I have just come to the end of episode 4 in the Cognition (Erica Reed) thriller series and I thought I would share my thoughts

Like any game it has strengths and weaknesses and for me its strengths won over the weaker points; the plot was engaging and intriguing, there were some genuine gory and blood curdling moments, occasional fast paced action sequences which created a sense of urgency and threat, the characters were well envisaged and the voice acting was excellent most of the time. The overall style of the game, with its mix of point and click adventure and comic strip style sequences was a little dated, but still worked well enough. Bad points for me included the inventory being clunky and temperamental, and in the first episode sadly I needed a save game to get me past an inventory-related bug otherwise it would have prevented any further progress . The animation was a let down at times, with stilted character movements, odd postures and glitches involving walking through and over people and objects, long pauses, slow spinning around to face another direction, being suspended in mid air etc, which was quite comical at times but did rather detract from the serious storyline! If these glitches had been eliminated and the animation generally upgraded, the game would have been greatly enhanced.

For me, Cognition would play best as one large game with 4 chapters, as I agree with the comments about length of episodes, mainly being rather short. But if they were all incorporated into one game then it would be a more satisfying, better integrated experience, minus the repeated flashbacks at the beginning of each episode of course. I was lucky to get all 4 episodes at a great offer price from GOG games so this made it a bargain.

Other people have commented on the unlikely and unconvincing plot twists but for me they didn't spoil things, it was a very credible attempt at a modern noir type thriller with a strong supernatural element. The use of 'cognition' in all of its forms evolved through the game and was incorporated very well into the whole story. I did find some of the supernatural puzzling a bit mind bending however, had to resort to a walkthrough more than once, and with some of the more complex cognition related tasks I was finding myself getting lost and confused as to who, where and when I was , but that may be just me!

It's well worth playing and I would recommend it to any fans of the thriller/crime/whodunnit genre.

Thanks for your thoughts on this series, Vegpot! I've played only one of the episodes to date. I'm glad that you enjoyed the story and gameplay overall.

The game sounds like fun, Vegpot. Thank you for the review.

Thanks, Vegpot, sounds like you enjoyed it overall.

I liked it too Vegpot!

Played them all one after another in one sleepless night (and morning )

Thanks for all the comments :), this didn't aim to be a review as such and I didn't want to give too much away for anyone who hadn't played it so I tried to avoid being too detailed or putting spoilers in. I was surprised at how 'unputdownable' it was, and was sorry to finish the game and that's always a sign of something worth playing to me

I am currently playing Episode 3 but I am pretty much in agreement with everything Vegpot said about the game. I'm liking the story but it does seem to be getting a little 'out there'. The inventory was giving me trouble in Episode 1 but not so much in 2 or 3 but the Cognition parts are getting a little confusing to keep up with.

Worst part, the long, long, pauses.

Best part, I only paid $15.00 for all 4 episodes at a Shiny Loot sale.

This is one series that has piqued my interest since the 1st episode so thank you for your thoughts Vegpot & the interesting details! It's definitely a game I will get around to buying in the future!