I don't get the chance to play games enough to give them a good review as often as you think. Recently, due to money issues and the like, I haven't been able to get any new games and such. Which is probably for the best because it gives me some time to look over some other games which I have played with and then just thrown into the ever-increasing pile.
This last few weeks I have been diving head first into the land of Penumbra Overture, a game whos title sounds like the life of Mozart, but is actually an incredibly well written, atmospheric and creepy game.
You take hold of the protagonist Philip after receiving a note from his long lost father -- 30 years lost actually -- telling him specifically not to come find him, he decides that the best thing to do would be to ignore his incredibly lost father and the story takes him down a one way track to despair and dementia in the depths of a mine in Greenland. So far so good, something new and interesting, indeed it is.
As it is, the story is told through a quick introduction followed by several notes and books found in the environment and some fairly insane dialog from a recurring influence named Red. The mine that Phillip so recklessly flings himself into has a great air of mystery about it and reading through the various notes and hearing the ramblings of Red only helps increase your own uneasy need to delve deeper into the mystery. This is almost like every horror movie ever. You find yourself saying "Don't do that you BERK!" just as the character decides it would be a good idea to enter the cavern with blood smeared all over the walls, but this time you are yelling at the game and to pillock controlling Philip, which is yourself.
Whether you appreciate the mood and themes or not, Penumbra does have some interesting mechanics for a PC adventure game. Developer Frictional has utilized the mouse much like the Wiimote is being used in many of the games on Nintendo's new console. Mouse over a interactive item and the cursor will turn to a hand allowing control of that object in a physics based environment. Simply click to grab and then pull, push, turn, or pick up the objects to manipulate them. Every door needs to be opened with a push or a pull and many other objects have the same effect. In a lot of cases, these simple physics rules create some interesting gameplay puzzles and solutions. I can't shake the feeling that I wish there was more of that, but what is there is pretty good for the first episode of an unproven adventure series from a small development house. None of this is totally new, but it is a welcome change for an adventure title.
Here comes the Gripe-train pulling into the station with it's lone passenger; the combat system. It uses the same interactive ideas. Equip a weapon such as a hammer or a pickaxe, hold the left mouse button, and then use mouse movements to swing the object at enemies. The problem is the enemies are too fast and persistent and the controls too clumsy to be an effective solution in a one on one fight. Luckily, the enemy AI is more thick than a concrete and tarmac milkshake without the milk, but what do you expect from spiders and undead doggies?
People nit pick at the graphics because they aren't full, mega shiny, ultra bloom, awesome-up-the-arse pretty graphics like recent games but to those people I say shut the hell up. The atmosphere, gameplay, lighting and story more than make up for it.
If you want a great game to play at night and in the dark that will draw you in, I heartily recomment Penumbra Overture. In fact, get the gold one for the other episodes
I'll post a few more of my reviews around at some point :P
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by D_K_Head
Bookmarks