Interactive fiction isn’t something we cover a lot of here on Gamezebo, and there’s a good reason for that. It’s often boring, dry, and excruciating to play through. …and then there’s Breaking Bad. Focussing on a character from the popular TV show of the same name, Breaking Bad: The Interrogation plays out like the Serpico equivalent to Choose Your Own Adventure. It’s gruff, it’s gritty, and it’s incredibly fun.
Interactive fiction isn’t something we cover a lot of here on Gamezebo, and there’s a good reason for that. It’s often boring, dry, and excruciating to play through. …and then there’s Breaking Bad. Focussing on a character from the popular TV show of the same name, Breaking Bad: The Interrogation plays out like the Serpico equivalent to Choose Your Own Adventure. It’s gruff, it’s gritty, and it’s incredibly fun.
Players take up the role of DEA Agent Hank Schrader. Hank is investigating a fire in a church, and the only lead is a weasly little bookworm named Hadley Berkitz. Hadley volunteers at the church and does their bookkeeping. He may be good at math, but as far as Hank’s concerned something doesn’t add up.
Breaking Bad: The Interrogation takes players deep inside a DEA interrogation room as they try to get the truth out of Hadley. The entire game is made up of dialogue trees, with the player pursuing the line of questioning that they best believe will get Hadley to talk. Hank can play nice and act like he’s trying to help Hadley, imply that Hadley knows more than he’s letting on, or flat out call Hadley a liar. Players get new dialogue options with every question, but they need to be careful. Push too hard and Hadley will lawyer up, ending the game.
If you’re not familiar with the show, don’t worry – this game is custom made to appeal to both fans and strangers alike. This humble reviewer has never watched the popular AMC program, yet I had no trouble understanding and appreciating every aspect of this game.
The tense, edge-of-your-seat investigation is heightened by some amazing artwork. Breaking Bad: The Interrogation is presented like a living comic book, utilizing tricks and maneuvers that DC has recently made popular with its series of motion comics (available on iTunes). Steve Ellis has been credited with the art, and it clearly holds up with the best that grown-up comics have to offer. The style is in the realm of Jae Lee or Alex Maleev, which any comics fan will tell you puts this head and shoulders above what one might expect from a web-based game.
Offering up six chapters, you may need an hour or so to complete what Breaking Bad: The Interrogation has to offer. You could probably breeze through it much quicker if you pick the right options out of the gate every time, but the chances of that are slim at best. Thankfully the game can be somewhat forgiving if you take an ‘aggressive’ approach to interrogation and force Hadley to call a lawyer, as you’ll be given the option of continuing from the start of the last chapter rather than beginning the whole process over again.
Online games are frequently a hub for innovation and buzzworthy gameplay, but it’s rare that anyone would ever use words to describe an advergame. Breaking Bad: The Interrogation could have been little more than a cheap diversion to let people know about Breaking Bad season 3, but the team behind this have made it so much more. If you’re looking for an engaging, edge-of-your-seat story where you help determine the outcome, then there’s no better way to spend an hour than with Breaking Bad: The Interrogation.
