One Last Job

One Last Job is about a group of treasure hunters finding a great score. But there are complications. It is these complications that add an air of risk in every decision made by the player. I felt that the lives of all the characters were in my hands, especially the protagonist.

The plot was exciting and full of danger. Surviving the Roamers was a thrill ride. I found that part of the story very engaging. Choosing how Will, the protagonist, responded during his interrogation excited me.

This story is also about relationships. Thomas Boone, the author of One Last Job, presents choices that are not only dangerous, but highlight the relationships between the protagonist and the rest of the characters.

At first, Will is close to his crew. You can see the rapport between all of them. It was nice to see everybody interact with one another. When these connections come to an end and they violently part ways on the planet, you can feel the absence of that connection. I was completely immersed in the emotional reality.

If you’re looking for a fast-paced story about treasure, money, and the relationships that form around these themes, then this tale is for you.

[spoilers] I appreciate how there’s a good mix of big choices like steering away from the asteroids, medium emotional choices like how you react or compete with the others shooting asteroids, and small choices that have significant repercussions (small or large cough).

I’d be curious to explore the team’s dynamics further in subsequent installments, because I feel like that got sidetracked by the intrusion of the Roamers. But in all, a good start.

The story itself is pretty good, though I noticed a few minor slip-ups, and I didn’t really understand some of the events. However, I liked the tension, constant action and plot twists. Some characters have more to them than it seems on the surface, including our player character.

But, here comes the issue I came across before: AI voices. They keep consistently taking me out of the story. AI can’t do human emotion. It can’t match the voice with the character or tone with the situation. Sometimes it works alright, but there are so many cases where it just ruins the experience. Example: a character “roars with laughter”. AI, emotionless, “Ha-ha-ha” and proceeds talking in the flattest tone. There is this menacing character who’s a great danger to our PC, and their voice sounds like, Idk, Santa Clause on a lunch break? There is no threat, no anger, nothing that we know from the narrative should be there. Come on now. AI can’t voice act, and it makes me sad while looking for stories to play that so many are done this way.

Generally the story was interesting to play through. The characters seemed to have their own personalities and backstories and playing this left me interested in finding out more about them.

Having each character speak in their own voice to easily distinguish them really added to the story. However overall the voices are a bit robotic and Will’s is very quiet in comparison to the others, making him hard to understand. Also I lost track of the plot at times. Still it was nice to have playing in the background.