Walkthrough to Ruin the Fun
By Craig White
What do you do when you come upon a really tough puzzle? One that you
don’t think could ever be solved by the smartest person in the world.
Of course, you do what most of us in the real world do: grab the first
walkthrough you see.
Is this the most logical way to deal with your problem? If that’s all
we used the walkthrough for, yes. But once you get started sneaking a
few peeks, looking for hints, it’s really difficult to stop. Instead of
exploring each and every corner of the game and having that thrill of
achievement when you finish a puzzle, your eyes are stuck on the walkthrough.
Why do we use walkthrough in the first place? To some extent, it’s to
be blamed on game designers. Black Dahlia and Temujin have
the toughest puzzles seen in quite some time, and it is nearly impossible
to complete those games without some form of a hint, be it from a friend,
a phone line, or a walkthrough. Is this what adventure gaming has come
to? Make the toughest possible puzzles ever thought of and make them so
out of place so that no one will be able to solve them and resort to phoning
a hint line or ordering a hint book? Quite possibly, yes.
Is there a way to fix this problem? Get hints without spoiling the entire
game? Of course, these three letters may just be a game saver: UHS. That
stands for Universal Hint System, which is a great way of getting hints
for just the part you need. You can get a little hint or have the entire
solution right there for you. Best of all, anyone can make a UHS file
for any game. They are always readily available along with walkthroughs
to download from most gaming sites.
The best thing about this system is you have the option of choosing how
big of a hint you want. You can start off with a small hint, a nudge in
the right direction. If you still can’t get past your problem, you can
ask for another, bigger, hint. If you’ve tried the previous hints and
gotten nowhere, the UHS can also give you the answer straight out.
The way the UHS reader reads the file is very nice. It opens up a little
window that gives you a number of selections to choose from. In a game
divided by acts, it would let you choose which act; otherwise it might
be divided in different major locations in the game. For each selection
it branches off into categories, and then you click on the question you
want to find out (i.e., How do I find the stopwatch?). It will then give
you clues as I mentioned before. The end. Nice, eh? Most UHS files can
be downloaded from www.uhs-hints.com along with the UHS viewing device.
If the UHS is too complicated for you, you can use your own judgment.
Download a walkthrough to get through the part you’re stuck at and then
immediately delete the walkthrough so as to not spoil the entire game.
This method may not be the best, but if you trust yourself, and don’t
want to throw $50 down the drain, it is worth a try.
“Personally, I hate wakthroughs,” says Peter Rollo, a contributor
to Just Adventure. “Why, you ask? Well, because it ruins the adventure
game. How, you ask? Well, that is very simple. Let’s compare adventure
games to a jigsaw puzzle. There is only one way to solve a jigsaw puzzle,
right? There are no special strategies, or different ways of putting it
together. Which roughly is like adventure games. A walkthrough for adventure
games is like a 50-page instruction manual that tells you where each and
every piece of the puzzle goes. So it takes away the whole point of putting
together the puzzle.”
This is true to some extent. Lately, adventure games have become less
linear with more possibilities and more areas to explore. This leads to
more puzzles to solve and different variations to each puzzle as well
as to each area of the game. Many walkthroughs clearly state that there
are other possibilities to solve the puzzle or situation and encourage
you to try them out.
When used properly and sparingly, walkthroughs can provide that extra
shove in the right direction to help you see what needs to be done. However,
if used too much, they can completely spoil the entire game and defeat
the purpose of playing an adventure. Before you go to download a walkthrough,
try playing the game and exploring all areas. When you’re really desperate,
ask a friend who has played the game before and knows how to beat that
certain area. After you’ve tried all of the above, then go searching for
a walkthrough or UHS file; but use it, don’t abuse it.
