Despite being an officially licensed Hitchcokian video game, Alfred Hitchcock Vertigo has little in common with the classic film. Instead, this is a modernised spin on the original story, one whose only similarities are a twisty-turny plot that involves a character suffering from vertigo. This is a narrative adventure game, one that attempts to emulate Quantic Dream’s finest efforts. As such, expect the gameplay to consist of doing really exciting things. Like feeding your character popcorn. Or opening a fridge. Thrilling stuff.

To be fair, Vertigo certainly opens in an exciting fashion. Writer Ed Miller finds himself collapsed in the middle of nowhere. As he regains consciousness, he realises that he is responsible for the death of his wife and child. Ed struggles to his feet – push up on the thumbstick to achieve that – and scurries to the edge of the cliff. There, at the bottom of a deep ravine, lies the smoking remnants of his family car. Ed breaks into a run – achieved with a spot of timed button bashing – charging wildly to a nearby bridge. Here he sees a vision of his father, leaping to his death. Ed attempts to follow suit but is saved at the last moment by a passing motorist.

We then switch to therapist Dr Julia Lomas, who receives a phone call asking her to visit a man suffering from severe vertigo, one who claims his wife and child died in a car crash… only his family never existed. Duh-duh-duuuuuuuuh! At that point, the title emerges on