Beneath a Steel Sky (1994)

I played this game when it first came out and have just played it again with my Mum who has no idea how these sort of games work. She loved it and it is an easy start to more complex games. It s fantastic. But by far the best game ever produced is "The Longest Journey" If you haven't bought it, you can get a version which plays on modern computers. Brilliant James

I first bought this game when I had an Amiga 1200. While this game doesn't have all of the charm of your Monkey Island adventure, it comes pretty close. I never finished the adventure when I originally owned it, but now I may finally do so.

One of only three adventure games I ever beat without cheating and using a guide. The game is highly stylistic and visually appealing if you like adventure game graphics of the era. Atmosphere is thick though it is a bit sillier than many people might expect. Not slapstick but the mood is lightened up by various silly moments. The only real complaint I can level is that the main story doesn't feel like it connects the opening to the finale all that well, and it can feel like you are just exploring areas because that's what you are supposed to be doing in a game. Even with that minor flaw, it's a game that is well worth recommending and a good introduction to adventure gaming. Do note that I know several friends who have gotten stuck early on. If the first 10 minutes stumps you, don't feel too bad looking up a solution so you can get into the game proper. The puzzles are mostly logical, but not always obvious.

I'm a little torn on whether to rate this game 3 or 4 stars. I haven't even finished it yet, but mainly because the steps in the progression of the story are not only not always obvious, but sometimes would possibly take hours to figure out. I keep having to "cheat" and refer to the walkthrough, which I'm glad they included, once I realized it was there. How are we supposed to know to put a dog biscuit on a plank, or follow some crazy steps? This is a common problem of these type of point and click story games, that I think really takes away from the story. If you have to follow a walkthrough to progress, why not just have it as a story? The story itself is actually pretty good though. It's humorous, and intriguing. I would suggest you check it out. You'll get stuck often though, and have to fight yourself from just following the walkthrough.

Though Beneath a Steel Sky treads out some interesting concepts and is probably worth being considered a classic, it struggles at delivering an experience that balances the elements of story and gameplay with a consistent tone. Comedy is the predominant genre so the times that are obviously meant to be taken seriously feel so out of place as to be even more comedic. This makes a sometimes uncomfortable experience. The puzzles themselves are often reasonable, and when I solved one on my own, it usually made sense, but a lot of backtracking made solving some puzzles feel very monotonous. The dialogue is fun, but poorly voiced and the music is appropriate but on a very short loop. Overall, the positives outweigh the negatives, but it is hard for me to recommend due to its mediocrity.