If you grew up in the 2000s, you're probably familiar with the TV franchise “CSI” which, in addition to making wearing sunglasses a cliché, popularized these shadowy jobs that are police forensics experts. The Operator invites us to slip into the shoes of one of these law enforcement support agents for a few hours.
The IT Crowd
1992, Evan Tanner starts his first day of work at FDI. He's been assigned to the Operator program, a section that provides hardware support to investigators in the field. Need to analyze a video, enhance a photo, or track down a suspect's address? The Operators are at your service. But Tanner's routine is quickly disrupted when an investigation into a suspected alien abduction and a barroom homicide turn out to be perhaps not as unrelated as he thought. Between a cybercriminal who seems to want to help you and your employer who seems to be hiding dark secrets, you'll have to decide where your loyalties lie.
My life is work
An office like any other
The Operator is therefore an investigation game that immerses you in the work of your protagonist. You play as a guy sitting in front of a computer whose mission is to answer the phone to assist the field agents. The entire interface of the game is therefore limited to the screens in front of which Tanner is. Suffice to say that it is quite minimalist. On the right, we find the transcription of the calls from the field agents. Each of them sends you elements from an investigation, in the form of a file that appears on your screen, and they expect you to analyze them to respond to a request located at the top of the screen. A click on the request then on the corresponding element allows you to send a response to the agent and thus continue your work. But it is very likely that you will first have to play a little with the tools at your disposal to find the answers you are looking for. Note that if the dubbing is only available in English, all the texts are translated into French
Experts had better watch out
Analytical toys…
I admit that the possibility of playing the role of an expert handling high-tech tools during an investigation is surely the main reason that made me want to play The Operator. Here, we have at our disposal image analysis tools, whether it is a video or a still image. In the case of a video, we simply select an element that seems relevant to us for the tool to analyze it. For example, we can click on a person visible on a video to take a photo, then on the photo to obtain an identity. An identity that we can pass into a database to obtain more details. Images work in the same way: a click on a bullet will launch an analysis that will give you information such as its caliber, for example. The manipulations are simple and intuitive and apart from one case where I had a little trouble selecting an object, it works very well.
…a little under-exploited
As the game progresses, you will also have access to other tools that will require a little more thought, such as a chemical analyzer. The kind of thing that requires you to read the instructions so as not to destroy the evidence. However, we regret that the game underexploits this idea of logistical support for agents. The chemical analyzer is only used once and the game could have used tools involving audio, for example. Here, Tanner must mainly work with videos or try to discover passwords. Which does not prevent him from having a few good moments where he must act under pressure, with time-limited objectives and where a mistake would have serious consequences. But overall, the game focuses more on its plot. With more or less success.
All it would take is a spark
The Operator offers us a plot that rides a conspiracy wave that Mulder and Scully fans would not have denied. And it works, we want to see more and discover the sequels to the investigations of the field agents we are assisting. However, we also have the impression that the game gets tangled up in certain narrative choices and that it falls headlong into the trap of wanting to say too much. Thus, and from the first seconds, the game insists heavily on elements that could have been more subtly introduced. By putting too much emphasis on certain elements, the game's scenario ends up never really surprising. It's a shame, because it wouldn't have taken much to bring a more flamboyant game to life. Here, the story is okay, nothing more. The ending is also like the image: we would have liked more, as it seems a little abrupt. But there is only one conclusion to the game and it leaves me wanting more. Too bad, because if the developer announced between 5 and 6 hours of play, we are in reality closer to 4 hours for a playtrough normal.
Image editor
Image editor
Case closed
At the time of finishing this test, it is a slight feeling of disappointment that dominates. But not the bad disappointment resulting from a bad game. On the contrary. I did not see the time pass during the few hours devoted to The Operator. The disappointment comes rather from the impression of having missed something that could have been even better with just a little more narrative ambition. In any case, I will keep an eye on the studio for a possible sequel.
Test carried out on PC by Grim using a version provided by the developer.