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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