Subject 13

3 stars for this game. It is good in places, the story and the overall mystery was good. I enjoyed finding the recordings although the "twist in the tale" is easy to figure out. It is more than just a science experiment gone wrong as a previous reviewer suggests. However, the controls are fiddly, sometimes you select the magnifying glass or hand and you find the actual item is not selected, it feels less like the controls are designed with a mouse and more like a controller. The puzzles are often straight forward bar a couple. The final puzzle is very frustrating in the way it is set up and the objects used to reset. However the main issue I have with the game is a puzzle involving monkeys. Without giving anything away there is an issue seeing the transparent red, the graphics do not stand out and it made the puzzle so frustrating and difficult that I had to look it up! Yes it is short, I don;t feel it is too short, it is long enough that it doesn't outstay its welcome. Would an extra area to explore have made it better? Maybe.

Man, this was disappointing... Looking at the screenshots and videos, one might get the idea this is a first-person puzzle/adventure game in the style of [i]Myst[/i] or [i]The Witness[/i], promising rich, lush landscapes and underground complexes to explore. But, no. This is largely a third-person point-and-click adventure game in the style of [i]Syberia[/i] -- developer Microids' other, far better puzzle/adventure. Even so, puzzle/adventures can be quite good -- even small ones like this. Unfortunately, [i]Subject 13[/i] is let down by the terrible controls. The game was clearly designed for use with a gamepad, and keyboard/mouse users (such as I) were given short shrift. Navigating through the environment is a chore. Finding areas of interest is the standard wave-the-mouse-around-until-the-pointer-changes affair -- except that sometimes a changed pointer means nothing. But it's examining areas and items of interest where the game face-plants. Entering examine mode changes you to a first-person(-ish) view, then you start waving the mouse around again. Sometimes a crucial area is out of direct view [i]and can't be brought in to view except by noticing the pointer's changed and selecting 'examine' again.[/i] I often found myself clicking the wrong button, as I couldn't tune in to which button did what and when. The puzzles themselves hardly bear mentioning, as they are either too simple, tedious (sliding block puzzles), or absurdly obtuse (finding which way is north). I can't seem to shake the notion that [i]Subject 13[/i] was an experiment -- an attempt to use a full 3D engine to create a old style point-and-click adventure. Sadly, it just does not work -- not with the current UI, at least. The gimmick of being able to pan around each scene and shift perspective slightly added very little to the experience. All in all, I regret to say this is well below the mark Microids' past work has established. Unless it's on sale, I'd say skip it.

About 3 hours of gameplay which already includes a long and poorly visible minesweeper session. The story could have made this game great, but it's just a collection of (sometimes quite senseless) puzzles with mediocre controls. What I don't understand is why new adventure games are so short with the feeling of hasty production.

Don't get me wrong, it's a good game. But I believe it could be much more than simply a good game. As the game begins you wake up in a metal sphere by listening a silicon voice. The last thing you remember, you had just tried to commit suicide. Now as the protagonist you have to learn to whom this voice belongs, how you survived and why *it* rescued you. When you finally get outside the sphere, you find yourself in a scientific facility which is in turn located on a remote island. As the game goes on, an interesting (and emotional in some point) story unfolds. You learn most of the story by listening to some tapes you find on the island you're located, by the voice talking to you and by interacting with someone else. The graphics are quite nice (and playing smoothly at max settings even at my Core2Duo E6600 2.4 GHz, 3GB RAM, Nvidia 9800GT) and the soundtrack accompanying the whole game created a feeling of suspense and sadness to me. To sum up the good parts: Nice Sci-Fi and emotional story, nice graphics, good soundtrack. Then why the 4/5 stars? First of all because the game is a bit short. It took me less than 9 hours without using even a hint and more than that I was playing at late hours, tired, which means I was reacting slowly =). I'd say the difficulty level is from average to easy. Although there are more than just a couple of screens/backgrounds, the fact that you're located on an island and all the story takes place there, is a minus. I'd like some more locations. Also, since I think the game should be longer, then the story should be a bit more developed. Gameplay. It's a mix of first and third person. All these new stuff (for me at least) like moving the camera or using the mouse to turn a key are just not my style. I'd prefer a more classic gameplay. Or at least a bit better mouse sensitivity. In overall it's a quite good game for a p-n-c or Sci-Fi fan but I wouldn't call it a must-play. It's a real pity 'cause it had the potential to be a masterpiece.