|
|
 |
The 7th Guest - White Label
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
4/5 |
Ghastly doings
(July 23, 2008) |
|
Although this game was originally released in 1993 (at an eye-watering RRP of £69.99!), and was innovative for its time, I've only recently got around to buying & playing it, as the contemporaneous reviews weren't particularly glowing (plus I couldn't afford it then!). As it's pretty famous - and now pretty cheap - I decided to give it a go for something different, and was pleased that I did, as overall I found it an engrossing and enjoyable game (even though it is about a lunatic mass murderer - which might be why the BBFC rating has increased from 15 to 18 in the intervening 15 years).
You play a disembodied spirit uncovering the story hidden within the maniac Stauf's mansion. The player can't change what happens, as these are ghostly depictions of past events, so the game involves exploring the mansion and solving the puzzles discovered along the way, which both reveal further elements of the story and unlock access to other rooms and puzzles.
The game interface is very slick and easy to use, the music is suitably moody and not too intrusive, and the graphics are of a high quality in both their design and attention to period detail. There are 20 puzzles to solve, plus one maze and one mini-game (Infection) to complete. The puzzles are of varying degrees of complexity, most of which will repay perseverance, although I had to resort to the in-game hints for a couple of them and one of which (the coloured tiles in the chapel) I didn't understand even when I'd cheated on the solution.
Although some of the puzzles are rather exasperating, that's only to be expected. The most disheartening features are the maze and the Infection mini-game. There may be some logical way of solving the maze, but I've no idea what it is, and it's impossible to map because of the way movement through it is presented to the player. It's not counted as a puzzle, so there's no cheat mode for it, so if you don't persevere and find a way through - you're doomed! I solved it entirely by accident, and only managed it the once. WARNING!: If you get to the crypt (through the maze) you must solve the puzzle there and leave before saving the game, otherwise you'll have to go through the maze again to get back to the (unsolved) crypt puzzle - and you really don't want to do that!
As for Infection, this seems to me impossible to win, as the computer plays much too good a game. Despite many attempts I invariably found myself in a losing position after only a few moves, and so I was obliged to use the "forced win" feature for this one - and despite what you might read elsewhere, it's not possible to complete the game without winning this mini-game, as access to the attic door isn't available otherwise.
Apart from those two black marks, I thought that this was a very good game overall, full of originality and imagination. I was continually engrossed with revealing new ghostly apparitions and opening up fresh mysteries of the house and mad Stauf's diabolical schemes. Recommended.
Now, onto The 11th Hour!
|
|
|
5/5 |
Completely Spooky
(December 14, 2006) |
|
This is the adventure game which got me hooked! The puzzles are hard enough to keep you interested while easy enough that you won't be scratching your head for weeks... The story line's fab too :) |
|
|
|