You want me to take a photo of what?

In 1112: Episode 01 Louis Everett, an eccentric antiques dealer suffers from headaches and intense premonitions. Using the game's touch controls you'll guide Louis through Jalonsville, New Jersey, a bizarre hipster enclave where the government has inexplicably banned the sale of cigarettes. Surprisingly, the controls improve upon the standard adventure game interface of keyboard-and-mouse, although the story doesn't always keep up.

You drag your finger across the screen, searching for objects with which to interact then tap on an action menu. There are also some clever mechanics, like rotating the iPhone to portrait mode in order to access the "iClone," which makes calls to other characters and snaps pictures of your assistant Felicity's posterior (don't ask). Meta-jokes notwithstanding, the inventory system can be obtuse at times, like when the game requires you to rotate a bottle of pills, peer inside and then click on the capsules, instead of a simple "use" action.

While engaging, Episode 01 feels a bit short on content, given that this first of six planned episodes runs only about two hours. The story builds slowly, too, having you perform mundane tasks, like fetching car keys and repairing the boiler. Only the last third of the episode has you exploring Jalonsville and interacting with characters in the story.

And adventure games like 1112 live or die with that story. Unfortunately, this one suffers from some glaring localization issues including poor spelling, syntax, and conjugation, which break the illusion of the game's dazzling, hand-drawn animations and noir soundtrack.

1112: Episode 01 works well as an iPhone adventure game framework. We just hope that subsequent episodes in the series get a good English-speaking editor and more condensed content. If you're a fan of computer adventure games, though, 1112 will definitely satisfy your curiosity.

1112 is a surreal adventure through a hip New Jersey Suburb. The localization issues are a bit grating, but the controls and ambience work so well that we'll be back for Episode 02.

1112: Episode 01 1.0.0
COMPANY: Agharta Studio
CONTACT: www.aghartastudio.com
PRICE: $9.99
REQUIREMENTS: iPhone or iPod touch with 2.0 software update.
Beautiful, hand-drawn art. Clever controls. Interesting characters.
Short overall, and holds off on story elements until end. Localization issues. Some obtuse control mechanics.