We’ll take a look
at this Czech adventure originally released in 1999 that was recently
re-released with English subtitles. It
seems that the Czech gaming industry has been blooming and producing
some very interesting titles these past years and In The Shadow
Of The Raven is no exception. For one thing, this game is quite unusual.

The Meaning Of Life

John
Severin is a monk that lives in a monastery run by an authoritarian
abbot. His
life is calm and peaceful – actually, it seems to
be quite dull most of the time – except for his naughty disciples.
Naughty because they’re reading an erotic book right now while
Severin is sleeping. And they’re dumb also because they should
remain silent instead of making all that noise which is disturbing
his sleep. In fact, they make such a noise that Severin awakes in
a bad mood and asks them for that thing they’re reading. The
disciples give him the book but, ah cruel destiny, the abbot suddenly
enters the room – and Severin is holding the erotic book. As you
may have guessed, the book ends in the hands of the abbot which,
of course, considers erotic stories a work of the Devil. Severin
was reading such stories. Severin is possesed by the Devil! In the
next sequence we see Severin being chased by the abbot until he wraps
his “Rambo” scarf around his head and jumps out of the
window.

At this point I was laughing
the guts out of my body. The whole sequence is hilarious and I
wasn’t expecting that final move.
It certainly sets the tone of the rest of the game which is very
funny and wacky. The plot, which takes place in the Middle Ages,
is full of absurd twists and off-beat situations like the one I just
mentioned although it all makes sense in the end.

Oh but I forgot to tell
you what happens with Severin. He falls into a river and loses
conscienceness. Then there is a strange dream
sequence where a voice tells him he must find the meaning of his
life. Then he awakes in a forest and, as it seems he lost everything,
he decides to follow his dream’s advice.

I told you this game was unusual.

A Game Full Of Life

In
The Shadow Of The Raven isn’t a very polished game – this is
something that I must clearly state. Those who are looking for top-notch
graphics and hi-fi sound making your ears bleed, well, look elsewhere.
Instead, what In The Shadow Of The Raven has to offer is a charming
though flawed adventure experience – but I’ll get to that point soon.

The graphics are hand-painted
and have a childish look – not necessarily a bad thing at all –
that makes them oddly atractive. They have a
very “raw” style in a sense that you can almost see the
brush strokes if you look hard. Accompanied with the minimal but
effective soundtrack, which I’ll describe in just a moment,
they really appeal. I know that, judging by the screenshots, they
look decidely dull but seeing the game in action is a whole different
matter.

As I said before, the
sound won’t tax your last-generation stereo because the quality
of the recordings leaves a lot to be desired
but I was still very, very pleased. There are many sound effects
filling each scene and giving the impression they’re bursting
with life. Also, the soundtrack is absolutely wonderful and fits
perfectly the ambience of the game. It’s a set of merry folkish
tunes, very rythmical and moody. Actually, I don’t remember
a game having a similar soundtrack.

To help Severin find the
meaning of his life, you only need three actions: Walk, Look and
Use. You cycle through these actions with
the right button of your mouse and apply the chosen action with the
left button – the usual point n’click interface. The
inventory, which can be accessed from the lower-left corner of the
screen or with the key ‘I’, is pretty common as well.

I found most of the characters
interesting and funny and it was a real pleasure to engage them
in a conversation. It’s a pity
they don’t remember they spoke with you – save for a
few occasions – as they will greet you and give the same lines each
time you talk to them. So, while they were funny, they seemed to
me like puppets at times. This is an example of how such a little
detail can make a big change.

Also, the voice-overs
are well done. Even though they’re in Czech, which I don’t
speak, it was obvious they were done by excellent actors as they
are very expressive. My only complaint is that, at
times, the voices were terribly low as if the actors were mumbling
– thankfuly, this didn’t happen that often so it’s not an issue.

I think the impression
I had of the characters looking like puppets was also in part due
to the dialogues, which are terribly stale at
times. Not because of what the characters have to say – they’re
very witty and hilarious – but because of the English translation.
It was decidedly weak and it lacked that expression I felt in the
characters.

Now, the real highlight of the game is John Severin. He’s one of
the most lovable characters I’ve seen in a while. The way he presents
his thoughts and comments on his surroundings, giving funny line
after line, is simply delicious. He’s very charming and you’ll
certainly miss him once the game is over.

How To Find The Meaning
Of Life Without Losing Your Mind

Now I must talk about
the problems and In The Shadow Of The Raven has some serious ones.
The game sounds delightful so far but there
are some issues that hurt my final impression. *sigh* Oh well…

First, there is the inconsistent
puzzle design. There are “certain
things” you can’t do until they’re secretly activated
by some events. Allow me to explain – Severin won’t let you
do some tasks, and he’ll tell you that you definitely can’t
do them, until they’re required to be done. I know that sounds
nasty but that’s the way it works. For example, you have to
enter a town which is guarded by a keeper. There was something I
tried that made sense (though I won’t tell you what!) but Severin
told me he couldn’t do it. “Fine”, I said, “let’s
try the other option”. And I did – this other option
was supposedly the definitive way into the town and yes, something
happened but it wasn’t enough to pave the way in. And then… I
was supposed to do that very first thing I had already tried! I can’t
tell you how annoyed I felt when that happened – I felt a sudden
urge to eat my mouse (not advised though – it’s safer
to just bang it against the nearest wall).

One of the adventures
I recently played – Runaway – had
a similar puzzle structure but, in this case, the main character
hinted that the action I was trying to do could work in the future.
So I didn’t simply toss the possibility away. But Severin didn’t
tell me “Gee, that seems a bit drastic, let’s try another
thing first” – instead he gave me a generic response
like “I can’t do that”. Very unfair.

There was another problem
in the puzzle design not as bad but quite unfair too. You can’t use objects “on” Severin – unless
you’re required to do so! Early when the adventure began, I
tried to use the only object in his inventory on him but Severin
wasn’t even hotspotted. Then there was this particular scene
where it really made sense using an object on Severin but, of course,
it didn’t even cross my mind because I couldn’t do that.
While moving frantically the mouse around the scene (a sign that
you’re about to lose your mind), I suddenly saw the text “Use <object> on
Severin” at the bottom of the screen – and I lost it.
I lost it!

Then there are the illogical
puzzles. Sometimes you’re supposed
to do some weird lateral thinking, that is, instead of using objects
in the most common way, you’re supposed to look for alternate
solutions that, when you realize what they are, leaves you with your
eyes wide-opened like the size of a dish. I don’t consider
this a problem as long as the gameworld you’re in is “consistently
illogic” (Hitchhicker’s Guide To The Galaxy comes to
mind) but In The Shadow Of The Raven has some very clever and logical
puzzles. So, when you stumble upon the illogical ones, you don’t
have a hint of what to do. It’s as if the designers wanted
them to be funny but, in the end, they become very frustrating. Thankfuly,
there aren’t too many of them but, since the game isn’t
that long either, they carry their weight in the gameplay.

Speaking of longevity,
the game can be completed in one single day of intense gaming – no eating and no going to the bathroom
(something your mother wouldn’t appreciate so it’s not
likely to happen). I’d say about 8-10 hours – just a
tad below the current average.

Finally, there was this
difficult arcade sequence near the end of the game. It was cleverly
fit into the storyline and it would have
actually worked if it wasn’t for its terrible difficulty that
required playing the sequence over and over again. It was frustrating,
to say the least.

Not As Good As Finding The Meaning Of Your Life

…but not that bad
either.

I was very delighted with In
The Shadow Of The Raven and I really
wish I could say better things about it but sadly I can’t. Some design
decisions and weak puzzle implementation do considerable harm to
this game.

I should note that, no
matter how much I tried, I couldn’t
make this game run under Windows XP. The farthest I could get was
making the game load but it wasn’t playable because the characters
spoke so fast that I couldn’t read the dialogue. Of course,
this is because XP is a very powerful system. No patch is currently
available at the time of this review but we’ll update it if
Rainbow Rhino releases one. Anyway, the game ran flawlessly under
Windows 95/98.

As a bottom line – if you like adventures with witty and clever
humor and you can overlook its technical limitations, you should
consider this game. I’m not exaggerating by claiming that this
is one of the funniest adventures I’ve played in quite a while.
It’s a shame that it’s marred with all the problems I
mentioned before – while they don’t kill the game, they
certainly hurt the experience.

Final Grade: B-

Agustin Cordes is a lifelong fan of adventure games and hails from
Buenos Aires, Argentina. I hope you enjoyed his offbeat outlook and
fresh style as much as I did.

Just Adventure would like to thank H. L. Kratz of Gamepad for providing
us with this copy of In The Shadow of the Raven. Gamepad (http://www.gamepad.de)
is an online store from Germany that specializes in many hard-to-find
adventure games. Please visit Gamepad (http://www.gamepad.de) for
information on how to order In The Shadow of the Raven and many other
adventure games.

System Requirements:

• Windows 95/98/ME
• Pentium 90 Mhz
• 16 MB RAM
• 1 MB graphic card
  DirectX-compatible
• 6x CDROM-drive
• Min. 20 MB free space
  on hard disk
• Mouse