1979 Revolution: Black Friday is a pseudo Point & Click, decision-based game similar to what is usually called a ‘Telltale-like” game. It takes place in 1978 Iran, showcasing a revolution to overthrow a US backed monarchy. We play as Reza, a young Iranian photographer back from Germany to snap some pics of the ensuing uproar taking place in his homeland. The game does its best to explain the situation but a bit of research for those unfamiliar with the events is advised to fully enjoy this title.
Upon finally getting control of our character, one rather large issue is immediately noticeable. The game does not control all that well with the keyboard and mouse setup, while not featuring controller support either. It really shows that it was made for smartphones, especially when it comes down to quick time events like patching up a wounded person or furiously clicking in a certain area as to not get choked to death. Luckily, these situations are spread out enough as to not become a major annoyance since the focus here is story over action.
Our character Reza immediately gets himself deep into trouble as while developing his photos the police capture and beat him. He ends up in the infamous Evan prison and through means of multiple forms of torture, the events leading up to then are revealed. It is up to you whether you cooperate with the man torturing you and what I found really neat is that you can actually die if you resist enough. He will get the information out of you one way or the other which is both terrifying and awesome.
As we tell our tale, we are teleported back to the past and are introduced to various characters and are able to affect how things play out with them. We are given control of our character on some occasions as he slowly walks around and investigates objects as well as takes pictures of events that catch his interest. The only reason you have to interact with objects most of the time is to unlock collectibles which fill you in a bit more of what lead up to this. You can only take pictures in specific areas and must snap your shot when the lens is in focus. It is more of a gimmick than anything.
The voice acting really helps amplify the impact of the story as it’s mostly a rather great performance by all the characters. It is a very interesting story that does suffer from its short length of around a bit under 2 hours. Getting invested or attached to any character is difficult due to it and it is not a standalone story. Damningly enough, it ends very abruptly just as things were really starting to rev up. Bringing up Telltale again, it felt like an episode ending and propping up the next one instead of a decent end to the game. The fact that this is sold as an entire game instead of an episodic title makes it feel very incomplete and overpriced for what is on offer here.
There is a lot of flaws to 1979 Revolution yet it does manage to hook you in from start to “finish”. Presenting a historic event in this matter is a very cool idea and does make a great way to get someone interested in that subject. While not lengthy it does make good use of what time it does have to intrigue the player. The fact that decisions must be made in a few seconds is a neat way to reflect the urgency your character is going through and may lead to you making a bad choice under heavy pressure. Either way, the game is still no doubt a tough sell but if you do take the dive you will find a rough albeit incomplete gem.
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