Igor: Objective Uikokahonia

The Good
Taking all the charm of the late 80's Lucasarts classic adventure games as it's main influence this spanish effort by Péndulo Studios sets out to deliver a few hours of good old fashioned point-and-click adventuring as you control young college student Igor in the most challenging and meaningful quest mankind has ever faced: the quest to get the chick! That's right guys, Igor wants to get the hottest chick in campus, and in order to get her to notice him he must try and wow her in beautiful sunny Uikokahonia, the location of this year's school trip. Problem is Igor's low grades prevent him from going there... solution? Igor must weasel his way to the beaches of Uikokahonia, prevent the campus jock from screwing his game, and win the hottie's heart all with the use of a mouse and a SCUMM-like interface.

The game has you going around the campus gathering items and solving puzzles related to them in the usual "use screwdriver with screw" way. Difficulty ranges from simple to slightly annoying mostly because of some sequences were the game's focus seems to wonder off and leaves you wondering just where the hell are you suppossed to go next...

As far as graphics go Igor's world is filled with colorful (if blocky) graphics made in a style reminiscent of the original Monkey Island games, with cute animated sprites over hand-drawn backgrounds. Sure, by 1995 standards the graphics are relatively low-grade, but the overall style just scream "classic Lucas" and there ain't nothing wrong with that, right?

Aside from that it's worth mentioning that the game is solidly produced for a first effort.

The Bad
I think all of Igor's flaws can be summed up by stating what may become obvious once you've spent a few minutes with the game: and that's the fact that it's just not a triple A title. When viewed with the rose-tinted glasses of classic adventure gaming-fandom the game may come off as a cute homage, but there's no denying that it's a terribly outdated game by all accounts.

Graphics are at least 5 years old, gameplay-wise things throw you back to the days of King's Quest (which isn't really bad but c'mon... a little innovation folks!) and even the storyline feels outdated and corny! (cute and witty [but for some reason unpopular] kid wants to get the hot blonde babe, so he has to outsmart the big popular jock and bla,bla,bla... Revenge of the Nerds anyone??)

Aside from that there's the stagnant feeling that the guys at Péndulo either ran out of money or something similar, because the game carries a nice pace that is completely thrown out the window when you reach the end. You spend the entire game trying to get enough money to get to Uikokahonia, and once you get it Whammo!!! You get the chick out of nowhere, and that's it! It almost feels like a demo of a nice (if outdated) game.

The Bottom Line
Depending on wether you are an adventure game fanatic this game comes off as either a cute game that pays homage to the classics of the genre, or as a short and outdated one that has lots of good intentions but still comes off as a lackluster effort.

Adventure gamers in general will likely find the game's flaws irrelevant and enjoy playing it, but those that aren't fans of the genre might want to reconsider their investment.

The Good
Great story, it's like the typical 80s teenager movies, you may feel identified with Igor, the main character, he is a typical loser trying to catch the attention of the girl of his dreams, Laura, im not calling you all losers (of course not ^_^) but that's a typical situation in wich common mortal people like you or me in some moment of life have been into, and there is also Phillip, your rival, he is more popular than you and seems to have more posibilities of scoring with Laura than you do. The puzzles are really brilliant, with constant humor and ridiculous situations, simply excelent. The interface is really simple and effective as a lot of adventure games.

The Bad
Argh, the bloody labyrinth is totally anti-climax and the game was too short and you feel like wanting to know more about the story...

The Bottom Line
Very fresh and funny