Bioscopia: Where Science Conquers Evil

Intro, in which the author makes his confession.

Let me start off by saying that I do not like biology. I did everything
in my power to avoid biology in high school and later in college
(I majored in math and physics). So when I saw an adventure game
that claimed it would teach me biology, I was skeptical that I would
enjoy any of it.

Well, I was wrong. Bioscopia
is a fine game and deserves a place on the bookshelf of any adventure
gamer. Which is my definition of
a solid “B”. “A’s” are reserved for ground
breaking titles which set new standards in adventure gaming. There
is nothing new here, but what is done is done quite well.

Review

STORY: “C” Follow
me on this. A group of biologists builds a massive secret compound
high in the mountains which they
fill with the most primitive of equipment. Utilizing tools which
would be insufficient to equip a Jr. High school lab, they develop
DNA which they make into computer chips which they install in their
robots (apparently, robots are standard equipment for biology labs).

The robots, of course,
turn evil so the scientists attempt to turn them off. They fail
and the robots get all defensive. The robots respond by somehow
creating
a gas which slowly poisons everyone. But the scientists are no dummies. With
their dying breaths they slap together a machine to manufacture…ready for
this?…penicillin! Yeah, that’ll work against poison gas. Sure.

Time passes and a college
coed who looks like someone who escaped from a Japanese hentai
robot cartoon (erm, that is, what I would imagine a Japanese
hentai
robot cartoon would look like if I ever saw one.) decides to find the secret
lab. She does. She finds a beaker full of stuff. She gets trapped in the
compound. She comes down with the flu. She radios for help (something which
the scientists
were somehow not able to do. Must have been too busy making penicillin.)

Anyway, the game begins with you answering the distress call.
The main gates which slammed behind the coed are now open
again and,… you’ll never
guess,…
they slam behind you as well! You must now find the coed, release her,
cure her and figure out how to get away. Fortunately, the entire security
system
relies on answering basic high school biology questions. And this is
intended to stop who?

The only thing which
prevents the story line from getting a “D” is
the fact that it really doesn’t matter to the game. This is a game where you
read about biology and answer biology questions (in addition to the standard
adventure game stuff involving a screwdriver). The story is just an excuse
for bringing on the puzzles. And as Stories-As-An-Excuse go, this one is fair.

GRAPHICS: “B+” The graphics are a very nice mixture
of machines and organics. Everything is appropriate – no jarring
cartoons mixed in with the realistic stuff. But as technically nice
as it was, it wasn’t atmospheric. “A” level graphics
will fill you with a sense of whatever mood the creators want; despair,
hope, fear, loneliness, etc. I had no such experience from these
graphics, as pretty as they were. Show the screen shots to your Significant
Other and ask their impression. I will bet that “high tech
facility abandoned for years” will not be their response. Done
well, but no edge.

SOUND: “B-” The
ambient sounds are well done; birds chirp quietly outside, machinery
quietly hums inside. Sound Effects
were good; robots clank and doors swoosh all at the correct times.
But there was no music. Good music would have done much to draw the
player into the game, but it just wasn’t there.

Another criticism I have
of the “sound” was the voice over-acting
of our curvaceous coed. Thankfully, it wasn’t the flat monotone found on so
many imports who have Debbie-From-Accounting do the English voice over. But
the “Ooohh, I’m sooooooo scaaaared” delivery was just grating.
Anyway, you only have to suffer though this for only a moment at the beginning
and end, so I didn’t take off much for it. Interestingly enough, the credits
list a Narrator. But there was no narration in the English version. A setting
I overlooked? Or German only?

Again, done well, but
no edge.

NAVIGATION SYSTEM: “C+” This is the standard slide show
interface with the cursor which turns into a small hand to indicate
when and where you can move. The system is tried-and-true and more
than appropriate for adventure games. So why not give it a “B”?
Because there were several easily correctable flaws which detracted
from game play. And one of the primary goals of any navigation system
should be that it becomes invisible. It should never detract from
play.

First, the hands used
to indicate which direction you can move all looked the same. Hand
with one finger pointing down means turn around.
Hand with one finger
pointing down means look down. The difference? Whether the other fingers
are curled towards you or away from you. This caused me to miss
clues more than
once. Cursors should be large, distinct and obvious. “The Seventh Guest” is
an example of doing it right.

Second, there were places
where the cursors were misplaced. I wanted to move forward. I knew
I could move forward because it was going back out the way
I came in. But the cursor was dead. No way to move. Until I moved the cursor
a bit to the side, almost as if I wanted to turn. Over there, out of the
way, the cursor went active and I could move forward.

Third, the cursor did
not change over hot spots. There was no indication as to where
you could use an inventory item. There is a slide projector.
You have
a slide. You move the slide over the projector and nothing happens. You
move and look at the projector from another angle. You move the slide
over the
projector and suddenly it turns on and you start viewing it. The only
saving grace is
that most of the inventory items had an obvious use and you could figure
out where the hot spots should be.

And, finally, there was
no panning capability. It was very frustrating to see the bottom
of a beautifully rendered building and not be able
to pan
up to
see the rest of it. I somehow felt cheated.

All of these shortcomings
took what should have been a “good” system
and made it only “fair”.

PLAYABILITY: “B” The
play is straight forward and classic. Solve puzzles to get keys.
Use keys to open doors. Nothing new. Nothing
frustrating.

There were some plot
holes which stretched credulity such as doors designed to stop
tanks being opened by questions which any high schooler could answer
(and failing that, a machine with all the answers is always sitting nearby.)
See also the STORY above. But again, the story had nothing to do with the
game
so you can’t take off for it.

ADDICTABILITY: “B-” While
I definitely wanted to finish this game, I never lost sleep to
do so.

A strong storyline would
have gone far towards making me care about what happened and maybe
start a fan base. But as it is there is little danger of a sequel.

PUZZLES: “B” basically, they come in two forms; inventory
puzzles and biology questions. No “twiddly” puzzles to
deal with. Nothing new. Nothing frustrating. Well done, but no edge.

EDUCATIONAL: “B” The
presentations and questions are designed to give you an overview
of much of biology including zoology,
microbiology, humans and plant. You won’t learn enough to pass a
standardized test, but you will have many of the fundamentals reinforced.
definitely worthwhile.

Bottom Line: Well done,
but without the edge needed to get an “A”.
The game deserves a place on your shelf and the developers deserve
your money.

Like Bioscopia?

Play: Chemicus
Read: The Cartoon Guide to Genetics
See: The Andromeda Strain

Final Grade: B

System Requirements:

PC: WIN 95, 98,
ME, NT, 2000, XP
Pentium PC 166 MHz, 64 MB RAM, SVGA-graphics card (16-bit),
sound card, CD-ROM drive (8x speed), 120 MB free hard disc space

MAC: MAC OS 8.1,
Power PC, 64 MB RAM, graphics card (32.768 colors),
sound card, CD-ROM drive (8x speed), 120 MB free hard disc space