1979 Revolution: Black Friday Review

1979 Revolution: Black Friday is based on the events that took place in Iran during the 70s where the Islamic Revolution took place; the prime minister at the time used secret police to ensure that they can control the country by any means necessary which including the sacrifice of many people’s lives. There were songs that were recorded on cassette tapes that were left scattered across the country and cause the people to rise up against those that are in power. The events started a civil war in the country that took a while to resolve and it ended with many people’s lives being lost.

There is only a single player mode which is understandable as it has a great story, the controls are pretty straight forward and it does not take too long for the player to get used to as it mainly relies on just the mouse. There are unique parts to the gameplay as the player can enter a ‘photography’ mode which is kind of similar to the original Dead Rising game except the game does most of it for the player. Another mode is processing images in a dark room where the player will be tasked with making sure they can get the right quality and then they can zoom into multiple images to analyse what they have taken; the player can also view the photographs they have taken because they have been placed in their journal. It also features a lot of events that were told by people who were there during the events that took place during that time which gives the authentic feeling that the players can enjoy as it is almost like reading an eyewitness account.

1979 Revolution: Black Friday starts off the main character as he stands in his dark room processing some photographs he has taken; he is telling someone that they must show the photos to members of the public to make sure that everyone finds out what is going on as he fears for his own life. Next the character has been arrested then he is being interrogated by someone that appears to have some connections that will influence the way the country will work – the man attempts to find out what the main character knows and then they tell him what he has to do for his country. The next few chapters of the game are bout the main character going around the city and collecting evidence of the revolution that is taking place by talking to those that are protesting, picking up pieces of evidence such as letters, cassette tapes and then taking photographs as well.

The game allows the player to make their own choices and these choices will change the outcome of the story some will saves lives whereas others will open up more selections for the dialogue that takes place in the game. The player will have to deal with quick-time events as they attempt to defend themselves or even move quickly in scenes that are fast-paced moments. The game relies heavily on flashbacks which fill in sections of the story as if they main character is telling someone about the events that have taken place. When the game ends the truth is revealed about the events that had taken place and the player gets to find out all the details of this one character’s perspective and what that means for him in the end; then the credits role shortly after the big reveal that the game had been building up to the entire time.

Overall, 1979 Revolution: Black Friday is quite interesting as it has a very compelling story that involves many concepts which includes a revolution, political agendas, romance and action all in one game. The upside to the game is that the controls are straight forward and does not require too much effort on the player’s side to understand and the graphics are nice; they may not be fantastic but they’re not bad. The game is made more interesting by each unique features such as the image processing which I do not believe I have seen in any other video game that I have played before. The downsides are the poor audio; the developers do not appear to have recorded the voices properly as they sounded like the have too much echo and the other downside is that the game seems to be quite short as it only takes so many hours to finish (at least the first play through does).

Sadly the whole point and click part of the game gets a bit repetitive. I would very much recommend the game to anyone that is into compelling stories and into a game play style that can be found in games like Heavy Rain. The revolution has begun, do what you can to be part of it and protect your country from those that want to control it.

REVIEW CODE: A complimentary PC code was provided to Brash Games for this review. Please send all review code enquiries to editor@brashgames.co.uk.