Belief & Betrayal

There's A Machine that spits out terrible point-and-clicks. What fuels this dismal contrivance is a mystery: perhaps it is the tears of those who are forced to play its accursed produce. The latest excretion of this technological nightmare, Belief & Betrayal, takes place in the present day, as an idiot journalist (you) is drawn into a confusing hash of a mystery by a set of uninteresting characters.

In the style of a 15 year-old's attempt at a conspiracy story, you're investigating a grand scheme involving the Knights Templar, The Vatican and a fair share of double-crossing. Because everybody knows that a good story involves some rug-pulling, and a few dozen (according to the blurb on the box) "baffling clues." Matters are made worse by the pre-2003 3D models, the atrocious voice acting, and the.shocking writing. Conversations are unnatural, verging on comedic, with extreme exclamations such as "Cat's whiskers!" erupting from your character at the slightest hint of anything you might like to click on.

B&B is, at best a less-than-average adventure that isn't hauled out of mediocrity by the faintly interesting way it lets you jump between characters to solve puzzles together. The factory that pumps out these games will never die - it has long since adapted to feed on its own moribundity. All we can do is wait for a gem; and Belief & Betroyal isn't it