An attempt for a slightly eloquent introduction

You might have heard of
Runaway by Pendulo, a generally well-received adventure game released
a few years ago. It should be safe by now
to say that its release meant a triumphal return to a very classic
form of adventure gaming, the humorous third person point-and-click
game, a style made popular for many years by LucasArts before they
turned into the boring company they are today. Even with its eventual
flaws, it has to be admitted that, underneath its gorgeous up-to-date
graphics and novel character animation technology, Runaway was, at
its heart, an old-school game. We’ve seen further examples of this
kind of nostalgia streak since, most recently with The Westerner – which will soon be released in North America – that also
managed to successfully marry this type of classic adventure with
modern 3D technology. Curiously (or not) both Runaway and The
Westerner come from Spain where this passion towards old-school gaming seems
to be more pronounced than anywhere else. Whereas some adventures
are still trying to somehow introduce action-y elements, Spain, during
its relatively unknown but generous legacy of them, has never to
my knowledge deviated from the typical form of adventure game. And
yet, with both the aforementioned games, they managed to introduce
novel features without sacrificing the purity of our beloved genre
(OK that was lame).

The game I’m going to take a look at now was neither revolutionary
or novel, and many would argue it even wasn’t the least original,
but it had a huge impact in Spain when it was first released in the
mid 90’s as it was the first full-blown production of a graphical
adventure game. It also was, as I was saying above, a clear indication
of the type of adventure preferred by the Spanish developers. The
game in question is Igor: Objective Uoca… Uikoala… Uikokahuna…
U-I-K-O-K-A-H-O-N-I-A!

Aaah, college life… a necessary pain

Judging by the screenshots,
one could certainly think this is a long lost game from LucasArts,
and it certainly looks that way. It
is understandable when a new company attempts to emulate a successful
type of game in their first effort. While Igor’s graphics might
vaguely resemble Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, its slapstick
humor is more reminiscent of the Monkey Island series. Fortunately,
Pendulo didn’t blatantly rip-off a Guybrush game as the storyline
is unlike anything the Star Wars company ever did. So, while Igor is a game notably influenced by Lucasarts (there are even some ‘classic’
jokes from them thrown in the mixture, as if their influence had
to be clearly stated), after only after a few moments of playtime
one realizes that it can stand on its own merits.

Igor is the typical student (although bearing an atypical name)
doing typical student stuff: a lazy ass spending most of his time
looking for girls who’d rather go to his favorite bands new show
than grab a book. I mean, come on, what else is college for? However,
Igor is about to suffer a radical change experiencing that odd feeling
called ‘love’, a new and exciting event to him. Everything would
be fine but the object of his desires, a beautiful and studious blonde
girl, is being stalked by an annoying guy who has something Igor
doesn’t have: good looks. I understand that our JA readers spent
(or are spending in the case of the youngest readers) most of their
time playing adventure games during their college years and this
kind of interest toward the opposite sex was an unknown thing to
them. Well, usually this is what normal people do – go figure!

Igor soon learns this
girl is going on an educational trip – organized by the Biology
class – to Uikokahonia, a paradisiacal island to (supposedly)
study its fauna and flora. It shouldn’t take a very perceptive mind
to realize that, rather than study animals, the students are probably
going to behave like them but, anyways, Igor thinks to himself this
would be the perfect chance to get closer to his beloved one. His
hopes quickly diminish when he learns that getting invited along
on the trip isn’t going to be that easy – what’s worse, that
sloppy creep is also going to the island (and he definitely isn’t
interested in the fauna and flora). The first step, just a minor
detail, is that Igor must pass the Biology exam (kinda makes sense).
Is he finally going to open a book and read something? Will his burning
love force him to fill his mind with knowledge? Let’s say he eventually
fixes this particular problem. Secondly, he still has a Biology paper
due, again, a problem that requires all of his genius (except having
to study, of course). Thirdly, those Biology bastards actually make
the students pay for the trip and Igor will have to get some cash
in order to visit Uikokahonia.

One thing that’s hard
to deny is how funny this game can be. While there aren’t that
many humorous situations (Animal House and togas
come immediately to mind with mention of the word ‘college’) the
dialogues, and especially Igor’s responses, often crack you up. For
example, when you take a look at his bed, “There’re only two
reasons to use a bed… and I’m not sleepy.” Personally, I
can think of at least four reasons to use a bed but still, these
types of humorous moments do manage to grab you by surprise.

Sadly, despite the well-placed jokes, the dialogues themselves are usually
pretty bland. Just a little more effort in the writing department would’ve
been appreciated since this type of game heavily relies on the characters and
interactions with them.

No, this has nothing to do with Frankenstein

As stated above, Igor was first released in Spain and a year later, the English version
was published by Optik Software. Having played
both versions, I noticed slight differences between each other. The
interface is more polished in the English version with better-placed
buttons that make the gameplay more comfortable. I even thought the
mouse response was better but that might have been under the illusion
of the new interface. Also, some of the graphics in the hallway inside
the college are different – they’re more detailed and crowded
(however you aren’t able to speak with all the new characters).

Graphically, this is a very nice looking game. Obviously by today
standards it doesn’t stand a chance but I was surprised to find that
most of the scenes were still quite pleasant to the eye, especially
in the colors that were adequately used to give each scene a consistent
look. Bear in mind this was the best looking game ever made in Spain
when it was released many years ago!

Now, during the course
of writing this review (that, for one reason or another, was delayed
over and over again for what seemed to be
an eternity), I came across the Spanish CD-ROM version and found
the voices being regular, without ever being annoying or sounding
too inspired, although I didn’t try the CD-ROM by Optik Software
with English voice-overs because it’s simply one of the most difficult
to find versions of any game. The entire soundtrack, which was digitally
reworked and now came in the form of audio tracks a la Secret
Of Monkey Island, sounded much better this time. It should also be noted
that the new Spanish CD also boasts all the improvements done to
the game (interface, graphics, etc.) since its original release.
The rest of the sound aspect was appropriate enough, with some well
placed special effects and nice music here and there, but nothing
too remarkable with the exception of a quirky introduction song (that
makes its appearance again during the course of the game) – I
just want to let you know that I still can’t get that friggin’
tune out of my head (or, in other words, it’s quite catchy)!

Movement in the game is as easy as it can get with the SCUMM-like
interface. The ‘Go to’ button was removed in the new versions and
with a good reason as it was useless being the default action. I
only found one frustrating problem in one of the scenes where an
exit location wasn’t very obvious until I moved the mouse over a
corner and found it. Then I recalled I also had the same problem
when I originally played the game. The scene in question is inside
the university, right after you enter, but this was basically fixed
in the new versions as you directly bypass that area (which I find
strange – I can only guess either too many people complained about
the same problem or the difference between new and old graphics was
too noticeable to Pendulo).

On a more technical note,
I was surprised to find that Igor runs nearly flawlessly under
XP with little to no hassle. Information
on how to achieve this can be found near the end of this article.

Looking
for love in Uikokabaña

Or something like that. One would guess the majority of the game
takes place in Uikokahonia, given the flashy name and all, but surprisingly
this is not the case, which is ultimately one of the games biggest
disappointments: it never manages to reach a satisfactory level of
fulfillment.

Most of the puzzles are
well integrated to the story but are the typical ‘use’ and ‘give’ commands.
When I found one out of the ordinary, either it was admittedly
clever or
downright illogical and far-fetched but hey, nothing you wouldn’t
find in a Monkey Island game. There is also some pixel hunting. I
don’t know what’s going on nowadays but everyone seems to be complaining
about it (like in Runaway for instance – when I read so many complains
I was baffled as I swear I didn’t even notice it!), so I guess I’m
paying more attention now. All in all, while the puzzles might be
a mixed bag, none of them are bad enough to mar the adventure.

The puzzle structure itself
should sound familiar as you have to solve three major tasks (independent
from each other, which makes
the game more or less non-linear) consisting of several lesser tasks
namely: pass the Biology exam, finish a paper and get some money.
As Igor is lazy and doesn’t give a heck about Biology, that’s
where you come in. You’ll have to help him outwit the bad buy and
get the girl – it sure sounds easy on paper, but Igor will have to
put his life in danger, deal with bizarre characters and undergo
personal humiliation – among other even less pleasant things – before
finally reuniting with his love.

Seems exciting, does it? Well, here is precisely where Igor loses
some its charm. While the setting is unusual, the storyline isn’t
and it feels like it’s never fully exploited. There’s one sequence
that clearly exemplifies this: the part about getting the money,
where you somehow end-up playing the role of a semi-detective and
must retrieve a stolen object from some dangerous individuals. What
seems to be at first a challenging and promising side-plot of the
game is nothing else than simply steal the object back from them
with very little effort (tiny spoiler: you never even get to meet
the burglars face-to-face!). In other words, it could have been much
more but it ends feeling like just another mundane task.

Also, it’s my duty to
inform you this game has committed the utmost sin because halfway
into it there is *gasp* a huge and mean maze.
Maybe the second most unforgiving maze I’ve ever encountered in an
adventure game (I think Countdown earns
that dubious honour). The problem with it is that, besides being
a maze, all the screens look
awfully similar and make mapping it with pencil and paper a must.
Even worse, the designers force you to go through it twice (once
heading east and once heading west). Shame on Pendulo for using this
vile way of extending the game length. Thankfully, they haven’t
committed this heresy since.

I’m tired of coming up
with these silly headlines

It’s a shame though how Igor turned out. Not that is a bad game,
far from it; it’s a very entertaining adventure that should please
any fan and clearly a signal of better things to come. However, it
leaves you with a very empty feeling, craving much, much more. There
were so many places where it could have been expanded that you can’t
help feeling this could have been a true classic, but it never manages
to fully reach its potential and satisfy the player. For example,
the detective part mentioned – I keep thinking the designers could
have added some more action, like being captured and having to escape
from the burglars. And once you get to Uikokahonia (where I was happy
as I thought I was getting to explore the island!) there’s nothing
to do there. I do understand that, as a first game, Pendulo probably
didn’t have enough budget for a more accomplished endeavor but I
can’t help but imagine the game this could have been.

In the end, this is quite
a piece of history from Spain being the first major adventure production.
I must admit that this game stood
the test of time. I had fond memories of thoroughly enjoying it when
I first played it long time ago and I was afraid this time it would
be somewhat outdated. Not only I was wrong, but I think I enjoyed
it even more this time – at least while it lasted. Definitely
a charming adventure that could make for a great weekend provided
you can find it! Now let’s cross our fingers and hope Pendulo pulls
Igor from its underdog status with a re-release soon.

Final Grade: B-

System Requirements:

Are you kidding?
This is a DOS game! Anyway, a VGA display, Sound Blaster compatible
audio card and mouse are required to play Igor: Objective Uikokahonia.

Running Igor: Objective
Uikokahonia on moderm systems:

I found that any version
of this game runs under Windows 2K/XP with almost minimal configuration.
In the first place, it’s fully compatible with DOSBox, that brilliant
DOS emulator that no nostalgic considered gamer should be without.
Digital sound effects weren’t supported on previous versions but,
as of the current 0.61 release, they work great. If you find the
game runs somewhat slow for you under DOSBox, it’s possible to
increase the emulated instructions rate to achieve better speeds.
It isn’t as difficult as it sounds – simply edit the dosbox.conf file found on the folder where you installed the program (the setup
also adds a link to this file) and change the following line:

cycles=2500

The optimal setting might
vary from system to system but I found a 3500 value works fine.

One other option is to
use VDMSound. This handy program emulates a Sound Blaster compatible
card under NT systems and works well with Igor. This way the game
is ran natively under Windows but a problem arises: the mouse doesn’t
works well – the buttons might function correctly but the
cursor won’t move. I learned this is a 2K/XP problem where some
mouse events aren’t being sent correctly to a command line
window. Solving this is easy with yet another handy program called
Mouse2kv and using the following values:

mouse2kv 320 240 1 1 igor.exe

where 320 and 240 is the
resolution used by the game and 1 1 is the horizontal and vertical
speed of the mouse cursor. I found that any value above 1 makes
Igor unplayable. If the game complains about not having enough
memory try this line:

loadhigh mouse2kv 320
240 1 1 igor.exe

Last but not least, the
latter CD-ROM version which saddly only Hispanic speakers might
enjoy right now (unless you’re a very, very lucky fellow). This
version may run “out of the box” with the exception
of the aforementioned Mouse2kv need, which addresses the
static cursor problem. However, you might not be able to set-up
your sound
card because (apparently) the setup program will only run if you
have a very old ISA sound card! I was shocked as the silly program
wouldn’t even let me manually configure this. And I knew
all I needed to do was explain the game things such as what IRQ
I was using – except I had no idea what was the syntaxis
being used with the configuration file. But I’m getting too technical
and the article too long – thankfully I have an old ISA card
and found a way around this. Simply create a new text file in the
Igor folder with the following contents:

IRQ=5

And name it igor.cfg.
If it doesn’t work, try a 7 instead of 5 – this is actually
the IRQ of your sound card which can be easily read via the Multimedia
section in the Windows control panel.

This way Igor can be enjoyed
in its full glory with digital music and voice-overs under Windows
2K/XP!

I sleep now.

DOSBox homepage:
http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/

VDMSound homepage:
http://ntvdm.cjb.net/

Notes: the Mouse2kv program can be found inside the VDMSound package. To my
knowledge, Igor works just fine under 95/98/ME systems without additional
settings.