This is not your usual game. It’s an eerie world of motionless bodies
and looming machines. Gadget is probably the best treated among the titles
directed by Japanese artist Haruhiko Shono. It has been rereleased in an upgraded
package by Cryo Interactive, which took over distribution from Synergy Interactive.
Probably the biggest misconception about Gadget is that it’s a game. Gadget
is much more interactive fiction than game; it is more like a big brother
of the graphic multimedia novel Sinkha
than a true, pure adventure title. It was experimental when first published
and as such bears greater resemblance to performance art than game, if you will.

The
game starts off in the bedroom of a hotel. As gameplay progresses, the player
discovers that a comet is heading for earth and uncovers a plot by a team of scientists
to escape. The game goal is to collect a series of gadgets to be used as part
of the plan to escape and in the process discover the secret of the scientists.
The story itself is a well-written thriller; however, be warned that some of the
dialog is so esoteric as to be surreal.

There are characters all over the
place but no voice acting, just text below the game screen when you click on the
characters, although there is a bit of voice used several times in radios and
telephones. You can, however, repeat all dialog, good for not missing any of the
plot. There is very little music to speak of, mostly the sound of drums and violins
in cutscenes to denote the train moving or the urgency of your mission. Because
of the lack of voice acting (and music except in the majority of cases for the
beating of the train), the air is oddly emotionless, which is actually a striking
touch. What little music there is is so airy and light it has no melody and is
more a series of translucent sound effects.

The graphics and style of design
are simply what you are playing Gadget for. The hotel has the look and
feel of Kubrick’s Overlook Hotel in the film adaptation of The Shining. Much
of the game has a very surreal feel to it; much movement from location to location
is implied rather than stated.

There are unusual cutscenes, mostly of game
progress; unfortunately, the majority of them are of the main train you’re on
moving to the next stop, which quickly becomes redundant. There’s a lot of watching
the same or similar train animations.

There are no puzzles to speak of.
There’s not a gameplay direction to figure out. You are directed and moved in
a most linear path and disallowed any movement choices that don’t go story-forward,
often moving to a location by a cutscene in the game itself. There is really nothing
to solve here. You’re moved through the mystery by the sheer fact that you can’t
go in a red herring direction. Additionally, you are supplied with a duraluminum
briefcase to store collected gadgets but do not control it in any way–it appears
when needed, and only the right gadget will move when clicked on. Pretty much
idiot-proof.

There is also quite a bit of the same fun equipment found in
L-Zone to
fiddle around with.

I did find it bizarre, therefore, when all of a sudden,
most of the way through the game, Shono drops in a real, live puzzle. Guess which
kind? Yup, it’s everyone’s favorite–a maze, where you are allowed to control
the direction of the current craft you’re in and move around.

There is also
a companion art book by Shono called Inside Out with Gadget available for
$30 at Amazon.com.

Gadget
is less of a game and more of a performance piece, similar to and perhaps
more cleverly designed that Laurie
Anderson’s Puppet Motel. Despite the lovely design, this just doesn’t
have enough of the usual adventure elements to enthrall the player in the usual
gaming manner. As a performance art piece, or elaborate interactive fiction, it
succeeds on a high level. Just don’t go into it expecting a game, and you won’t
be disappointed.

Final Grade: B

System Requirements:

Mac:
Power PC
Mac OS 7.5 or later

16 MB RAM, 24 recommended
4X CD-ROM drive
16-bit audio card

PC:

Windows 95/98
Pentium 133
16 MB RAM, 32 recommended
4X CD-ROM drive

SVGA graphics card
Soundblaster 16 or compatible