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I think the problem with this game is the story and the scenarios. I mean, the cover, the intro, the comic style, etc. seem to say that this is a story about a futuristic world. You can imagine a big city with flying cars, floating buildings, fighting robots, teleporting devices, silver suits... And then you find a plot where you must just find a way to escape from a kind of factory in a not so much futuristic place (except for the nice Link interface). It's good for a beggining, but the whole story should have a bigger set of locations. And well, it's funny and some characters are really hilarious but it isn't what you expect at the beginning of the game.
Also, there are too much of the two things I hate in an adventure: stuff that doesn't seem to have any utility but it has and, much worse, stuff that you are sure will have an important role for the story but doesn't have. Both things makes you try again and again everything with everything until finally you find something. For example, you feel stupid when you go here and there trying the same things all the time because you didn't see a little switch hidden in the background picture. The other thing is worse: if, for example, in an adventure you find some glue it's ridiculous that they don't give it any use. Or if they give you a piece of rope or a key, you need to use it soon, because they are things that can be so useful. It's not fair of them to make you keep it almost all the game until you can use it. They should know you will try a key in every door you find all along the game. Some times in such adventures you have a key and a closed door but they don't match! The key is for a cabinet at the end of the game and the door must be broken with a bar. It's cruel and it shouldn't be permitted! And what about a closed cabinet that you won't be able to open? You will try everything to open it until you find a new way to go and you will finish the game without having opened it. AAARGHH!!
Anyway, the game has the classic flavor and it's a story you will remember forever, but it's not all it could be. There are too many loose ends that could be avoided and you will wish a BASS 2 where all that necessary future stuff is explained.
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ivant: And what about a closed cabinet that you won't be able to open? You will try everything to open it until you find a new way to go and you will finish the game without having opened it. AAARGHH!!
I finished the game last night! Are you referring to that cabinet in the cathedral? I have been obsessing over it!
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ivant: And what about a closed cabinet that you won't be able to open? You will try everything to open it until you find a new way to go and you will finish the game without having opened it. AAARGHH!!
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theatreto: I finished the game last night! Are you referring to that cabinet in the cathedral? I have been obsessing over it!
Yes, I think it was that one. Now, seven years after I played Beneath a steel sky, I have a bittersweet feeling about it. I remember the ambience and the jokes and even a dark story as something good, but deep in my mind I know there were too much design errors in the game to be enjoyed as it should.
I didn't play the game as a kid, but I must say I enjoyed it quite a bit nevertheless. It sure is a little clunky, but I actually don't mind working around the quirks of the game, from time to time. Then again, I am the kind of weirdo who started to play and love text adventures WAY past their prime, so you could say I have a thing for old game design choices (I recently fired up the Gabriel Knight 20th anniversary edition, and I couldn't stand it, so I'll probably play the original again, should I ever feel the need to).

Beneath a Steel Sky does seem like it was cut short, though, you can almost "feel" the rushed ending, as the pace changes abruptly toward the end.