“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.