I creep along the dark winding
tunnels, desperately trying to find a way out of here. There are so many
locked doors, and behind them are most certainly supplies I need. It is so
dark in here though, and while hiding from the lurking dogs and avoiding
the skittering critters, it is so easy to lose my way in the many twists
and turns. Why, oh why, did I ever pursue this quest? A letter from my
father, dead these thirty years, told me about this place. Foolishly I
have come to unravel the past, and in doing so, may lose my life or at
least my sanity.
It’s a game. It’s a game. It’s a game. You must keep
telling yourself that. Send kudos to the game developers for creating a
convincingly spooky and palm sweaty atmosphere. From running through the
brightness of the ice blizzard to tumbling down into the mine, from
disjointed notes and clues scattered throughout the winding darkness of
the tunnels to the ambient sounds of hostile creatures -- all is effective
for placing you in a discomfort zone.
If that is all the developers were trying to do in this
first episode of a trilogy, then they have succeeded. However, if they
meant this to also be fun – for me it wasn’t. I can see raising the
heartbeat during a few instances in a game to flesh out the story. Here,
though, was a steady diet of action and discomfort. Much of the discomfort
comes from the controls. In using them, I felt like I had my strong hand
tied behind my back, and I was trying to thread a needle using only my
weak hand. (More later about the controls.)
“I don’t like
spiders and snakes,
And that
ain’t what it takes
To love me,
Like I want
to be loved by you”-Jim Stafford (from the song Spiders and Snakes)
First, this is not an adventure game, and I don’t care
who says it is. This is an action adventure game. Or perhaps one could
just call it a horror game, which is also fitting. It does have the same
feel as the Silent Hill games, and if you are a fan, then you may well
find this an enjoyable romp. Or maybe a Crystal Key game turned into its
nightmare counterpart. But I can’t call a game an adventure game when half
of the time you are running, sneaking, fighting and being attacked by
horrific creatures. The screen view is clumsy during combat and you find
yourself fighting air. What’s more, your character is so useless that if
he LOOKS at said creatures, he becomes faint and the screen blurs. Enough
already!
“Heroics are for Hollywood actors and fairy tales”-
Penumbra
On the plus side, there are no sliders for those who
don’t like them, and the puzzles are quite simple. Most of them consist of
finding a way into locked rooms (without becoming something’s meal du
jour), discovering notes left by former occupants, and using clues left in
the notes to make machines work or to put together various paraphernalia
to aid in your escape. It was interesting to read the notes, and of course
they did give the game a story line.
Besides the notes, there is scant story to the game,
which I admit is a personal peeve of mine. The developers seem to have an
interesting story line envisioned, but they don’t follow through (at least
in this episode). Who this character really is, and why we should care
about dragging him through endless tunnels when he wants to hide his head
and refuse to look at what is about to eat him alive -- these things
remain a mystery. And yes, you could consider the mine a big maze to
explore for most of the game. I did say endless tunnels, and maybe that is
not quite accurate. The game is rather short. It took about ten hours to
complete. I’m not certain how much of that time involved getting turned
around when fighting or hiding and then running in the wrong direction.
I didn’t fail the test, I just found 100 ways to do
it wrong”- Benjamin Franklin
You can’t save at will. Your game is automatically saved
at certain checkpoints, or when you click on artifacts. Thus, when you
continue the game, you are taken back to the checkpoint or artifact. If
you are unable to successfully navigate to the next save point, of course
you are going to repeat steps. Because of the awkward camera angles, the
inability to look at what is attacking you without becoming weaker, and
the control scheme, you should expect to die and repeat steps with some
regularity. You can hide rather than fight, but this becomes a chore,
staring at the game screen for dull moments wondering if you can venture
forward. Perhaps it is possible to hide from every single opponent, but it
wasn’t possible for me. I detested the necessity of killing dogs (no
matter that they were psychotic), and didn’t appreciate the associated
gore. What’s more, without writing a spoiler here, there is a later
opponent that can kill you in the blink of an eye. Back to the checkpoint,
and try, try again!
There are also three difficulty settings, which change
the strength of your opponents but not the difficulty of the puzzles.
“I hope that the meager food rations here will keep
me alive” - Penumbra
There isn’t much dialog, but for what there is, the
quality of the voiceovers is very good. The music and the ambient sound
are also very good and fit the game well. The scratching of insect feet
and the moaning of the dogs will fray nerves.
The graphics likewise suit the game -- very dark and
gloomy. The sense of abandonment is intense. The use of shadows as you use
your light source is convincingly real. What shows up in the light is
sometimes rather subpar, but I haven’t forgotten that this is a small
group of developers working on a limited budget.
“One point of curiosity is some kind of
archaeological find, an artifact buried in the earth”- Penumbra
In regard to the aforementioned controls, there is at
the same time a cause for congratulation and a melancholy wish that there
could have been better implementation.
You play the game from a first person perspective,
utilizing the WASD buttons for movement, and various keyboard keys for
additional actions. However, an innovative measure has been taken here, in
that you use the mouse for specialized and realistic interaction with
objects in the game. Quoting from the manual, “Almost all interaction in
Penumbra behaves in a physically realistic manner…You grab an object by
pressing and holding down (the left mouse button). To let the object go,
just release the same button.”
This level of physical realism is something different in
a game, and at first it was fun to explore in this manner. Drawers to be
opened and closed, items to be picked up and flicked aside, much to be
explored in this new way. Indeed if this were an adventure game with an
adventure world to explore and no timed or combat elements, this might
have remained an appreciated and welcome innovation. But things don’t
continue to run smoothly using this type of interaction. A hatch is sticky
and time is running out. A hammer can’t be wielded in a physically
realistic manner to protect life and limb.
“Perhaps this mine really is cursed”- Penumbra
All in all, I saw Penumbra: Overture as an
intriguing first effort from a small group of developers who are scheduled
to make two more episodes to round out the game. I wish that Episode One
could stand alone, and that it had some sort of resolution. I wish a lot
of things, but mostly I wish that it had not been called an adventure game
when it isn’t. As an action adventure game it shows promise and may
ultimately succeed. However, due to its many action elements and inherent
problems, I can’t recommend it to adventure game players.
Grade: C
May 2007
design copyright ©
2007
GameBoomers
Group
