The roots of the game lie in the point-and-click adventure games of the same era, but the puzzles and amount of attention you have to pay to conversations and trends is far more complicated than your average Flash game. This isn't a "break at the office" type game -- it's actually pretty long and requires a lot of attention.
Throughout the game you're tasked with providing critical music journalism in the form of research and article writing, as well as getting the scoop on hot new bands and beating rival journalists to press. The whole experience is a bit tongue in cheek; your patience is continually tried with remembering a bands history or what ridiculously named subset of a genre they belong to.
In this aspect, FILTH captures the very essence of the era, when it seemed like new music genres were popping up everywhere and journalists were stuck trying to label them as quickly as possible -- all while trying to find the next big band. The story and writing here are humorous and often spot on, even if the game occasionally gets a little too cumbersome to really dig into it.
That said, if you were alive and reading any of the hundreds of magazines and 'zines in the 80s, you're sure to find something here. If you can get past writing your first article, the game opens up a bit and starts making more sense -- but be forewarned, your first time at the typewriter is a doozy.
Play it here.
