Beneath a Steel Sky (1994)

Oh man, where to start. This is my all time favorite game. It's the game that dragged me head and heels into the world of PC gaming, away from my Gameboy and SNES. All it took was a demo that came with the very first issue of PC Gamer back in December 1993 (the second PC games magazine I had bought at the time) and I was sold. MORE than sold - I completed the demo at least 100 times, sucking up every thing it had to offer many times over. What appealed so much to me was the brilliant mix of a dark and brooding futuristic setting with a less than serious cast. A cynical little robot as side kick that insults you whenever it gets the chance, a pompous 'nouveau-riche' plant owner, a doctor addicted to Helium, a zealous insurance salesman, a worked in love with his clipboard, etc. etc. etc. It was a match made in heaven. Dark humour fits this game so well and the aid of very talented artist Dave Gibbons gave the game its very special style (be sure to read the brilliantly drawn comic). While BASS is not terribly long, it's still a truly brilliant game. You'll be hard pressed to find a better looking game that old - combine it with great puzzles, a wonderful story and you got yourself a winner. I just hope there will ever be a proper BASS2. And remember folks, be vigilant.

Standing in the shadow of the greatest Adventure series of all time it isn't a surprise that BASS is overlooked. This is Revolution finding their feet, sandwiched between the apparently mediocre Lure of the Temptress and the amazing Broken Sword 1. But BASS lacks the weighty plot of BS1, it isn't as expansive as that masterpiece, the longest journey you make is going down an elevator. The puzzles can be jarring too, you often jump one hurdle only to immediately hit a brick wall; although never too hard you're often expected to back track to a location that you presumed had long been left behind, with no real suggestion that you were meant to go there (i.e. grappling hook or fingerprints.) The plot is decent, though as I say, rather limited in scope, and I think that sums up the experience quite nicely. But that shouldn't put you off, as a free game BASS is very special indeed.

Released in 1994, BASS marked the birth of Revolutions two-function interface and the maturity of their Virtual Theatre system. The game was very well recieved, and the Amiga-community (to which i belonged at the time) could finally un-tense it's shoulders after the news of Lucasarts leaving the platform the year before. For me, though, the game was much more then just a fantastic, futeristic adventure. And to this day this game gives me a very particular feeling. Apart from being very well made, with great dialouge and voice-acting, a marvelous score, an imaginative setting and a brilliant storyline, the game lingers on some fascinating questions. To me, all TRULY great works of Science fiction is about something other that what is initially aparent. And, to me, what BASS is about can be defined in a small number of questions; what defines ut as humans? What is life and what is death? What dictates how we percieve ourselves and the world arround us? How can we know if our perception of the physical world is "correct". What is the value of life or who is fit to value it? How can we live our life to the collective common good, and would this be the morally and ethically "correct" way to live? When playing BASS I always sense that that the city is alive, and a much larger then what I'm currently able to explore. That while I'm playing, someone, somewhere else is initiating a completely different series of events. Something that may or may not interfer with my plans. I'm not refering to the events that take place in the main storyline, but something that excists in the logs, news-articles and game-manual. Something, i guess, that I've created partially in my mind as a result of having been completely drawn into the gameworld and 100% invested in the characters on the screen. Robert Foster, the protagonst, is likable and rescourceful. At the beginning of the game he is torn from safety of the life he knows and thrown into a dangerous, nightmarish situation which time and again leads him to question who he is and who he can trust. The only link to his past now is his trusted robot "joey". Though Foster we experience a world unlike anything we've seen before. And what makes the world so original and brilliantly realized isn't fantastical creatures and situations, crazy, off-the-walls characters or unimaginable occurances, but rather that the world is so wierdly realistic. That the characters, although many are parodical (if that's even a word), seem so "human", and that the writing is so grounded and tight. BASS is a mixture of humor, paranoia, intrigue and truly brilliant storytelling. Make no mistake; BASS is not "great for a free game", it's an adventure game CLASSIC and a landmark title in the genre. I find it to be among the three greatest adventure games of all time (and thats not restricted to point and click-games.) But you don't have to take my word for it. Take it from Tony Dillan at CU Amiga (jan '94): ".. A lot of fun, to be honest." - 95% If that's not high prise, then i don't know what is!

BaSS is by no means a perfect game. as a point n click of the early 90s, it's has its fair share of "how the hell was i supposed to know that" puzzles, and being a point n click of the 90s NOT by lucasarts, it also has a few deaths that may set you back a good amount. the deaths are pretty rare, rare enough that i was surprised the first time it happened and thought it was a joke that the game would undo. but no, you go back to the last save. but general rule of thumb for PnCs of the era is "save early, save often", and besides a couple of cheap deaths, they're at worst a minor annoyance. no, the real problem of this game is the aforementioned puzzles. (example witheld for space) you will need to play this game with a guide. i would have gone mad if i didn't have a walkthrough. oh also, the 2 page walkthrough that comes with the game? yeah dont bother with that, just look online for a guide, theyre all better beyond some annoyances, i actually do quite like this game a lot, and i somewhat regard it as one of the best point n clicks of the era, and i do highly recommend it for anyone interested in early 90s point n clicks such as monkey island. as i said before, there are deaths so it's not quite as forgiving as lucasarts games, but dont let that deter you, theyre rare enough and the game is short enough that it won't matter much. it's nowhere near as punishing as say, a sierra game. the story is fine enough. it's got a strong opening, but then mostly comes to a halt aside from some moments here and there. and even then, the ending is a bit abrupt. i feel like instead of going back and forth messing with an insurance agency and a travel agency, there could have been more focus put on advancing the story and getting through the city in a more organic way, but that's just me. where this game really shines is it's writing and characters. it has a wit as sharp as monkey island's and humor to match. i also appreciated what little of it's cyberpunk dystopia that was there

Short and threadbare, BASS remains a very good adventure game and one that left its mark in the history of computer gaming. Fun, engrossing and intelligent, BASS remains accessible to all gamers. It does not require like too many adventure games to think so sideways that the logic forever escapes, be it narrative, fuzzy or gooffy logic, and that the only recourse is a walkthrough/solution/heavy-handed hintbook. A nice short playthrough to rise some nostalgia, or to ponder on the achievements (?) of recent games and the progress (?) of computer adventure games. The formula still works, but so few adventure games are now made that (re)visiting the classic is a must. This one is a good introduction.