Index+ through its game development and publishing division, Wanadoo Edition, has brought forth its best adventure gaming effort since Dracula 1 and 2, by once again employing the outstanding creative abilities and experience of it's A-team. The credits for Loch Ness show that Erwan Kergall was responsible for overall production, the story is based on an original idea by Edouard Lussan, the graphics were designed by Galilea Multimedia, the gameplay designed by Jean-Paul Prado and original music composed by Yan Volsy and the result from this familiar team is an excellence adventure game presentation.

Sitting in his office with his feet comfortably planted on his desk, Alan Parker Cameron, a private detective, contemplates his extraordinary experiences during a just completed trip to the Inverness district of the Highlands of Scotland. At the invitation of a longtime Cameron family friend, Lord Alistair MacFarley, an elderly, prominent physician, Alan returns to his ancestral roots and travels to the MacFarley home, Devil's Ridge Manor, which is situated on the shores of Loch Ness. Hmmn…Loch Ness. I wonder if we are going to sight the famous Loch Ness monster?

Well…we're certainly in a very good location for such an event, as Devil's Ridge Manor sits prominently on the north shore of Loch Ness with a panoramic view from which to survey its pastoral surroundings and the loch itself. In fact, the developers of the game obviously did their homework, as it is quite evident that the Manor and its surroundings are actually a graphical reproduction of the famous Castle Urquhart, the existence of which historians can date back to the 13th century. Today, although in some significant state of disrepair, the Castle is open to the public for tours and its grounds feature a "statue" of Nessie, the Loch Ness monster.

Having just previously finished playing Arthur's Knights 2, I found it interesting and surprising that there are apparently some "connections" between Loch Ness in the 6th century and the characters and legends of King Arthur. First, Saint Ninian and Saint Columba are credited with bringing Christianity to Scotland during the 5th and 6th centuries, which is the same time as the first recorded sightings of Nessie were made. This is also the same time that Merlin is thought to have come to Scotland. In addition, during the 6th century the Celtic calendar was divided into quarters with the most prominent being the Alban Arthuan ("The Light of Arthur"), wherein the winter solstice, observed on December 21st, was the shortest day of the year. The Celtic use of the name "Arthuan" is curious in regard to Arthurian legend, as King Arthur is believed to have been born on December 21st. The festival of peace and religious celebration that took place on this date was also referred to as Yule or Christmas.

One final point would be to say that the Loch Ness game begins with the arrival of Alan on December 17th and culminates with the conclusion of the story on December 21st, so as you play Loch Ness you should keep the historical significance of this date in mind.

Music that Soothes the Savage Beast: As he arrives by taxi in the Winter of 1934, the pristine beauty of the snowy road, landscapes and surrounding mountains give no warning of what is about to be discovered. All that Alan has to go by is the urgent tone of a note that was sent to him by Lord MacFarley, asking him to come quickly and to bring an Cameron family ancient crystal with him.

Upon his arrival at Devil's Ridge Manor, Alan learns that Lord MacFarley is missing and that strange ghosts (called Banshees in Scotland) and other supernatural occurrences have been increasing in and around the Manor. Naturally, these events only serve to inspire Alan to use his investigative skills and experience to get to the bottom of the apparent mystery. What ultimately follows, as you play through the game as Alan, is a fascinating and often thrilling detective story with a plot that constantly expands to provide implications that threaten the peace of the Western World.

Initially, you decide that it would be prudent to find Lord MacFarley and as you explore the castle and its surroundings, you gradually uncover revelations that move the story from one of primarily investigative activities to one with deepening implications that increasingly threaten your life. The result is a quick story line pace, ever thickening plot and exciting survival challenges.

So…What do these ghostly apparitions portend? Why is Lady MacFarley in such an apparently "drugged" state? Where is the beautiful daughter, Moira MacFarley? What is Mr. MacGrab up to over at that distillary? Why did Lord MacFarley ask me to bring the Cameron crystal?

But the most interesting question that you will encounter and the one whose pursuit will create the most game playing tension is…Is that Nessie that I just spied out on the loch and what has she got to do with this mystery? Maybe I should play her a calming tune to lure her out of her grotto at the bottom of the loch!

Playing the Game: Loch Ness is played from the 1st person perspective, except when the game goes into one of its many video sequences, when you will observe the action by viewing Alan in the 3rd person as he interfaces with his environment and other characters. The game is of "medium" length and comes on 2 CDs.

In general, I would characterize Loch Ness as being a very linear game, in that, you must complete tasks in a very well-defined sequence in order to progress through the game. Personally, I like linearity in my games, so this is not a problem.

When you start the game and when you press the "Esc" key during gameplay, you go directly to a Main Menu screen that provides choices of starting a New Game, Saving a game in progress (8 spaces), Loading a saved game or Exiting the game. Although you may want to save your game fairly often, I found 8 save spaces to be adequate.

The control for exploration and action in the game is accomplishing by using your mouse. There are several icons that are directed by the mouse in order to move in a direction, pick up an inventory object, use an object from the inventory, perform an automatic action or zoom in for a more detailed observation of an object.

Loch Ness makes it very easy for the player to interact with the game by providing the following interfaces that can be activated at any time during gameplay. By right clicking on your mouse, you will access the inventory. By placing the cursor over an inventory item you can see a written description of the item and, if appropriate for use in the scene that you are in, you can select an item for automatic use. Very convenient and it worked perfectly every time.

There are 3 keys at the bottom right-hand corner of the screen that provide the player with additional interfaces that you will find to be very useful during the course of playing Loch Ness. First, Alan's Notebook is constantly updated, as the game goes on, to provide reminders of events that happened and information that was obtained. Check it frequently. Next, a Wallet is the place into which documents are placed, so, again, check it frequently. Finally, a Map is picked up during the game and it then becomes a resource for the player to navigate to new locations, as they become available. Click on an active location and you will go directly there.

There are also some verbal clues that Alan speaks from time to time during the game and you will have no way to "turn them off", if you find that they are too helpful. For example, at one point Alan says "There's always something interesting to be found down in a dark cellar". So, you realize, given the game's linearity, that it might be a good idea to visit the basement sometime soon. Personally, I didn't have a problem with these verbal "hints", since my approach to a good adventure game is principally focused on exploration.

Graphic and Aural Presentations: I expect that you will be reminded of Dracula 1 and 2 when you see the graphical presentation of the 3D characters and the beautifully rendered building, rooms, backgrounds and landscapes in Loch Ness. At this point, I have to reveal that you will be spending some time under the waters of Loch Ness and the watery graphics provided during this time in the game are unparalleled with respect to any other underwater scenes that I have experienced in past games. You will feel wet and perhaps disoriented (even though the water is clear) as you move along trying to reach your objective. Again, such are the principal contributions of Galilea Multimedia to the project and they have performed marvelously with "eye candy" that will keep you glued to the screen.

But the highlight reel for me would be made up of the entire collection of captivating video and graphical animations that appeared throughout the story. They provided such riveting impressions on my mind that enhanced the "feelings" that I sensed about actually being there…in the scene, participating with a heightened emotional involvement in the game. Whether it be observing glowing embers in a fireplace, ghostly apparitions, viewing the Loch Ness monster, falling into a moat or scaling a roof to gain entry into a locked building, the graphical effect is fantastic.

The somewhat unique graphical depiction of the characters will also remind you of the Dracula games. It is interesting that Alan is not presented with a "typical", somewhat seedy, raincoat clad, detective-type appearance (i.e. Tex Murphy, Discworld's Lewton, etc.) but appears to be a little overweight, is dressed in typical Scottish highland clothes and has his red hair trimmed around in a horseshoe shape formed by his bald pate. Not your prototypical detective type!

Another way in which Loch Ness, as a detective story, differs from other detective games (can you say, Discworld Noir) is that it does not feature a lot of conversation as a means of gathering information. In fact, there are no "conversation trees" at all in the game and the only oral exchanges that occur between characters are those that you hear during some of the video sequences.

The original music that pervades throughout the game uses the bagpipes as its central instrument, which is not only appropriate for the Scottish locale, but seems to always vary its impact so as to give the right aural emotion for the circumstances that Alan finds himself in. The bagpipe sounds and compositions elicit feelings of tranquility, anticipation or those of fright, depending on the situation, which is all that you can ask.

Puzzles and Game Overs: Throughout the first two-thirds of Loch Ness, while you are primarily engrossed in your exploration and investigation phase, the puzzles are pretty much centered around finding objects or documents and using them to open new areas for further searches or obtaining valuable information, as you gradually uncover the sinister components of a plot that threatens the world's peace. These puzzles are reasonably easy, story-based puzzles, so a WT shouldn't be necessary.

Over the last third of the game, you will encounter several of the puzzle types that I dread the most. Notably, an unusual maze escape puzzle that also is timed. Now…there's a woeful combination! If that doesn't instill enough concern, then consider that there are even more fairly difficult, timed puzzles that are crucial to your gaming progress as you get closer to the end of the game. Now, having said all that and professing that I despise timed puzzles, I must admit that the time allowed for these puzzles (with the possible exception of the unusual maze escape puzzle) was generous and I managed to "survive" most of the time without too much difficulty.

If you don't complete the task or escape from your peril in the time allowed, as shown by a decreasing "bar" meter at the top of the game screen, then you get the even more dreaded "GAME OVER" notice and need to reload and try again.

My Conclusion and Rating: A

I guess that the best way for me to express my total gaming experience with Loch Ness is to admit that I am a notoriously "slow" (although I think of it as being methodical) player of adventure games and it would be typical for me to require 3-4 weeks to complete a "medium length" game like Loch Ness, but I actually remained glued to my seat for long periods of time and finished the game in one week.

The reason for my persistence was because I particularly like detective stories with lots of exploration opportunities and Loch Ness provided that and more in a fast-paced, challenging, yet enjoyable fashion. In addition, the graphics and animations are superb…you might say flawless.

All in all, I can recommend Loch Ness without hesitation to those of you who enjoy detective stories and those who liked the Dracula games.

Minimum System Requirements:

PC
Windows 95/98/Me/XP
166 MHz Pentium PC
16 Mb RAM
Video card-thousands of colors
16-bit sound card
16X CD-ROM