If you have already studied the screen shots of this game and you are
now saying to yourself, “What the hey, this is nothing but a bunch of pictures
of dumb safes!” then do us both a favor and go read one of my other numerous
reviews on Just Adventure. If, on the other hand, you are intrigued by what these
safes might represent, if you are the type of person who needs to have his/her
“ducks all lined up in a row” or need to have your underwear neatly
folded in your dresser drawer, then stick around, ’cause I got something special
for you.

If ever the title of a game so succinctly described the scintilla
of the plot, then it surely is Safecracker by Daydream Software. The entire
framework of the game is comprised around your ability to break into or “crack”
one safe after another. Over 35 different types of safes must be cracked. If you
live for games of the delicious gonad-busting, sweat-dripping-down-your-brow,
kick-your-computer-in-sweet-frustration variety, then Safecracker will
be your salvation in these lean times for adventure gamers. It is nirvana for
brainiacs. For your friendly, neighborhood reviewer–it was time to bust out the
walkthrough.

Safecracker’s background story has you offered the job
of Security Development Chief for one of the world’s wealthiest men. To prove
you are “worthy,” you must break into your eccentric prospective employer’s
high-tech mansion, locate the mother of all safes–the F-9-12 (the latest model
from Crabb & Sons Company)–and reveal its contents, all without getting caught
by security. This is no small feat for someone like me, whose deductive skills
lean more toward Inspector Gadget than Sherlock Holmes. This is not a game for
those who love plot development and characterization, but it is a hidden gem for
purveyors of brain-twisters like The Seventh Guest and Cydonia. So
while the plot only receives a grade of C, despair not, for this is a game
that is defined by its puzzles.

Thirty-five safes are spread over 50 rooms
of the mansion. Big safes and little safes. Red safes and blue safes. Piano safes
and pyramid safes (this is starting to sound like a Dr. Seuss book). Of course,
every single safe must be opened, not in any particular order, mind you, but you
will soon discover there is a method to the madness. Inside the safes reside clues
and inventory items that will allow you to–you guessed it–open another safe.
Now, clues are always welcome in any game, even more so in a logic-driven game
of this type, but the developers of Safecracker are a seemingly devious,
if not deviant, bunch as they decided to throw a monkey wrench into the game and
include a lot of red herrings. May their souls burn in the eternal fires of the
Dungeon of Shame for causing
me so many sleepless nights. The true measure of the difficulty and ingenuity
of the puzzles in Safecracker, though, is that this is that one game where
once you have successfully cracked open another hard nut (I am tired of typing
“safe”), you actually feel a sense of accomplishment and pride. We all
know that feeling, that tingle when we have finally solved a puzzle that has haunted
our subconscious for days and we rush to find our spouse so we can brag of our
intellectual accomplishment and they respond with, “Oh, you mean that game
(dripping sarcasm) you’ve been spending all your time on.” Safecracker’s
puzzles: A+.

Of course, a game with very little plot needs to compensate
in other areas, and Safecracker’s graphics are top-notch. It uses Quicktime
VR, which allows for 360-degree camera movement in 3D. Each of the 50-plus rooms
in the mansion can be viewed from 12 different viewpoints that span the entire
room. These rendered pictures were then assembled and linked together to provide
seamless movement in and between the different rooms. The cursor movement controlled
by your mouse is similar to the photorealistic panning in Zork Nemesis, and
surprisingly there is very little blurring as you move from location to location
via your first-person perspective. The inventory is easily accessible at the bottom
of your windowed screen, and in what is my favorite touch, the top left of the
play screen keeps you informed as to what percentage of the game you have completed.
Auto-mapping would have been a nice addition, but it is not available. There are
secret rooms, red herrings and surprises aplenty to keep you occupied for hours
on end, but be forewarned before you spend days attempting to better your score
of 99% at game’s completion, according to the Daydream message board, a perfect
score of 100% is not obtainable. Graphics for Safecracker: A.

Music,
sound effects and voice acting are areas which, like the plot, have very little
to do with the overall enjoyment of Safecracker. There is minimal voice
acting in the game, and there are a few safes that must be opened by relying upon
your ability to remember musical notes or listen to tapes. Theme music alters
according to the “type” of room or situation you are in, but it is never
intrusive or, for that matter, even memorable. Then again, this is not the type
of game that you play to test your new 3D Monster Sound Card. The music, sound
effects and voice acting are all well-done, if not abundant, and receive a
grade of B-.

Safecracker is a game that will be treasured by
the devotees of Jewels of the Oracle and Myst. It is not for everyone,
but I guarantee that if you are enamored of puzzle/adventure games, then Safecracker
will not disappoint. It comes packaged on two CDs, one for PC and one for
Mac, and is available via mail order for North American customers from Daydream.
If you are more interested in exercising your brain cells than your trigger finger
and have a little bit of larceny in your heart, then Safecracker is highly recommended
for your nocturnal leisure time.

Safecracker final grade: B+

System
Requirements:

PC:
Windows
95/98
Pentium 75
16 MB RAM
15 MB free HD space
2x CD-ROM
Sound
Card
QuickTime 2.1.2 (included on CD)

Mac:
PowerMac recommended 7.1 or newer
8 MB of free RAM
15 MB of free HD
space
2x CD-ROM
QuickTime 2.5 (included on CD)
Soundmanager 3.2.1
(included on CD)