When I'd first heard about Soul Trapper, my interest couldn't have been more piqued. An audio-centric adventure game that you played more with your ears than your eyes? Who wouldn't be interested in checking that out? As far as new ideas go, it's definitely something that breaks new ground in the video game market. But was it ground worth breaking? Read on to find out..

Audio production quality falls somewhere between old timey radio and modern mystery audio books.  It's a good fit for what's presented.  If the whole idea behind Realtime Audio Adventures is to put you in the drivers seat of an interactive radio adventure from the 30's, they've done it.  The problem is that an interactive radio show from the 30's isn't all that much fun.

Gameplay unfolds a little like a stripped down version of Zork.  Every minute or two of dialogue is followed with a few options that make up the entirety of the gameplay.  The first of these puzzles, for example, places you in a burning barn.  You can either grab the water bucket on the left, the ladder on the right, go forward into the loft or backwards out of the barn. As the game follows a strictly linear path, trying to diverge from their plans and act sensibly usually leads to the game calling you an idiot.  For some reason it didn't like the idea of either battling the fire or getting the hell out of there.  The story needed me in the loft, so I grabbed the ladder and up I went.

Given the limited amount of actual gameplay involved you'd expect the story to be polished and hard to walk away from.  Instead it plays out like a high school kid whose read too much Chandler and has seen Ghostbusters a few times.

Still - you've got to give the team at Realtime Audio Adventures credit.  They're trying something that hasn't been done before, and it's hard to know exactly how to make something like this work the first time out of the gate.  In trying something new, they've come up with a great idea that I'd love to see ironed out a little more effectively down the road.  Audio-centric gaming is a brilliant idea, and I couldn't think of a better device to put it on.  Let's hope that Soul Trapper has sown the seeds for better products down the road.

Soul Trapper: Episode 1, Ollie Ollie Oxen Free is available on the iTunes App Store for $6.99.

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