Some projects simply get in over their heads attempting
to accomplish more than is possible with the available talent. 3 Skulls of
the Toltecs most assuredly fits this category. It is not that the game is
dated with its point-and-click interface and an immense inventory system. I happen
to like that type of game. It’s not because the plot is a retread of a thousand
old black-and-white Hollywood westerns–I also happen to like warmed-over cowboy
and Indian stories. Nor is it the cartoony animations that could easily have been
done by a moonlighting Lucas Arts employee. Rather, it is a matter of too many
elements not living up to their full potential, of slipshod writing that never
rises above a grade-school level, jokes that are flatter than a warm beer, and
an interface that will put you to sleep quicker than a singing cowboy. I have
played Freddie Pharkas and laughed at Josh Mandel’s comical observations
and let me tell you, 3 Skulls of the Toltecs is no Freddie Pharkas and
you, sir, are no Josh Mandel.

3 Skulls is a third-person
adventure game that has you playing as lanky Fenimore Fillmore, a traveling cowboy
with an exaggerated walk who has unwittingly contributed to the death of an Old
West traveling salesman. As the unlucky salesman drifts off to a better world,
you learn that he possesses a golden skull. You also learn that three such skulls
are needed to unlock the storied Toltec treasure. When the skull is stolen from
you by the same rustlers who were hunting the salesman, you decide to find all
three skulls and collect the legacy for yourself. Of course, your search will
take you to all of the familiar western locations–an Indian village, an army
fort, an Old West town, etc. Everything is a cliché, but it is a familiar
cliché that we do not see much of nowadays. So while the plot is not original,
it is as comfortable as a ten-gallon hat and gets a grade of B.

The
puzzles in 3 Skulls are actually a lot of fun. It is one of those take-anything-that-is-not-nailed-down
inventory systems with a few red herrings thrown in to keep you on your toes.
Numerous subjects that are seemingly unrelated to the main story (but eventually
tie in) are unfolded through conversations with the supporting characters. The
interface has been simplified as much as possible. Fenimore is controlled via
your mouse, and once you have completed a certain portion of the game, an onscreen
map appears that, thankfully, allows easy access to already-visited areas. As
is common in these type of games, there is extensive backtracking, so the map
is a welcome addition. But there are two glaring problems in this game, and one
of them rears its ugly head during scenes when you attempt to advance a situation
through dialogue trees. If Fenimore is positioned directly in front of a character
and you click to ask a question, if he is not standing in the exact spot
that was dictated by the programmers, then Fenimore will actually walk to the
left of the screen, circle behind the character you want to question, and cross
to the right of the screen, only to return to what seems to be, but I am sure
is a millionth of a millimeter different, the exact same spot. Not only is this
time-consuming and frustrating, but I actually put on quite a few pounds frequenting
the refrigerator while waiting for Fenimore to position himself. While some
of the puzzles are fun, the execution suffers from saddle rash: C-.

The
animation is the cartoon equivalent of the Lucas Arts Monkey Island series.
Crisp and detailed with small sight gags going on in the background–like an Indian
plucking a feather from his headdress and using it to pick his nails. There is
a nice cartoony feel for the old west, be it a swaybacked horse swatting flies
with its tail or a saloon madam leaning over a banister to showcase her cleavage
to prospective customers. The graphics are, at times, likewise impressive in that
their simplicity convincingly conveys the sparseness of the west, yet there are
also bewildering moments such as the French fort (pictured above) that had me
wondering why it looked as though it was hanging in space. Confusing to say the
least. Such lapses easily demote the graphics grade to a B-.

If
ever a game faltered in its presentation through voice acting, then it is 3
Skulls of the Toltecs. It is not that the acting is bad. No, rather it is
inadvertently racist. Indians speak broken English, “Me no trust white man,”
Chinese characters sound like Hop Sing from Bonanza (No tickee, no washee).
Not to mention one character’s poor man’s John Wayne imitation. This part of the
game comes off so horribly because it is trying desperately to be F-Troop.
But F-Troop was broad farce, meant to be ludicrous, and we laughed
because we knew the idiosyncracies of the characters and their backgrounds. 3
Skulls wants to emulate, but never approaches, the writing standards of F-Troop,
and it suffers terribly in comparison. F-Troop had college-educated
Indians (portrayed by Italian actors!) who shrewdly spoke broken English so that
the white man would not suspect their true ambitions. The soldiers of F-Troop
were a lovable bunch who consistently bumbled their way to victory. I have
a nagging suspicion that the developers of 3 Skulls meant for their creations
to be viewed through the same glass, but poor writing and lack of character depth
sabotage the effort. Voice acting: F.

3 Skulls is
next to impossible to find and is really not worth the search. While the game
does have its aforementioned good points, the clumsy interface and outrageous
accents destroy any sense of authenticity and diminishes the fun element. Not
bad enough to gain entrance to the Dungeon
of Shame and not good enough to recommend, 3 Skulls’ ultimate destiny
was the bargain bin–the Boot Hill of adventure games.

3
Skulls of the Toltecs final grade: C-

System
Requirements: 486 DX2 66
MS DOS 6.0 or Windows
95
8 MB RAM
2x CD-ROM
256-color SVGA
Sound Blaster
Mouse