I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream

A point and click adventure game from a era that had the best of the breed chugging away on 486dx88's, I spent hours tweaking the config.sys to get it to run, and an hour later I was a couple blocks away buying weed to bring my thoughts close to the disturbing wavelength that permeates this game. Some scenes are quite hard, I got clues from posts on a dial up BBS (DAWN PATROL:the best bbs, first wolfenstein download, first online monopoly tourney for money, first munch with 20+ participants), this saved several breakable objects. The ending(s) are satisfying, well, mostly, and it is a good way to spend a day eating pizza pops, consuming licit and illicit psychoactives (you dont stand a chance otherwise) and finally finishing at 3 am, hope the husband/wife doesnt wake up when you crawl in to bed. The dreams will fade, mostly...

It's a bizarre little game that is definitely worth playing once if you're a fan of games that are just different. I do hate the point and click adventure format though, and I am pretty much glad it's not in vogue any more. I didn't precisely have fun playing it, but I applaud the thought. That really is the whole thing here, because the short story is (despite the internet's claims otherwise) not one of Ellison's best works. But it's the thought that's so alluring, and the character of AM who is so full of unbridled, inorganic hate; expressed in sadism and dead laughter. Interesting thoughts and feelings evoked..... boring and kind of annoying game to play.

but I liked it.

This a 90s point and click adventure game, and those are infamous for their gameplay. So let me start by saying that I beat this only needing to use a guide three times. This first time was because I'd missed a tiny sprite on screen; frustrating, but at least it only happened once. The second time was my fault for not paying attention to what had changed. The third time was the most disappointing; not only is the endgame is unclear, but I'd happened to select a character that is apparently unable to complete their story by themselves, for no good reason that I can see. Still, in all three cases I could still have completed the game and got the best ending, so I feel I was wrong to resort to looking up the solutions. The other relevant aspect for this genre is the story. I Have No Mouth has a great reputation here, and in this regard I was slightly disappointed. The fact the five characters never really interact feels like a missed opportunity. The individual character stories didn't feel tonally or thematically consistent to me; nor did they do a good job setting up the climax. Which is not to say I disliked them, they just didn't quite live up to my expectations. Overall, I did like this game, just perhaps not as much as most people seem to.

My mind is blowed.