Fragments Review
Fragments is a detective crime thriller for Microsoft HoloLens where you use your room as a crime scene to unfold the events of a mysterious disappearance.
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Pros
Pro Strong emphasis on audio enchances immersion
Fragments places a strong emphasis on audio, as it uses spatial audio to 'locate' a sound and a corresponding crime scene. Spatial audio is implemented well and further enhances the mixed reality experience.
Pro Adaptive character behaviour allows for unique gameplay situations
The characters of Fragments adapt to the environment and the player. For example, when playing inside a room with furniture, the life-sized holographic characters could be sitting on a sofa or a chair instead of a generic position.
The game also keeps track of the player's position, allowing gameplay elements such as characters sneaking up from behind.
Pro Allows the player to interact with the environment
The HoloLens completely scans your environment and allows the game to interact with it. A crime scene is displayed in your own room and the game allows to player to interact with it. Some elements will even be hidden underneath elements in the real world, such as your furniture.
Pro Adapts to both small and large spaces
Whether you're playing Fragments in a small room or a larger environment, the game will always display the most important aspects of a crime size according to room size.
Cons
Con Some interaction glitches can deteriorate immersion
Some interaction glitches can be seen in current gameplay videos, specifically when a holographic character is 'stuck' between a real life object.
Con Image quality isn't up to par with screenshots
The image quality seen in gameplay videos is quite unsharp and toneless, with noticeable aliasing. Although Fragments is in very early stages of development and HoloLens hasn't been released yet, screenshots are somewhat unrepresentative of the current state of the game.