Heaven Review

Heaven is an adventure game which takes place in the Heaven described in the Judaic-Christian Bible. The God of Christians is not an old man who said the magic word and everything popped into existence. He is a being who is simultaneously aware of and actively maintaining every atom of matter and every photon of energy in the entire universe. This requires an incomprehensible intellect and control over power greater than the universe itself. Heaven is His local home which He designed and built.

Genesisworks is now going to show us what Heaven looks like – a Heaven designed by an intellect greater than the Universe itself. They gotta be nuts. But I give them credit for having the chutzpah for trying.

The game is intensely visual. The game engine allows you to jump from location to location and at each node you can pan around 360 degrees. The first seven screen shots are all taken from the same position, but looking in different directions. This is very impressive work, but it can also be confusing. For example, you might be directed to go to the Control Panel. OK, but which of the many orbs, obelisks and structures is the Control Panel? The purpose of the many artifacts is not obvious.

In contrast to the shining stone and metal of the city is the luscious rendering of your female guide. When I saw her in the previews my first thought was, “Wow, there are babes in Heaven.” My second thought was, “There’s Botox in Heaven?” It is obvious that a lot of work went into not only designing the perfect female form, but also getting it to move naturally. Her movements are very natural without being lewd. The fabric of her costume and her hair dances as expected. She is a joy to watch.

There are also many cut scenes throughout the game. These are remarkable for two reasons. First, the graphical quality of the cut scene is identical to the graphical quality during game play. That is not common. Second, the camera angles are inspired. There is one scene in particular (the Catapult launch) where the camera angle moves around so naturally that you would swear a human was filming a live event.

Genesisworks may well have set a new standard for adventure gaming graphics. If you would like to see a proper example, go to the game’s official web site http://www.heaventhegame.com and watch the trailer. It is breathtaking.

OK, so the eye candy is top notch. What about the story which takes place in this fantastical land? Unfortunately, I can only describe it as lame at best.

The game begins with your spaceship flying into an asteroid field and getting all smashed up. The angels notice and escort your ship safely to Heaven. You wake up on the grass and are told you must solve a series of puzzles. You solve them and are rewarded with a cut scene similar to the trailer linked to above. Then you start asking questions…
~If I died in the crash, why did the angels bring my spaceship back and not just my spirit?
~Why am I wearing my regular clothes while my guide wears a heavenly outfit?
~Why can she walk on water while I have to raise bridges?
~Did I die, or am I just visiting?
~Why do I have to solve these puzzles when my guide obviously knows the answers?
~Is this all some sort of test?
~But if it is a test, just what are they testing?

I finished the game and I still don’t know the answers to any of those questions or what the purpose was of the whole exercise.

OK, so we have great eye candy, but no particular story line going on within it. But there are puzzles! How are the puzzles? Few and flawed.

There are basically only seven puzzles in the game. Some are layered and some are trivial (look up and click). Some are classic adventure gaming puzzles, but your guide is continuously telling you what to do next which destroys much of the satisfaction of figuring it out for yourself. (It might be possible to turn her comments off, but I never bothered to look). Other puzzles are just cruel.

There is one puzzle where you have to list the twelve items in correct order by clicking on their “symbols.” Fair enough, I found the list and the symbols. But it is a repeating list with no clue as to where you should start. And once you begin the puzzle, you cannot leave it until it is solved. You cannot go back to check out the clues again. You are stuck.

No problem, you say. Just go back to a save game position before the puzzle. Now might be a good time to mention that there is only one save game slot and it is updated when you exit the game. In fact, that is the only control in the game – hit the ESC key and it saves your position and quits you out to the main menu where you have the option to continue. You cannot go back without starting a new game.

There is another puzzle which requires you to pair up one of three colors with one of three animals and toss the result at one of three targets. No problem, the clues are to be found in the classic style. But the target is selected by your guide, at random, after you have created the color/animal pair. If she selects the wrong one, you must recreate your pair and hope she selects better the next time. If there is a way of influencing her decision, I could not find it.

Which leads us to the ultimate question – just what was Genesisworks trying to do? It is difficult to believe that they were trying to create an adventure game. There is very little game or story to it. Indeed, as a game I can only award it a “C+” at best. The graphics are outstanding, but there is nothing here that makes me want more of the same.

The only thing I can think of is that they were trying to make an aid for Sunday School – a sort of multi-media felt board. Many of the main characters and tenants can be found here and can be used as a springboard for teaching and discussion. But beyond that, I can find nothing of outstanding value from it standing on its own. It needs outside help. Which is a pity. It would not take much effort to work the story and puzzles up to B level. And with some actual effort this could have been an A.

System Requirements:

• Windows Vista/XP/98
• 128 MB RAM
• 5 GB free hard drive space
• 64 MB/24-bit color video card
• DVD-ROM drive