Beneath a Steel Sky (1994)

´The graphics and production values of this thing is top notch, but the story or the characters never really takes off. A lot of jokes, but more cringes than laughs. Most of the dissapointment stems from the puzzles. I spent most of the time walking around trying to try this thing with that thing just to make anything happen. You never really know what you are supposed to to or where you are supposed to go. But those criticisms aside, you can tell that this is a classic. And even the documentation looks beautiful, with great comics art. And being completely free, i still recommend it, because, hey you might like it more than me. And in that case, good for you!

Beneath a Steel Sky caught my eye because it was created by Revolution, the developers for the popular Broken Sword franchise. It was intriguing to me because as an Australian we rarely see video games actually set in our country. There are various references to Australian culture including aboriginals, fosters beer, animals, Hobart and the game's setting, Union City which is Sydney. I instantly connected Beneath a Steel Sky with the Sydney Harbour Bridge, one of the finest steel structures in existence and an obvious inspiration for the game. The cultural impact isn't profound enough to deter people from this game, it's merely a pleasant inclusion without any harsh stereotypes, I seriously laughed at the Foster's beer reference although now we drink VB and Four X. You are introduced to Robert Foster, an orphan who was adopted by the Aborigines after being involved in a copter crash at a young age. Now far older and full of wisdom and witty remarks, Foster is swept away by a team of storm-troopers back to the city where he was born. Souless steel towers littered with pipes are all that greet him, everything has changed for the worse. It's a fascinating setting. Society has been completely reformed with the poorest living near at the top level and the richest residing the bottom. A clear gap is defined early on and we learn everything is governed by a mysterious council and a computer known only as LINC. If you've ever read 1984 or Brave New World you'll understand Big Brother has clearly assumed total control. The dystopian world is enigmatic and fun to explore with excellent artwork for every scene. Don't cocern yourself with any "darker" shades though because the accompanying humor overrides that time and again. Some characters even move between areas to make it feel more alive. As an adventure game it's generally what you'd expect. Talking to people for information and clues on what to do next, using one item on another. One of the differences is that you can die and there are many ways to fail, including a rather unexpected and hilarious disintegration. Puzzles range from too simple to obscure and complex. Getting into the security building using a grappling hook took me a while to figure out since the game expands as you gain access to more levels. Overall it's a little short and can be finished in about four hours, I thought there was less dialogue from characters than other games however it is voice acted and well at that. Speaking of sound I'm concerned about bugs that could possibly be censorship. Sometimes lines of dialogue aren't uttered at all. Then we come to the music and I just didn't like it because it pierces your ears and is only a short loop. That's about the only gripe I have with the game though, otherwise it features a solid story which is appealing to any cyberpunk fanatic. Fun, free and thrilling!

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.

Some games grow on me. This one withered. I started out liking it--interesting comic book opening, a witty robot companion--but increasingly found myself getting angry. A poor plot and poor design both hamper this game. A sign of poor writing is an inconsistent tone and the tone in this game changes constantly. You're supposedly playing in a dystopian industrial city like Blade Runner, but most of the game is so lighthearted, full of bright colors and carefree music and jokesters, that you'd never know you were supposed to feel oppressed. Even your robot Joey is inconsistent: he starts as your witty companion, talking back to you and attacking everything with his welding torch. Then he disappears for half the game and reappears as a subservient android who acts like a cocker spaniel. What happened to his personality??! And don't get me started on the ending, which doesn't even make sense, but does make you look like a dick. The gameplay is off, too. Several sequences are beyond unintuitive (I have to talk to the gardener before I can walk into the courtroom? Of course!) and there are puzzles that *require* you to change the game speed to proceed. Who in their right mind makes a game with off-screen events that will time out unless you *happen* to know to adjust the game speed?! The wrench cabinet, the steam valve and the cyberworld all suffer from this--you could do every action correctly and still never get anywhere because some hidden event timed out. You could never ever ever finish this game without the hint book to tell you how to get past these moments, and there are several of them. Moreover, the graphics are bad enough that they get in the way of gameplay. The game features a comic book style intro, and then abandons it for the rest of the game. The screens often have items that are so tiny that you could look at them a hundred times without noticing a critical item. How am I supposed to notice the metal plate on the wall when it's dark grey on darker grey in the background and only *six* pixels large!! Add to this the fact that there are several easy-to-find red herrings and you'll pull your hair out trying to figure out why all the stuff you found doesn't work, when the stuff you actually need is so obscure you can't even see find it. And the plot! Your reward for all this obtuse and inconsistent gameplay is an ending that doesn't even make sense. [SPOILER] You end up looking like a dick to the dying man, and then fly off to the wilderness to... hang out with your destroyed tribe and die hungry and alone? Did anyone proof read this script!?!

I'd never played this, even when these types of adventure games were less of a rare animal. It surprised me with it's intense and unrelenting charm - I profoundly LIKED being in the weird world the game presents, and I LIKED meeting all the characters. I even liked the little "shrugging" animation of the main character when you try to execute something that doesn't work (which happens often). After giving Gemini Rue a play recently, that fact was refreshing: in Gemini Rue, the character demeans the player often for not doing the correct action - but in these games, the "correct action" often amounts to "what am I thinking", and can be totally arbitrary - but when your characters and game world is relentlessly likeable and fun, you can forgive it! Another thing this game does well is the exploring. There are lots of interesting new areas, and it understands the true payoff in games like this - getting into a new area and getting to explore. I had to look up a walkthrough for two or three bits, which were annoying - don't give the player a metal bar AND a wrench when it just means you have to try TWO objects out on everything because they often do the same thing. One door in the game is locked - Foster, the protagonist, comments that the lock on the door is one of the old fashioned kind. I figured that explicitly meant DON'T try the digital keycards on the lock.... I would need another old-school type key or something. But no, after 30 minutes of wandering around, it turned out he uses the keycard to pick the lock.... seriously? There are one or two misleading puzzles like that which are arbitrary and flow-killing.... ...but the game nicely picks up pace as you progress. That was a great feature as well - the huge payoff as you advance the levels and story. Excellent, unique, fun game. It shows exactly what's wrong with some of these modern, nostalgia based games like Gemini Rue - they forgot to be unique and charming, and, you know, FUN. Jump in!