Overview
A "gothic romantic" mystery adventure, Jane Jensen's Gray Matter delves into the strange workings of the mind, with themes of the paranormal and parascientific. It was written by Jane Jensen and takes place in Oxford. It's described by Jensen to be a "2D and a half game" given that it features 3D characters navigating 2D backgrounds.
Plot
The game starts out with Samantha Everett, the main character, who gets lost in the middle of Oxfordshire and stumbles upon a mansion. Said mansion is owned by neurobiologist Dr. David Styles. Styles wants to solve the mystery of human consciousness and believes that the brain, when put in the right conditions, can communicate with the dead.
Styles hires Sam to find six test subjects in and around Oxford. Despite working for Styles, the relationship between Sam and David is tense, each having their own secret agenda.
To convince the students to join the experiment, Sam must accomplish certain tasks. One of the first subjects you meet is a hungover young male. However, before he can join the experiment, Everett must solve his problem: he recently filmed a revealing video of a female student who didn't find the joke funny. She stole the tape and is threatening to report it thus ruining the man's entire academic career. What Sam must do is get rid of the tape in any way she can.
Characters
Primary
- Dr. David Styles, a Neurobiologist who wants to solve the mystery of human consciousness. Part of his face is burned and he's obsessed by the death of his wife and believes that the human brain can communicate with the dead.
- Samantha Everett, a young street performer with a flair for the gothic, and new assistant to David. She works as a professional magician which helps her solve certain puzzles.
Supporting (The Lamb's Club)
- Angela, a shy, bookish young girl from Scotland.
- Charles, a shy, strapping young man.
- Harvey Kinderman, a law student and wannabe dramatic artist from the US.
- Helena, a rich and pampered Art History student.
- Malik, an Indian neurobiology student.
Locations
The game is set in the English town of Oxford, known for it's medieval old town and the prestigious University of Oxford. The characters live in a mysterious mansion called Dread Hill House.
Gameplay
The game lets you play as both Samantha Everett and Dr. Styles. The game plays as a sort of point and click adventure game. Movement in the game is handled with a dial. Each point of the dial is an action that the character can accomplish. The dial is transparent as to not obscure any of the action. The dial is presented like a rose window (these windows are usually found in gothic churches) keeping with the gothic tone of the game.
When playing as Samantha, you have different magic tricks at your disposal. To use one of these tricks, you can open your magic book. On the left side of the screen apears the name of the trick and specidic instructions on how to do it. On the right side of the screen is a picture of Samantha and you must select different parts of her body and clothing to do the trick (for example: her sleeve).
Release Date
Gray Matter was released in Germany, Austria and Switzerland on November 12th, 2010 for PC and Xbox 360. The game features both English and German languages. The game was released in the UK on both platforms on February 25th 2011.
Official Website
http://www.graymatter-game.com/
Soundtrack
The soundtrack for Gray Matter was composed by Robert Holmes. It also features a number of tracks from "The Scarlet Furies," a band featuring both Robert Holmes and his daughter, lead vocalist Raleigh Holmes.
Track listing
- David's Theme - The Scarlet Furies
- Street Smart Sam
- Never Going Back (Sam's Theme) - The Scarlet Furies
- Sam's Investigations
- Rumours About Dr. Styles
- Safe in Arms - The Scarlet Furies
- The Daedalus Club
- Misleading Signs
- Set A Trap
- Lord Byron
- The Vision Laura
- The Lab
- The Happening
- The Experiment
- The Effect
- The Black Wand
- David's Theme (Piano)
- The False Laura
- Never Going Back (Instrumental) - The Scarlet Furies
- Angela
- Safe In Arms (Instrumental) - The Scarlet Furies
System Requirements
Minimum Requirements
- Operating System: Windows XP/Vista/ 7 with .Net Framework 2.0
- Processor: 1.4 GHz Pentium 4 or equivalent
- RAM Memory: 512 MB RAM (XP) or 1 GB Ram (Vista/7)
- Video Card: 128 MB DirectX 9 compatible video card (Shader 2.0) - ATI Radeon 9800 Pro, NVidia GeForce 6200TC and Intel GMA X3200
- Sound Card: 16 bit DirectX Compatible sound card
- Hard Drive Space: 6.5 GB Hard disk space
- DVD-Rom Drive
Recommended System
- Operating System: Windows XP/Vista/ 7 with .Net Framework 2.0
- Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz or equivalent
- RAM Memory: 1 GB RAM (XP) or 2 GB Ram (Vista/7)
- Video Card: 256 MB DirectX 9 compatible video card (Shader 3.0) - ATI Radeon 2xxx and 8xxx NVidia GeForce
- Sound Card: 16 bit DirectX compatible sound card
- Hard Drive Space: 6.5 GB Hard disk space
- DVD-Rom Drive
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