Beyond Shadowgate
Beyond intuitionGenre: adventure - point n click
Publisher: TTI
Year: 1993
System: TG-16 CD
Gameplay Score: 2
Gameplay Notes:
Unlike the original Shadowgate the movement in this game is in third person and gives you direct control over your character. This allows for some real-time combat although this amounts to holding down on the 1 button to throw rapid fire punches. Movement is very slow. Interacting with the environment is pretty standard stuff. The Select button lets you pick between a hand to Take, a message bubble to Listen, an eye to Look, and a Use icon for whatever you're holding. When Use is up you can open the inventory using 2. It works fine, although the game loves to give you tiny items to click on and unobvious spots to find.
Level Design Score: 3
Level Design Notes:
Nothing is intuitive. Use a pepper shaker to kill a monster and a bucket to stop a lava flow. The design is similar to the first Shadowgate in that you just need to experiment untik you find a combination of items and obstacle that works. It's all trial and error. This becomes laborious as your inventory grows. The game is extremely linear in the early going but I suspect that there will be backtracking later on.
Theme Score: 3
Theme Notes:
Standard tropes and environments. You're the heir to the throne, your dad was killed and you were framed by the royal advisor who plans to execute you and marry your sister. The usual stuff. So, escape the dungeon and make it all right.
Art Style Score: 4
Art Style Notes:
Outstanding animation and a mix of good and weird artwork. It has a certain Amiga look to it. Definitely a Western developed game. There are some nice sequences but overall I'd say it's an acquired taste. I liked it.
Audio Score: 3
Audio Notes:
The music and sound effects can be toggled on or off independently. The music is atmospheric and is heavily used to indicate danger or other situations. Most of the time it's silent or just simply there. Nothing like the awesome soundtrack of the original Shadowgate.
Overall Score: 52
Review ID: 10001
No comments:
Post a Comment