“Embark on a clay adventure that breaks the mold.” This quote
appears on the box of the adventure game The Neverhood. I almost missed
out on this adventure for two reasons: (1) I thought it was a kid’s game. I somehow
missed the statement on the box “for ages 17 and up.” (2) Even if it
was for adults, I thought, “how good can a game using claymation be?”
It turns out the answer to that question is, “it can be one of the best!”
I did eventually play the game and found it to be an excellent adventure, and
it remains one of my favorites today.

You play the game from a third-person
perspective, manipulating the movements and choices of the main character, Klaymen.
The game begins with Klaymen asleep on the floor of a room. After you click on
any object in this room for the first time, he awakes and embarks on a great journey,
the journey of discovery. For you see, Klaymen needs to do more than just defeat
an evil character, which is something he must do; he needs to discover who he
is and why he is in the Neverhood. This concept is what I believe to be one of
the most enjoyable, creative plots for an adventure game. It addresses the fundamental
questions in life: why I am here? Why are you here? Why is Klaymen here? It’s
the adventure of a lifetime. It’s the adventure to find the meaning to life. Is
the plot too deep for a game? No. The game never loses its sense of humor or takes
itself too seriously. There are a lot of funny bits in this game.

As you
and Klaymen travel through the Neverhood, one of your tasks is find and collect
twenty discs. These discs contain recorded bits of information, and when loaded
into playback machines located throughout the Neverhood, they reveal insights
into why Klaymen exists and what his mission is. When all twenty discs are loaded
and played, it reveals a wonderful story of creation: how it started out good,
how it turned bad, and what must be done to rescue the Neverhood from evil. The
plot receives an A+.

The graphics are absolutely amazing. Sure, you
can tell it’s clay, but to see what the creators did with clay is awesome. It
didn’t take me long to get immersed into the game, to the point where I completely
forgot about the fact that this was all done with clay, and I enjoyed the scenery
with all its color and detail.

The character movements are not jerky like
you might expect from using claymation, but rather very realistic. I loved the
way Klaymen walked: plodding feet and with an exaggerated arm swing.

When
using one of the playback machines, you listen to the information on the discs,
but you also get to view the narrator on what looks like a TV screen. You might
guess that the graphics on this TV screen would be poor; on the contrary, the
characterization of these TV sequences is some of the funniest and slickest animation
I have seen. The graphics in The Neverhood receive an A.

One
of my favorite parts of the game is the voice acting of the character Willie Trombone,
who tells the story contained on the information discs. It’s one of the best–funniest,
most entertaining–that I have heard in a game. The music is also very enjoyable
to listen to and always enhances the gaming experience.

There aren’t any
conversations that you carry on with other characters. There are, however, cut
scenes at various points in the game that move the story along. I found all the
cut scenes to be most enjoyable to watch. The characters range from Robot Bill,
a giant robot whose prized possession is a teddy bear to little evil creatures
that do the bidding of the main evil character, Klogg. All voices and sound are
superb. The sound, music, and voice acting all receive an A.

The
Neverhood is a puzzle-based game. In other words, this game is loaded with
’em. I didn’t encounter a puzzle I didn’t enjoy. Some are very easy, and some
are very difficult. But all the puzzles can be solved with a little patience and
work. You will have to take notes at various points in the game in order to solve
some of the puzzles. Klaymen can never die, so you can be as creative as you want
in your attempts to solve the puzzles. Actually there is one, and only one, way
that Klaymen can die, but it is clearly marked in the game: the developers
actually put a sign in the game that says, “Do not jump in this drain or
you will die.”

Probably the most enjoyable aspects of the puzzles is
that even though there are some of the usual puzzle types, they are presented
with a new twist. For example, the maze puzzle is a series of grooves on the wall
of a canyon which you must navigate via a special car that can traverse the grooves.
Watching Klaymen cruise the canyon wall was a blast. It kept the puzzle fresh
and new. Also, the jigsaw puzzle is a series of blocks, each with one side imprinted
with a symbol and the other side with a different raised symbol, that must be
assembled horizontally. Very cool. The puzzles in The Neverhood an A+.

This
is a classic game. The Neverhood belongs in the Everhood. If you haven’t
played it yet, you need to find a copy and do so. I recommend The Neverhood
to all my friends who are looking for a good adventure game. I wish The Neverhood
[developer] would create a sequel, but we all have our sequel wish lists, don’t
we? Enjoy the adventure!

Final Grade: A

System
Requirements: Pentium 75Mhz
8 MB RAM
SVGA
monitor
10 MB hard disk space
Quad-speed CD-ROM drive
Win 95 compatible
sound card and mouse