I Left My Heart … In the Stomach of a Jackal

I had heard
that this was a very dark game. An apt description, in keeping with the fact that
Harlan Ellison, the author whose 1966 Hugo award-winning short story the game
is based on, is a very dark writer. Over the years, I have always found Ellison’s
essays regarding the foibles of society and men a little hair-raising–a perfect
example of this is one treatise published in Heavy Metal magazine in 1980,
sneeringly calling the readers “heavy metal babies” and stating society,
not Chapman, killed John Lennon. This story is really in keeping with that thread
of societal distaste that weaves its way through much of what Ellison has produced
as a writer, and the game plays homage to this.

A much-ballyhooed title
when released, the game itself is darker than Darkseed II, which it most
closely resembles, having been published by the same company. It is a good, old-fashioned,
solid, third-person title. It was pleasant change for me, as I have been wallowing
in first person for far too many months with no respite. (Okay, I’ll admit this
is my own fault, being naturally drawn to it.)

This was obviously not a
cutting-edge game for its time, but what was and is cutting-edge about it is the
skilled way in which it uses the story of science fiction icon Ellison, never
compromising in bringing forth his view of the twists of an aberrant world. “Humanity
can be a sad and pathetic thing” seems to be Ellison’s message.

The
story is of the last five human beings left on earth, the rest destroyed by an
insane, omnipotent computer named AM. The five humans, Garrister, Ellen, Ben,
Nimdok, and Ted, have been trapped by the computer for over a hundred years, endlessly
tortured. Each of the five characters has a horrible secret in a dark past. The
game is episodic, allowing the player to choose which of the five story paths
he/she wishes to travel in whatever order he or she likes. Throughout each episode,
as the game progresses and goals are accomplished, the history of the character
is uncovered and brought to light, and one begins to understand what brought each
to this final destination. Ellison wanted a game “that you cannot possibly
win,” and this direction was certainly followed. The characters cannot win
but instead must lose in the most ethical manner possible.

The graphics
are properly dark–the player is treated to twisted trees and a gloomy Egyptian
burial tomb, a dark abandoned spaceship, a concentration camp, and a dark castle.
The game’s design is similar to most third-person games from this period, reminiscent
of the old LucasArts SCUMM interface, with commands to choose from to interact
with the interface and an easily accessible inventory where items can be highlighted
and then used with a click of a command verb.

The puzzles are inventory-based,
and quite fun (if you could call anything in this sick game fun; I almost hesitate
to use the word). The problem with the puzzles is there is an incredible amount
of pixel-hunting, which must be done correctly or each story grinds to a halt.
This is not something Ellison obviously wrote into his story, but he probably
would be perfectly happy with it, allowing for the torture of the player along
with the five characters. There are also some that are pretty illogical, not something
I mind as a player, but I know this is a concern of some. The game also will maddingly
dead-end if a wrong, less “ethical” path is taken. This might have seemed
clever at the time, but it causes the player to have to retrace steps, including
relistening to conversations, which I dislike.

The endgame sequence is extremely
thorough, which makes for a satisfying wrap-up to the gameplay. It can be finished
with one or all five characters. The sequence itself, however, consists of an
unbelievably obtuse and metaphorical ending, very allegorical psychobabble, and
is nearly as dense and incomprehensible as the subject from which it is taken,
and simply, like all psychobabble, is rife with things contrary and confusing
… which I did not care for.

There are unnerving background noises. The
music is General MIDI but well-written, and it serves the purpose of forwarding
the ominous atmosphere. Some of the concentration camp theme was recently reused
and adapted by its author to score the recent film “Apt Pupil,” also
about an ex-Nazi. Ellison thoughtfully plays the computer AM himself, spitting
vitriol at the whole human race with vigor (actually it’s hammy and over the top,
but he sounds like he’s having fun, and after all it is his party).

This
is not a happy place. It does not have a happy ending. This is the sort of game
it is good to play to scare oneself, in the same way one would watch a scary movie.
It would also appeal to Harlan Ellison fans, as it does well in retaining his
gloomy vision of society. The pixel-hunting will scare off a newbie for good.

Final
Grade:
Novice player: C-
Intermediate player: B-
Expert player: B-

System
Requirements:

PC:

486/33
8 MB RAM
2X CD-ROM Drive
SVGA video
15 MB free hard drive
space
DOS

Mac:
System 7.1
8 MB
RAM
2X CD-ROM Drive
15 MB free hard drive space