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