My first experience with this game was actually a year ago, when I managed to pick it up complete in box for a dollar at a yard sale. Knowing the importance of this game, I had to have it. So, how could an adventure game from 1994 that's been copied and improved on possibly hold up? The answer is surprisingly well. The premise is that you stumble into an old house, with no idea of who you are or how you got there. The filled with cursed puzzles and toys, and the only way to find out what went on is to solve the puzzles. That may sound like a bit of a weak way to reveal a story, but it proves surprisingly effective after the first time you solve a puzzle, because like you, the people in the flashbacks are also trying to solve the puzzles and figure out the secret of the house. The gameplay of the Seventh Guest revolves around solving these puzzles. Every room in the house has a puzzle you need to solve. All of the puzzles are based on classic toys and brain teasers, which is the first thing that sets this apart from most adventure games. In other games, the first puzzle is figuring out what the puzzle is, whereas the Seventh Guest explicitly states when you are at a puzzle and usually does a good job at leading you to the next puzzle you need to solve, by way of its helpful map. The puzzles range from very easy to maddeningly hard to "How was I supposed to figure that out?" The schizophrenic difficulty curve of the puzzles is the game's main flaw. Most of the puzzles provide a good challenge and are satisfying to complete, but some give you no logical way of figuring them out. The infamous soup can puzzle, in which players must form a sentence with cans of soup that have letters on them is the worst offender. As players have no way of knowing what sentence to make, plus all the vowels that would normally be in the (very archaic and out of use) words are replaced with the letter Y. Then there is the infamous labratory puzzle, in which you play a puzzle game against the game's antagonist. This puzzle isn't as bad as the soup can puzzle, because it's fun to play; so fun, in fact, that Trylobite has released a standalone version of the puzzle for iPhone. The problem is that the AI is so perfect, chances are you won't beat it using normal means. The AI for this puzzle was programmed so that the number of moves it would look ahead was dependant on the speed of the computer's processor, which was fine back in 1993, but now that today's computers are thousand of times faster, the game has pretty much become a genius. Despite these frustrating features, the game has a very clever way of handling puzzles too hard for players to beat. In the library of the house is a hint book. If players find themselves stumped, they can consult the book for a hint on the puzzle. If they still can't figure it out, they can go back to the library for a second hint, then players still can't figure it out, consulting the book a third time solves the puzzle and lets the player progress as if they had solved it themselves. These frustrating puzzles are mostly the exception and not the rule, and overall the puzzles in this game are satisfying brainteasers that give a real sense of accomplishment when you solve them. Overall, the only other problem I can find with the gameplay is that when you walk some where, an FMV plays showing you walking to that place, unlike Myst, which give you more of a slideshow feeling. The fact that movement is actually shown does help the immersion, but the transitions are painfully slow, especially when you're exploring the mansion and don't know quite where to go. Plus, some transitions have the most bizarre walking patterns I've ever seen. For instance, when you're in the labratory, the entrance and exit doors are on the same wall. The exit can be seen from the entrance, but if you click on it, your character walks all the way to the other side of the room, turns around, then walks back to the exit, on the side of the room you started at, as opposed to just facing the exit and walking toward it. This makes a task that should have taken about 10 seconds take half a minute, and is very frustrating, but I think they did it like that to cut down on the number of FMVs they had to fit on the disc, as a seperate walking animation to show going from the entrance to the exit would have taken up valuable space, so I guess it's a necessary evil. Fortunately these sections between the puzzles, where players explore the mysterious mansion, is where the fantastic atmosphere kicks in. Despite the fact that this game came out 18 years ago, and the graphics obviously are no longer the cutting edge of photorealism, this game is SCARY. Infact, this is the first game I've played in a long time that managed to creep me out. The first factor that contributes to the incredible atmosphere is the acting of Robert Hirschboeck, who plays the main antagonist. Throughout the game, he taunts you, gives you clues, and generally creeps you out. His acting somehow manages to be hammy and horrifying at the same time, which gives his character a real feeling of insanity, making one of the most memorable performances to grace an FMV game. He always seems so delighted by your failure, so pleased at the suffering of others, and then there's the maze. I'm not going to say anything about the maze, but make sure you've got your headphones turned up during that portion of the game. This is Grade-A horror. The other major contributor to the great atmosphere is the fantastic soundtrack by Geroge "Fatman" Sanger. This is easily some of the most atmospheric music I've ever heard in a video game, and and incredibly impressive use of MIDI. The creepy music that plays when you first launch the game sets the mood perfectly and gets better from there. The mysterious music that plays when you explore the mansion really gives a sense of unease, and the recurring leitmotif that plays during puzzles will get stuck in your head. Oftentimes, the puzzles have different music, so one puzzle may have a haunting harp melody, while another puzzle may have a manic composition that truly gives the mental image of a complete madman making traps and toys. On the disc version, the second disc of the game can be put into a CD player to play the soundtrack, a feature Good Old Games has wisely recreated by including the soundtrack as a bonus when you buy the game. This music truly is fantastic, my only complaint is that during the cutscenes, the music gets really loud and mostly drowns out what the characters are saying. Fortunately, if you missed what someone says the first time, the game lets you play each scene a second time by clicking a hotspot. It is frustrating having to strain to hear what is being said, especially since the story is so interesting, but at least it gives you a second change. Overall, if you like brainteasers, classic adventure games, games with amazing atmosphere, or just a good scare, the Seventh Guest is fantastic, and even though the flaws are frustrating, the sheer entertainment and joy I got out of this game overshadow the bad parts enough for me to give it a 5 star rating in good confidence. I'm very happy that Good Old Games has snagged this game and the Eleventh Hour, as this is the first time these games have seen a rerelease on PC since the equally ancient special edition of the first game. I'll probably grab the GoG version of this once it's available, and I'll definately pick up the sequel, which I haven't played. The only minor problem it seems these GoG releases will have is that the "Stauf Files" bonus material seems to be attached to the 11th hour, when it really came with the first game. This is a must buy
