INTRODUCTION: After tackling Wagner's Ring Cycle, Arxel Tribe has now turned Goethe's Faust into an adventure game. Is it worth selling your soul for?

The talented designers at Arxel Tribe aren't satisfied with the tried and true adventure game settings. Not for them the Greatest Hits of Atlantis, Egypt, and Maya. No, these folks have challenged themselves to get a bit more creative when finding material to mine for games. First it was medieval England in Pilgrim. Late last year it was Wagner's five Ring operas. Coming up next are games called - are you ready for this? - Pompeii and Jerusalem. Be still my heart. Don't get me wrong, I love Atlantis, Egypt and Central America, but I'm thrilled that this wild German team are determined to boldly take me where no adventure game has gone before!

Which brings us to Faust. Based, of course, on Goethe's morality tale of a man who sells his soul to the devil, this story might not be immediately obvious as the source for a good game.

The game takes place in an abandoned amusement park. Mephisto, Satan's front man, is a smooth talking salesman who talks Marcellus Faust - the park's old caretaker - into being a sort of referee for seven tales of sin and possible redemption. The stories all concern former employees of the park, including a pair of treacherous Siamese twins, a fascist tiger trainer, a sad fat lady, a bootlegging midget and others.

This is an absolutely gorgeous game to look at. The format is point-and-click, with smooth 360 degree panning. Even though it would have been nice if the movement had been accompanied by full motion animation, the full-circle vistas create a much better sense of place than a slideshow could. The colors are rich and the backgrounds and artifacts very evocative of the sad, faded park.

The smart cursor could use a bit of schooling, but it's not bad. (There's a design choice that makes the "Back Up" cursor virtually identical to the "This May Be Examined" cursor. Naughty.)

The characters are beautifully realized and rendered in 3D. The voiceover work includes some of the best I've heard in a game.

Playing this game I was reminded of three distinct games: The gorgeous, detailed and convincing natural backgrounds are very reminiscent of Riven; the beautiful 360 panning and lush colors are reminiscent of Redjack; and the story structure is very reminiscent of Morpheus.

Okay, so if you've got to be a bit derivative, you might as well copy really good stuff. Riven, Redjack and Morpheus are all favorites of mine, and so you can guess that I was very comfortable and entertained in the world of Faust.

The story is punctuated with extremely well-done cutscenes, including several very short ones that add a true macabre touch to the proceedings.

Some of the puzzles require a bit of lateral thinking that escaped me and my playing companion, and I admit we had to resort to a hint or two. On the other hand, the game also includes some puzzles that were quite elegant and entertaining, such as a tricky hunt for a key prop that involves a candle, and a brilliantly conceived and executed logic puzzle in which you have to master a bit of tiger training yourself!

I should make very clear, however, that much of the subject matter of Faust is macabre, dark and intense. If you know me, you know that those three adjectives are high praise indeed, and I LOVE games that tread into this area. But I recognize that there are players out there who aren't interested in this kind of material. So, when you're deciding whether to play this game, ask yourself if you are really in the mood for a walk on the wild side. The game touches on child labor, murder, dismemberment, disfigurement, and rape. It also includes the first (fleeting) instance of full frontal male nudity I've ever seen in an adventure game. (Those Europeans, you know.)

I'm very fond of the type of storytelling used in Faust. The seven episodes are separate but interrelated. Thus the narrative is elliptical and fragmented, allowing the player to put the sad and twisted world of the Dreamland Park together like a jigsaw puzzle. In each episode facts are uncovered that retrospectively reveal elements of the earlier stories.

Faust is full of creative attention to detail, in too many areas to enumerate here.

I also must say that Faust has the best use of music I've ever experienced in a game. Period, bar none, absolutely, end of story. The score includes old torch songs, Big Band era music, Marvin Gaye ballads, and even a rock tune or two, all of which add immeasurably to the atmosphere of the game. In fact, in several areas the choice of music adds an additional ironic layer of comment to the proceedings. And to top it all off, there's a feature in the main menu that allows you to get a rundown on every single piece of music used in the game. I hope game designers everywhere will study Faust when it comes time to work on music for their new games.

Of course, nobody's perfect, and Faust is far from a perfect game. In addition to aforementioned illogical puzzles, the game has a few other problems. Storywise, it promises a climax that never comes - always a bit of a letdown in a game this ambitious. Unfortunately, the main menu contributes to this disappointment, as it includes enticing elements that look like they will be used and then never (or rarely) are.

There's also a built-in hint device that simply didn't work. Instead of giving us hints, it transported us to a deranged bunny shoot! The manual says that the hints only work if the Homunculus (don't ask) is "rested." Well, my friend and I never seemed to get him rested, and we got bunnies every time we tried it. We also experienced a terrible crash in the game at one point that literally wiped out all our earlier game saves! To be fair, I have not heard of this happening to any other player; it was hopefully just, I don't know, sunspots or something.

I don't care about length in games, but for those that do, I have to say Faust is fairly short.

Faust is not a masterpiece; it's a bit too flawed for that. But it's a compulsively playable, beautiful, sinister and complex game that is bursting at the seams with creativity. For me, the game's problems, while not inconsiderable, were very much overshadowed by its enormous strengths. I had a wonderful time playing it. It's a huge leap forward for Arxel Tribe, and makes them truly a studio to watch. Bring on Pompeii and Jerusalem!!

PROS: Best use of music I've ever experienced in a game; gorgeous graphics; nice interface; complex, dark and engaging story; some excellent puzzles.

CONS: Material too macabre for some players; useless hint feature; smart cursor not smart enough; ending a letdown.

CONCLUSION: Where do I sign?

System Requirements:

Windows 95/98, Pentium 200 MMX, 32MB RAM, 12x CD-ROM drive (24x recommended), 290 Mb available on the hard drive, DirectX6 (supplied on the disc), 16 bit graphic card (24 bit recommended), 2Mb video memory, mouse.

NOTE: Your system must be entirely compatible with DirectX 6. This game doesn't run on non MMx PC, such as Pentium Pro.

This review is copyright Ray Ivey and Just Adventure and may not be republished elsewhere without the express written consent of the author. Republication of said review must also contain a link back to Just Adventure.