Blue Heat: The Case of the Cover Girl Murders (1997) (VG)

Directors:

Jed Weintrob
Craig Shapiro (co-director)

Writers:

Andrew Osborne (writer)
Craig Shapiro (writer)

Release Date:

1997 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Crime | Thriller

Plot:

In Blue Heat, the player assumes the role of Holly Jacobson, an LAPD detective who must go undercover to catch a serial killer preying on the enticing cover girls of LA Erotica Magazine.

Plot Keywords:

Detective | Model | Murder | Beautiful Woman | Full Motion Video

Cast

Chuck Aronberg	...	Detective
Corbin Bernsen	...	Andre Solloway
Julie Cialini	...	Waitress (as Julie Lynn Cialini)
Peter Conti	...	Bruno's brother
Cheryl Dent	...	Model
Griffin Drew	...	Sandi Hills
Elliott Gould	...	Captain Richards
Karen Kim	...	Brandy
Beth Lincoln	...	Polly Entwistle
J.P. Manoux	...	Victor
Shae Marks	...	Candy
Hillary Matthews	...	Audry Collins
Laura McRae	...	Tonya Glass
Stephan Medin	...	Dermot O'Connor
Frank Medrano	...	Eddie Pantucci
Betsy Monroe	...	Lakey
Stephen Nichols	...	Dmitri and Jeanette
Sam Pancake	...	Vernon Breen
Philip Pavel	...	Jeannette davidson
Marc Poppel	...	Dr. Alphonse Reo
Joseph D. Reitman	...	Bruno Pantucci
Rick Rossovich	...	Sgt. Bobby Colter
Paul Sorvino	...	J.J. Davis
Robert Martin Steinberg	...	Logan Collins
Courtney Taylor	...	Holly

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Japanese

Color:

Color

Company:

Orion Interactive

Movie Connections:

Spin off from Cover Me (1995)

An attempt at a stylish gumshoe game

Production of this game evidently began with some high expectations, but was bruised by one unforeseen after another. The casting, including Elliot Gould as a chief of police, is upbeat - meanwhile, the action scenes including dancers, etc. in the atmospheric, sleazy topless bars do not (for me) lend any valuable erotic enticement to the adventure, as these moments are in fact "plot retardation" and distractions from solving the case.

The worst disasters to strike this ambitious game production appear to be (I'm no insider or expert) 1.) sale of the production to a new producer who back-burner-ed it, and 2.) dramatic changes in computer standards during the production process.

The result has the beginnings of an honest-to-gosh, stylish detective experience, but - through evident budget cuts and changes in priorities, it was never brought to full potential - and as a result is too short and disappointingly shallow. All its potential strong points needed more development.

I played this game at a time when I was searching for other productions in the style of Under a Killing Moon, the Gabriel Knight series, Noctropolis, etc. I obtained this game through the Internet from another player - and in the same search located another game by the title of The Dame Was Loaded, which (sadly) substantially outshines this title and which I would up playing perhaps three times over the years.

There are many, many video games inferior to Blue Heat, less ambitious and with less atmosphere, but I admit I haven't played again since obtaining it perhaps six-seven years ago, in 2001.