The city I am from, Pittsburgh, has the oldest average population of
any city in the United States. It is a city where change comes slowly, if ever.
The local newspapers look on video and computer games as a passing fad, a tool
of the devil, and attempts to convince them that their readers would like weekly
game reviews have, until recently, been met with indifference. It is a city where
the smokestacks of the steel mills exist only in memory, but the blue collar mindset
of the people who shaped the city still flourishes. Games and change are frivolous
playthings not to be tolerated. Provincialism is our common bond.

Pittsburgh
is also home to the Andy
Warhol Museum. Warhol, like many famous people from Pittsburgh, did not achieve
international celebrity status until he relocated from an oppressive atmosphere
that stifles individualism. He is universally considered to have been an artistic
genius whose dynamic vision influenced not only his contemporaries, but to this
day still shapes contemporary art and popular culture. While he was living, Pittsburgh
wanted nothing to do with this wild-haired oddball whom they did not understand.
After his death, we embraced him as a native son; eager to show the world that
we always knew he was special, but it would have been in poor taste to say so
while he was alive. Local newscasters and reporters love to intone a litany of
famous people who are originally from Pittsburgh. The operative word is always
“from,” as success is only obtained outside of this restrictive sphere.
Those of us who stay here often, unknowingly, find our assessments shackled by
a restricted mode of thinking that has been formulated through a daily osmosis
with the city’s character.

As I attempted to play Isabelle the first
time, I felt like the city of Pittsburgh–stiff and rigid in my beliefs of what
constituted an adventure game (similar to some of the smaller, close-minded adventure
sites that trumpet their shortsightedness by announcing that they will not recognize
a game as adventure unless it is point-and-click). Isabelle was my Andy
Warhol–different and odd, it breaks every rule of adventure gaming. How dare
they differ from the norm! How dare they experiment! The end result was frustration–until
I opened my mind and decided to play the game on its own terms. The experience
was akin to my first thoughts upon playing Little Big Adventure or Ecstatica
when they were initially released and relatively unknown. Not sure if I liked
it, not sure what I was doing, but I grudgingly admitted that maybe it was time
to embrace Isabelle before the adventure genre withers and atrophies from
banality.

Isabelle was created in France; though the version I have
is mostly in English (more on that “mostly” later). While the story
centers around the plot, it is more concerned with an Orwellian theme of government
control and the ramifications your individual actions may have on others. The
entire narrative is a series of flashbacks, a fact that is not immediately obvious.
Voice-overs by George, Isabelle’s fiancee, and Isabelle herself serve as commentary
upon your actions in the game. Thus, you will often find yourself performing an
action on the screen, only to hear a verbal exchange between George and Isabelle
discussing the consequences your action had or could have had on the story’s outcome.
The plot seems to be more of a fable, presented as reality, meant to push the
boundaries of adventure gaming through esoteric visuals and a plot driven by themes
and not puzzles.

The plot of Isabelle is only a framework to trumpet
such common themes as trust and hope. It is an attempt to show that the sightless
often see clearer than the sighted. More–our villain for this tale–has, with
the heavy-handed help of his flunkies, taken over the village of Crison. The main
commerce of Crison centers on a rock mine at the top of a mountain. Paul protects
the village from dangerous rockslides from the mine, but he ends up in the hospital
after being attacked by More and his acolytes. George, the hero of our tale, has
been blinded in attempting to fight off Paul’s attackers. Only Paul and George
know who attacked them, but Paul is now near death and George is blind. The villagers
are not aware of More’s dreams of domination and occupation, so when George begins
to rant against their benevolent leader, he is castigated by friends and family.
He knows he is the village’s only hope, but how? In his sleep, George dreams of
the village and upon waking realizes that his actions in the dream world have
had an effect on the real world. Using his little brother Raymond as his eyes,
George must now travel between both worlds to restore peace to the village of
Crison.

You can switch between Raymond and George, as suits the circumstances,
simply by pressing your inventory key. There are situations where Raymond will
confront an obstacle that will, due to his size and age, deter him, but to George
the same obstacle is insignificant. It is here that the game shines, for George
is bandaged and blind, and part of the challenge is in guiding him and using his
perspective to alter Raymond’s reality. George will walk slowly, hands outstretched,
just as a newly blind person would, and he will also trip and fall over unseen
obstacles. His world is dim and shadowy, and though switching to an over-the-shoulder
camera view is helpful, it is not until we leave the real world and enter George’s
dream world that George is able to physically and visually be effective. Your
action button allows whatever character you are controlling to hide, jump, sing,
row a boat, or whatever action is appropriate at the time. The keyboard can be
configured to your liking, but I much preferred using my gamepad as I often felt
that the keyboard restricted my movements. Even with the gamepad, there where
times when I did not feel in control. Some of this is caused by the herky-jerky
motions of the characters. Other scenes, such as a river ride towards the end
of the game, just seem to be poorly constructed as you are led to a predetermined
destination regardless of the buttons you press.

Isabelle’s bizarre
surreal graphics are sure to drive many away, but they are also what eventually
engage you in the story. They are minimalist with a modicum of detail. Colorful
and bright, triangles upon squares, vivid images distorted by blindness. They
are similar to a Picasso painting that upon first glance seems disorganized, but
upon further study you find that what seemed abstract is actually structured and
detailed. At times grotesque, at times disorienting, they have been constructed
by someone with an eye for art. Most interesting to me was the loping gait of
the acolytes. It bothered me for days until I remembered the evil goonies from
the Max Fleischer Popeye cartoons of the late 1930s and their relentless
long-strided marches back and forth from the mines. The voice-overs of George
and Isabelle can best be described as flawed in delivery and execution. Some of
this may be attributable to the translation from French to English. While the
entire game is in English, there are wonderful moments when another character
will be speaking a language you have never before heard. I soon realized that
they were speaking gibberish and were conveying their emotions through their body
language and gesticulations. This was a nice touch that added to the surreal atmosphere
of the game. What might bother some American players is the violence that is directed
towards young Raymond; he is often slapped to the ground by the acolytes. George
is beaten by a policeman and thrown in prison. While it is not violence on the
order of a Doom or a Quake, it still seemed unsettling in such an
otherwise docile atmosphere.

Is Isabelle the perfect game? Far from
it, but it is different and worth trying. It is at times frustrating. Playing
it requires an open mind. It is one of the few games I have ever played that left
me with an overall impression instead of a remembrance of this or that scene.
It is not for everyone’s taste. It is for the adventurous, not the traditionalist.

My final grade for Isabelle? There is none. Part of me screams “give
it an A because it is different,” and another part screams “give it
an F because it is different.” Instead, I will let you make the choice yourself.
Let us know what you think.

You may order Isabelle online from the
Belisa website.

System
Requirements: Pentium 166 or compatible system

32 MB RAM
25 MB free disk space
DirectX compatible sound board
DirectX
compatible 3D graphic board
4x CD-ROM drive
DirectX 7
Windows 95 or
98