When I agreed to do this
review, Randy told me to ensure that I took into account that this
was developed by an independent developer. He need not have worried.
This game, although far from perfect, has many qualities from which
other games with larger budgets could benefit. Was this one of the
best games I’ve played? Frankly, no. What it was was different,
unique, weird, European, and avant-garde. Read on…
 As
I stated above, this game was developed by the independent company
Absurdus, a Canadian company based in Montreal. The game installs
in French or English. I recommend, if you bilingual, that you install
the French version, as some of the English dialog was unusually structured,
stilted, and at times grammatically wrong. This made me think of games
from Europe translated into English like AD2044, Reah, and Gag (drool,
all of you that haven’t played this one!), which although fun,
never allowed for complete immersiveness because the dialog constantly
reminded you of the game’s origins. Similarly, the humor is
not always well directed. What the developers intended for the jokes
to be appreciated by the literati, those less well-read individuals
(read “me”) just find the humor precocious and grasping.
I have to give them credit for attempting to be witty through the
use of philosophy and other literary works but I think they may benefit
from branching out to a wider target audience. Where the game shined
for me was in the many tributes and “in jokes” relating
to other classic adventure games. The game design deserves
a B.
The game centers on a ship
in the late early 1900s (?) on board which a villain has fled with
the mystical “Eye of the Kraken”. You are asked by a friend
to find out which of the suspects on board has it and return it to
him. Although the “find the powerful artifact” story has
been done before, the setting is novel. The visit is short, however,
taking approximately ten hours to complete. Where I was most disappointed
was in the very superficial way the loose ends were dealt with in
the game. I felt I really had little more knowledge about the greater
scheme of things than I had had at the very beginning. Obviously,
the designers anticipate making a sequel, but some resolution would
have made me keener to find out what will transpire in the next episode.
One final complaint I have about the story is a spoiler (WARNING!):
a super-cockroach that can move a diving bell? I like fantasy but
this is just ridiculous. I’m sure there could have been a better
resolution to this puzzle. C’mon, guys. The story deserves
a B.
 Most
seasoned adventurers have played Twinsen’s Odyssey,
which this game borrows from for its interface (and to some extent,
Sanitarium). The game uses a third-person isometric viewpoint
that is more common in role-playing or strategy games than the adventure
genre. Those who did not like the console-like gameplay of Twinsen’s
Odyssey need not worry-this is an adventure game through and
through. The puzzles are inventory item based and there are no true
puzzles, as such. The interface is point and click and very intuitive.
The star at top left of the screen makes accessing the control panel
for saving and loading very easing. There are ten save game slots,
which was plenty for me. Interaction with people and items is through
a drop-down menu that appears whenever items or people are clicked
on. From the drop-down menu, the player can choose what to say or
do. One thing that was particularly clever was the use of red herrings-some
inventory items weren’t even used! The interface easily
deserves an A+.
There is no speech in the
game, though there are many dialogs. The subtitling is extensive but
suffers from the “foreign language syndrome” mentioned
earlier. Other sounds are bare minimum, which do not completely envelop
the player in the game world. Unlike many games, this game features
music that is NOT original. All pieces of music are pieces of music
from the 1920s and 1930a (somewhat at odds with the time setting!).
These tracks play continuously one after the other and without speech,
become invasive and annoying. I eventually turned the music down because
I felt in danger of being overwhelmed by it! Sound is worthy
of a B-.
 I
was very impressed with the opening cinematic. It was unique-a piece
of media more akin to arthouse cinema than computer games. The grainy,
sepia-like quality was an excellent introduction to a game set back
in time. Be sure you watch this animation, though it doesn’t
really add a great deal to your understanding of the game, just to
see the rewards of making an effort to insert a faux 1920s introductory
movie into a game-the realism reminded me a little of the Black
Dahlia introduction. Graphics in the game were no letdown
either. Although not on a par with big budget 3D games or even 2D
adventure games, for an independent developer backgrounds showed a
satisfying amount of depth and detail. Characters weren’t near
as well rendered, frequently appearing blurred when compared with
the backgrounds. Items are usually recognizable for what they are
so there are no pixel hunts. Don’t be disturbed by the graphical
corruption that occurs in changes of scene. I suspect it is an artifact
of the game engine. Graphics are of an A- standard.
 Overall,
this is a fresh, zany, and novel game with humor that is not always
on target. People with a background in classical literature and philosophy
are going to get a treat (and possibly a hoot) from this game. It
is inspiring to see independent game designers bringing fresh ideas
to the adventure game arena. How many mainstream games can you remember
that the words “zany”, “fresh”, or “avant-garde”
could apply even superficially? This game thoroughly deserves a B
- it is a well made game not without faults. For those who believe
we should judge independent games differently, you could put a plus
in front of the score.
Final Grade: B
System Requirements:
Pentium II 350mhz
64mb RAM
200mb hard disk space
Windows 95, 98, 2000, XP
DirectX 8 and later.
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