Just got through episode 1 of The Detail. Impressions:
The graphics: It's done in a sort of comic book style, very similar to Cognition, except it had more focus on 2-D. In that sense, I suppose it's truer to the comic book form, but in my opinion it didn't look as good. Some sections try their best to look "gritty" using the heavily-inked black-and-white look common to more indie style comic books, and it's sort of effective.
The gameplay: You point, you click, but ultimately things come down to dialogue choices. They took a page out of Telltale's book for this one, except I'd say there are even fewer puzzles in the Detail, if you can believe that. I did get every achievement which means I looked through a lot of the different options. As far as the first episode went, pretty much nothing changed. There were a few minor details here and there, but most of the time you get to choose between bad and worse. And speaking of getting every achievement:
The length: It took me 79 minutes to finish the first episode. And that's with me dicking around to look at stuff and reading slowly. To get all the achievements, running through it once more fully and once more partially, it should take you about 2.5 hours. My playtime reads 2.9 hours but I left it on while I ate dinner. Bottom line, it's even shorter than a Telltale episode.
The story and dialogue: You play mostly as Detective Reggie Moore, a hard-ass who looks like a cross between Detective Sipowicz and Carl from Aqua Teen Hunger Force, who's getting disenchanted with the way things are run on the force, and Joe Miller, an ex-con turned informant and family man, who gets roped into going undercover for the cops...with an establishing scene of his lovely wife and cute daughter to let you know that nothing could possibly go wrong for this family *wink wink.* You also briefly play as a pair of cops for a few scenes. At any rate, the crux of the story is the death of a mob boss and a looming gang war. A lot of it seems to be all over the place, and you'll have a hard time believing anyone actually talks the way they do in this game - it's like a bad cop drama - but it's got enough action to keep you invested.
The voice acting: Nonexistent. Just throwing that out there.
The verdict: It's not bad, but it is short and Telltale-esque, and until more episodes come out so you can see just how much your choices actually mattered, if at all, for now it seems pretty shallow. Honestly I was expecting a bit more out of it, or maybe Cognition just spoiled me. My recommendation is to wait on this one. I wouldn't jump to buy and play this episode on its own. But once it's all said and done, maybe it'll be worth it to...pay attention to Detail.
