Jack French is a series of Point And Click Games by Johnnybdesign
. It follows Jack French, a private detective hired to help the police, as he tries to solve murder cases.
It is made up of three "webisodes":
The first two can be played as stand-alone pieces, but the third game should only be played after you finish the previous games.Tropes included:
- Alone in a Crowd: Jack is briefly shown standing at an intersection while people whizz around him in the second game, after the car crash that kills Elizabeth.
- Author Appeal: Johnny B has stated that this is the reason behind the feet shots in the second game.
- Be as Unhelpful as Possible:
- In the second game, Lucy and Dr. German lie about their alibi, making them seem suspicious. When they come clean about it, you learn that it has nothing to do with the murder.
- The witnesses from the third game are all aggressive and reluctant to cooperate with Jack. Justified, as they know Vince, so they are aware they can't trust the police.
- Big Bad: The last episode reveals that Vince was the serial killer of that episode, and that he killed Nami from episode 1 as well.
- Bilingual Bonus: True to his name, Jack can speak French. He demonstrates this ability in episode 3, reading the headlines of a French newspaper found in the apartment of one of the victims. That is if the fact that he speaks English with a thick accent didn't give it away.
- Bittersweet Ending: The ending for the third game: Yuki may have killed Vince, the Big Bad of the entire series, but Jack got killed as well.
- Bungled Suicide: Cyanide poisoning. Elena Ferrer collapses when being interrogated, but is mentioned that she'll survive.
- Colourful Theme Naming: The three high school friends from "Jack French and the 7 Dwarfs": Michel Lebrun (French for "brown"), Sam Black and Will White.
- Disposable Sex Worker: Nami, the victim in the first game. She worked in a "gentlemen's club".
- Easter Egg: A couple in the second game.
- You can get Mrs. Ferrer to play a piano piece in her apartment.
- Give the blonde wig to the bookshop owner, and he'll try it on.
- Film Noir: The game draws heavy influence from this genre. It has a Private Detective protagonist, shady nightclubs/cabarets, a general air of cynicism, and an organised crime spearheaded by a Dirty Cop.
- Fresh Clue: In the third game, there are some still-smoking cigarettes in the ashtray when Jack gets to a crime scene. This is used to show that the murderer was there minutes ago, and provides a clue to his identity — Vince, the police officer who alerted you about the murder.
- Girl Friday: Yuki, the lab assistant for Jack.
- Loan Shark: Fair Fred from the third game. He hires girls to sweet-talk big players at the casino into spending all their money and then send the victims to Fred to borrow some more.
- Make It Look Like an Accident: The death in the first game is made to look like a case of accidental insulin overdose.
- Meaningful Name: Jack French is French.
- Private Detective: Jack. He is actually closer to what Sherlock Holmes called a "consulting detective" - instead of individuals coming to him, he gets hired by the police force.
- Red Herring:
- In the first game, the ex-boyfriend. Anger at being jilted is suggested to be a possible motive since he denies that they ever broke up, but nothing comes of it.
- Elizabeth Marquis from the second game. It's implied that this was invoked by the killer planting the blonde wig and the bloody cane marks.
- Running Gag: Jack being late. Whenever he turns up in response to a police report, Vince complains about it.
- Sequel Hook: At the end of the second game, just as everything is wrapped up, it's revealed that Dr. German was murdered. It's only resolved in the next game.
- Spoiler: The second game has a newspaper, along with a text box saying that viewing the newspaper will spoil the ending of the previous installment.
- Wham Line: The high score name on Lebrun's memory card is Try to beat that Vince, one lower says Bad Cop.
