A
wendigo
may be hiding in the arctic cold, devouring human flesh and creating
psychosis among the members of a research team. A Canadian Inuit may
be the only person with any viable information on the predicament
and a loss of communications has left a research team literally and
figuratively in the cold. What starts as an interesting premise eventually
devolves into a cliché ridden game that plays out like a ‘B’
movie at your local drive-in movie minus the stale popcorn and futile
attempts to get your girl into back seat.

Alpha Polaris’ controls are very intuitive: left-click
to use an object, right-click for a description and double-click to
quickly exit a room or area. Inventory items can be combined and there
is a notebook in your inventory that is more useful than in most games
as it does contain the answers for numerous puzzle solutions. Finally,
the now commonplace ‘press the spacebar to highlight all of
the interactive objects in a room’ can be very helpful if you
are stuck (and is actually one of my favorite features in this new
breed of adventure games).

The
graphics can be very impressive. Powered by the Wintermute Engine,
great care has been taken to create a desolate atmosphere that has
been trespassed upon by a research crew who, though they respect the
environment, are still unfamiliars.

The voice acting is surprisingly solid for an independent project,
but the sound effects seem to often be sparse. A lot more of the wind
blowing ominously in the outdoor scenes would have gone a long way
in adding to the horror atmosphere and created an intense ‘isolated
in the wilderness’ feeling. The same goes for the research station
that should have had a permeating claustrophobic feel, but instead
became just a bunch of connected rooms useful for collecting objects
or seeking out other team members. There are some attempts to create
these necessary atmospheres, such as radio static or brief gusts of
howling wind when outside, but they are never sustained long enough
to be effective and drill down into your soul.

Character
interaction is handled via dialogue trees, and while dialogue options
try to make it appear as though your choices affect the character’s
actions, that is really not the case, as regardless your choice you
are always gently steered back to the appropriate decision.

What is interesting is that when the animated characters are speaking,
they are replaced by hand-drawn still caricatures who appear front
and center on your screen. While I found it a little strange at first,
it is actually a nice touch that helps you to identify more closely
with the characters rather than just rushing through their dialogue,
and helps to defray much of their conceptions as cardbord cut-outs.
But unfortunately, these characters are the usual stereotypes with
surface depth such as you would expect from a horror game setting:
the gruff, but friendly experienced old-timer, the jerky ‘jack-of-all-trades,’
the obnoxious boss’s son, and so on.

There
are a few nice and welcome touches in the game. Rune Knudsen, a Norwegian
biologist, often cusses in his native tongue so that his team members
won’t know what he is saying, and small touches such as the
game automatically supplying Rune with the appropriate outdoor clothing
every time he exits the station keep the game from becoming redundant.
But this noble effort to eliminate repetition also has its drawbacks
as the entire game can be completed in 3-5 hours which totally eliminates
any replay value.

Easily the most surprising aspect of Alpha Polaris is a totally
unexpected and somewhat explicit sex scene. I’m not complaining,
mind you, as it was not gratuitous and actually well done, but it
is something that American players – and especially adventure
game players – are not used to seeing in their games.

Alpha
Polaris offers nothing fresh or inventive to the adventure genre
– in fact, if you have seen any number of ‘B’ horror
films, it will invoke a sense of déjà vu – but
it is a solid production all around, even more so when considering
that the staff of Turmoil
Games is comprised of a total of five people who are situated
in northern Finland near the center of the Arctic Circle. The untapped
potential is evident, but Turmoil Games needs to take some more chances
(other than an unexpected sexual encounter) and develop some characters
that aren’t so stereotypical and a plot that hasn’t been recycled
ad nauseam. Still, Alpha Polaris is impressive for a first
effort and here’s hoping that they continue to improve with
future releases.

Alpha Polaris is currently available via download for $19.95
at the Turmoil
Games site, which also offers an alternative CD version of
the game. It is currently available only in English and German with
other translations to follow.

System Requirements:

• Windows XP / Vista / 7
• Intel P4 or AMD Athlon 64 processor
• 1GB system memory
• Graphics card with DirectX 9 support
• 1280×800 display resolution
• 700MB hard disk space