I'm having a dilemma: I have no idea if Red Comrades Save the Galaxy is a well-written game or not. I mean it has jokes in it that made me laugh because of how absurd the game is, but at the same time, I couldn't really understand a lot of it, as the English translation is utter garbage. Or maybe that's just how the original Russian version actually is, disjointed terrible dialogue. In the end, I'm leaning towards the more likely possibility of this being the "All your base belong to us!" category of translation.
So yeah, a Russian point and click adventure game. You don't see that every day. And apparently, this particular series has been going on since the late '90s with several sequels as well. The things you learn thanks to digital distribution.
Red Comrades Save the Galaxy is an absurd and wacky screwball comedy of three Soviet patriotic socialist heroes, who happen upon an Earth-threatening alien invasion plot during their quest of finding their beloved red flag. The tale goes, that back in the day an alien spaceship orbited Earth, becoming its moon. During the Russian revolution, a stray shell from a turret struck the Moon, waking up the aliens, who instantly started to plan for a hostile takeover. Oh, and unlike in many other point 'n' click games, there are some tits here and there as well.
As a point and click game Red Comrades works just as you'd expect. You collect things, combine them, use them on other stuff or people and do things in a way that doesn't at times make any sense. There's also talking, which at times is a bit frustrating, as there's a lot of moments when it seems like the subtitles don't match on the actual discussion. The translation as a whole is the biggest issue of the game and is my biggest reason to warn people to be cautious with the title.
There are some technical glitches here and there as well. On a couple of occasions, the dialogue selections were a mix of Russian and English. In some locations, the UI and usability don't work quite like it's meant to work. For example most of the time you can skip from one room to another by double-clicking on the exit. But at times you are forced to watch a slow walk animation where the character just moves to the exit. You can on occasion skip the animation by clicking again, but that doesn't always work as it just stops the walking animation and you have to click on the exit again. Technically it's all over the place really.
Graphically Red Comrades is pretty decent work. I wouldn't necessarily call it a pretty looking game, but the background art is pretty detailed albeit a tad rustic in quality. There's a surprising amount of custom animation though and most scenes are pretty lively. Most of the character actions are animated as well, which brings in more visual comedy.
While I'm not unconditionally recommending Red Comrades, I think it's an interesting game. Visually it's filled with a lot of little jokes, especially pop culture and historical references. The writing might be better in Russian, as the English translation is clearly a mess, though I have no way of verifying that, as my Russian is non-existing. There's also a tonne of technical glitches, so consider yourself warned.
Red Comrades Save the Galaxy is available on Steam. There's also a sequel. Neither of the games is terribly expensive, so if you're looking for something a bit different, albeit flawed, it shouldn't sting too hard.
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