| NET: Zone | Compro Games / Gametek | 1997 | |
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This is a below-average Myst-style adventure game that plays much worse than the cool premise would have you believe. It brings absolutely nothing new to the table. It's set in the world of virtual reality, and as you might expect, it takes place in a 3-D rendered world. The game uses a first-person perspective, which allows you to pick up and manipulate objects by pointing and clicking on them. Movement is achieved by clicking on unobstructed spaces, which enables you to "step" ahead in long strides. This is a bear since you have to find the right place to click to move to a different area. Sometimes you click on one place in a screen and you are taken a little farther than you would have liked to go, or not far enough - and suddenly moving around turns into a complex science. The game's main problem is not that it employs a tired and overused interface, but that its Net-based, geeky VR content is way too technical, cliched, and generally uninteresting. In this gaudy 3-D world, many of the puzzles set before you are solved using whiz-bang gadgets such as "Diagnostic Module Enhancers", "cygotes", and "radix capsules". It's a hassle to remember what these things are, nevermind trying to figure out what in the world to do with them. It almost seems like the game is custom-made for Bill Gates. Puzzles consist of things such as running a diagnostic test on a Zeppelin to the cliched Internet problem of eliminating viruses. Aside from the well-composed, moody CD soundtrack, it fails horribly in every area. Despite the cool setting and neat graphics, the banal plot, obscure puzzles, and repetitive gameplay sink the game below the surface. Play Beneath a Steel Sky instead. | ||
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