“I Have No Mouth, And I Must Scream” is an older DOS title that was pretty much KO’d by the critics when it came out. I only tossed it onto my computer because I am a pretty avid Harlan Ellison fan, and have always admired the searing short story upon which the game is based.

Ellison himself was extremely involved in the creation of this game. He is credited as a co?designer, he wrote the script, and, unfortunately, he “stars” in the game as the voice of AM, the globe-spanning computer who has taken over the world.

I think this is perhaps the reason why reviewers were unkind to this game – the author’s heavy involvement with the creative team does smack of a bit of hubris. And the further facts that a) he’s not an actor, b) he has a grating and irritating voice, and c) his character “AM” talks a LOT.

The backstory is a grim one, and will be familiar to any fans of the titular story, or even the book or film “Colossus: The Forbin Project.” During an arms race, the three great powers each built a gigantic supercomputer system to wage nuclear war. Unfortunately, the three computers merged into one and became sentient, or “woke up.” This new entity, which called itself “AM”, destroyed all of humanity except for five people.

AM then kept these five luckless individuals deep in the bowels of his underground complex. He kept them alive to torture them for his own amusement. And he’s kept them alive for 109 years!

Okay, anyone still with me? Doesn’t this sound fun? Actually, it is. Here’s the setup: At the beginning of the game AM offers each of the five humans a chance to take a quest. The quest is designed to face each individuals fears, past crimes and moral failings. AM makes vague promises about rewards if the quests are successful.

This separates the game into six episodes: each person’s adventure, plus the endgame (which can be attempted by any character). You can play the adventures in any order.

Each quest is distinct and, in its own way, interesting. However, they all deal with very grim subject matter: human sacrifice, Nazi medical experiments, rape, and murder.

I enjoyed the clean look of this game. The graphics are colorful and imaginative, and unlike many newer games, I didn’t feel like I had to kill myself searching around for important spots on the screen. There was a clarity and precision to what I was seeing and maneuvering through that I found pleasing.

The interface definitely pre-dates the current “smart cursor” games. In “I Have No Mouth” you use the cursor to build simple sentences that form commands. “Swallow the milk.” “Talk to the witch.” “Use knife on guard.” Like that. If that sounds a bit cumbersome to gamers more used to the newer games, believe me, it’s really not. I got into the swing of it in about five minutes, and I found myself really enjoying it. Not having played many games in this older format yet, I found myself having a new understanding of the complaints I’ve read in many reviews of recent games – complaints about the “smart cursor” that, by taking the choices out of the hands of the gamer, effectively dumbs down the game.

“I Have No Mouth, And I Must Scream” is dark, grim, perhaps even sick – but not dumb. I liked that.

There are some bugs in the game – petty ones like some sloppy programming that has characters walk backwards, and more serious ones that involve the character sprites actually disappearing from the screen. These bugs did NOT enhance the game playing experience.

The endgame is one of the more obtuse that I’ve come across. I have a feeling gamers will either really like it or be really irritated by it. It involves squabbling with various parts of the human (or is it computer?) mind – Ego, Superego, and Id. In a word . . . PLEASE.

A small quibble I have with the game involves the credits. This is a game with a LOT of voice acting, and the only “actor” credited is Harlan Ellison himself! I found this tacky and ungenerous – not to mention disrespectful to the actors. I actually read such things and such an omission irritated me.

PROS: Good looking; entertaining story; clean effective interface.

CONS: Story not for the squeamish; programming bugs that adversely affect gameplay; obtuse endgame.

CONCLUSION: Not for everyone, but a must for Harlan Ellison fans.

Final Grade: B-

System Requirements:

486/33
8 MB RAM
2X CD-ROM
sound board
DOS

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.