Resonance

Science gone horribly wrong. Paper trails as long and arduous as the Northwest Passage. Rogue detectives, ruthless reporters, treacherous geeks and doctors plagued by recurring nightmares. With the end of the world at stake it’s all to play for in Resonance, the new point-and-click adventure game from Xii Games.

Taking place 60 hours before a global cataclysmic event, our four protagonists Ed, Anna, Ray and Bennet, find themselves ensnared in a web of code-breaking, password-stealing, DNA-switching, dream-deciphering and magnet-manipulating machinations, with puzzles harder than the Guardian cryptic crossword.

Not simply a homage to Nineties gaming, Resonance boasts several new developments, such as the ability to alternate between characters in the same scene, positioning them like chess pieces. Note also the creation of two separate inventories for long- and short-term memory, allowing the player to access and utilise their memories on other objects and people.

Unfortunately these inventories are not shared between the four characters, and so interchanging memories and objects can become a pernickety and joyless process at times. Pixel resolution can also be a bit of a fiddle (just like in the old days), meaning objects can be obscured, and if you don’t take care where you hover your cursor, you’ll miss key items and render yourself entirely impotent.

If you haven’t thrown your mouse across the room or slammed your laptop lid down in pure disgust after half-an-hour, then you’re either a genius or you’re using an online walkthrough. In the end it's the satisfaction of working out the puzzles by yourself and watching the excellent story unfold which is the real pay-off.

• Resonance is out now. Developed by Xii Games. Published by Wadget Eye Games. Platform: PC