Summary

Navigate Clappers Wreake’s seedy underbelly with Detective Inspector Hector in a point-and-click adventure filled with humor, puzzles, and a cast of unforgettable characters. Hector: Badge of Carnage! combines classic gameplay with a uniquely gritty narrative.

Release Year: 2011
Genres: Adventure, Point-and-click
Platforms: iOS, PC (Microsoft Windows)
Developers: Straandlooper Animation
Publishers: Straandlooper Animation, Telltale Games

Introduction

In the crime capital of Britain, Clappers Wreake, a hostage crisis demands the attention of the most unorthodox negotiator, Detective Inspector Hector. With a demeanor as crass as the town’s reputation, Hector must navigate through sordid locations and interact with dubious characters to save the day.

Synopsis

“Hector: Badge of Carnage!” is an episodic graphic adventure game that was first published by Telltale Games in 2010. The game revolves around the adventures of Hector, a hard-nosed and soft-bellied Detective Inspector with the Clappers Wreake Police Department. Hector is violent, drunken, vulgar, and has an unhealthy taste for all things criminal, corrupt, or smothered in curry sauce. His philosophy is ‘Everyone is Guilty’.

The game is set in Clappers Wreake, the crime capital of England, and the town that took the ‘Great’ out of Britain. Hector struggles to eliminate the plague of warped, perverse killers infesting the damp, sweaty corners of Clappers Wreake.

The game begins with a hostage crisis erupting in the center of Clappers Wreake. Hector, an overweight, crude, alcoholic cop, is called for duty after a terrorist has taken hostages in a building and proceeded to kill off a number of hostage negotiators with a sniper rifle. After freeing himself from a holding cell with a hangover and resurrecting his bucket-of-bolts duty vehicle, Hector arrives on the scene and enters negotiations with the perpetrator.

The terrorist, appalled by the depths Clappers Wreake has sunk to, blames the police for the dismal state of the town, and wants Hector to run errands in an attempt to polish the neighborhood up. These errands include fixing the town clock, providing a large sum of donation to the Clappers Wreake Preservation Society tourist information desk, and shutting down a pornography store. Hector reluctantly agrees, after finding out that after the Policeman’s Ball budget has eaten into the hostage negotiation funds, the police can no longer fund ransoms.

After completing the errands, Hector returns to find the terrorist rejoicing over his success in fixing the town – and continuing his list of demands, much to the force’s chagrin. Hector then attempts to infiltrate the building by taking the job of delivering food for the hostages. Upon entering the building, he finds nothing but a laptop connected to a sniper rifle, which promptly turns around and aims at him.

The game is filled with dark humor and challenging puzzles. One such puzzle involves passing a comatose heroin addict off as a defective sex doll as part of a plot to blow up a porn store.

The game’s characters include Lambert, an enduring, thick-as-a-stick assistant to DI Hector. He is friendly, kind, and excessively naive. Meeks, Chief Superintendent and Hector’s boss, is confident and authoritative, but is also of flexible morality. Jarvis, Assistant to Meeks, is another character in the game.

“Hector: Badge of Carnage!” is a game that combines humor, adventure, and a unique plot to create an engaging gaming experience. It offers players a chance to step into the shoes of a unique detective and navigate through the grimy and gritty world of Clappers Wreake.

Characters

The game features Detective Inspector Hector, a morally ambiguous, yet somehow endearing protagonist. Other characters include a range of Clappers Wreake’s residents from stinking drunks, drug addicts, to the odd kebab vendor, each bringing a unique flavor to the adventure.

Gameplay

As a point-and-click adventure, players explore 18 different locations, collecting items and solving puzzles. The game boasts 40 inventory items, 397 interactive objects, and over 2421 lines of dialogue, all contributing to an engaging and humorous experience.

Conclusion

Hector: Badge of Carnage! stands out for its bold humor, memorable characters, and complex puzzles. It’s a testament to the enduring appeal of point-and-click adventures, offering players a distinctly adult narrative filled with laughs, intrigue, and challenge.