Deadfall Adventures : Heart of Atlantis, PS3

Occasionally a game slides into our disc drive which begs the question: “Surely, someone, at some point during the development of this game, has played it and realised how awful it is?” deadfall adventures is one of those.

Starring the infinitely hateable ancestor of the fictional allan Quatermain, this first person shooter feels instantly familiar. there’s a race against time to discover archaeological treasure before some nazis get there first. there’s a female sidekick whom the punchable hero feels obliged to belittle with snidey, face tearingly smarmy innuendo at every turn.

there’s even a little notebook that can be turned to whenever one of the simple puzzles threatens to slow down your progress. it's like swimming down a river polluted with the trash thrown out of other, better games, and occasionally coming face to face with a bona fide floater.

here’s the bit in the review when isay, “it isn’t all bad...” before ruminating on what the game gets right. ihad to dig deep for this one. You know how some films are so knowingly bad that they somehow flip right back over into good again? well deadfall somehow manages to come across as endearing, even through its murky makeup. there’s a subtle nudging at the back of my mind that the folks who made this knew all along how bad it would be, and aimed for that particular smelly goal.

that would explain my lasting thoughts while enduring deadfall, but not why you should ever consider tainting your PS3 with it.