Gimme that Thingamajig!
A Review of Gadget
by Joel Comm
It's an adventure! Well . . . no, it's not really an interactive adventure. It's a movie! Well . . . it's not really an interactive movie. It's . . . it's . . . well, what is it then? Unfortunately, while attempting to redefine the medium of interactive film, Gadget falls flat on it's face as 'none of the above.'
Out of Japan comes Haruhiko Shono's story of invention, travel, and adventure (or so the package is labeled). The storyline goes like this. You find yourself in a lavishly rendered hotel room, unsure of what you are doing there.
Aided by your handy interface, which automatically becomes an arrow when a direction is accessible, you point and click your way around the room. Clicking on a radio gives a brief report . . . something about a comet heading for earth. Hmmm. After browsing your quarters, you find that the door leads to the rest of your journey, and so out you venture to figure out what in the world is going on. Noticing the earth-tone shadings of nostalgic years gone-by, you make your way to an elevator. There, a little boy stands holding a briefcase. Unbeknownst to you (except that the package reveals this part of the plot), your briefcase is swapped out for the little boy's. Sounds Myst-like, does it not? Yes, but this is where the comparison falls flat on it's face. You see, Gadget is NOT an adventure game in the traditional sense. It is a completely linear movie in which you are allowed movement and interaction as far as it is predesigned. It took me about 10 minutes to realize that this was going to be a very tedious exercise in interaction.
Without revealing to much of the pretentious plot, a mysterious man named Slowstop has commissioned you to gather information and gadgets (thing-a-ma-jigs, if you will). Although you are filled in a little at a time as the plot unfolds, you realize that a group of scientists led by their leader, "Horselover", are up to something shady. Slowstop? Horselover? Yah. Hopping aboard the sleek steam locomotive, you journey forth through train station after train station, as well as a couple other locations. Pointing, clicking, clicking, pointing, and interacting with the residents of this strange world. Well, perhaps interacting is not the word I'm looking for here. The interaction consists of spotting a person and clicking on them. The people are very stiff, mannequin looking individuals who never move their mouths or bodies, only their eyes, and occasionally their heads. A click on a person rewards you with some text dialogue which sometimes reveals the plot, points you where you should go next, or triggers a cut scene.
The cut scenes are all in black and white, usually taking place while the train is moving from station to station. They are accompanied by industrial sounding original compositions by Koji Ueno. I kept wanting to turn the sound down, but stuck with it in case it changed somewhat. It never did.
Even the scenes where you are called to use a gadget are completely linear. For example, this whatzit needs a gadget. You click on the whatzit and your suitcase appears. Click on the suitcase and it opens. Click on all the gadgets you have collected, but only the one needed will be selected.
Click on the highlighted gadget and the suitcase closes. Click on the suitcase and it is removed from the screen. Click on the whatzit, and the gadget is automatically set in place. And then the whatzit does a whatchamacallit and you wonder why it took so many steps to do the only thing the software would allow you to do. The only interactivity that even reeks of involving you is a pseudo-maze towards the end of the game.
However, I must give credit to the lush renderings and quicktime movies. Mild applause here, but Gadget just doesn't live up to it's billing. It's not a game, and it makes for a very dull (and expensive) evening at the movies. Go rent a video instead.
Gamer's Zone Scorecard
| Product: |
Gadget |
| Company: |
SYNERGY, Inc.
|
| Cost: |
n/a |
System Requirements:
Windows 3.1
386/25 or better
8 MB RAM
Hard Drive
Mouse
Sound device
Breakdown:
Fun Factor 2
Graphics 4
Sound 2
Interface 4
Replayability 1
Overall Score:
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