Cult

The Good
Zack Bon is with the Special Operations Unit of his police department. His first solo mission involves ending the standoff at the Cult of the Stars villa. By earning the Cultists’ trust, Bon must make his way through the blockaded villa to the Cult leader. The Cult is known to have a weapons stockpile and police are ready to storm the villa. Alone (save for a microtransmitter) and unarmed, Bon's attempt is a last-ditch effort to handle the situation peacefully and protect the lives of the Cultists, their children, and the police.

Using a top down perspective, players move Bon through the villa, its gardens, and courtyard. Cult has a very easy interface. Controlled solely through the keyboard, Bon picks up items by walking over them and interacts with people and the environment by bumping into things. What inventory there is is managed on-screen.

Much of the villa is off-limits to Bon, but finding items for Cultists earns their trust, letting Bon deeper into the heart of the compound. Bumping into a Cultist initiates a conversation which typically forwards the story and provides a miniquest. One cultist might be willing to share information but they are distracted because they can't find an envelope. Another Cultist might have an envelope, but really needs a book from the library. Bon can also open some doors by hitting switchplates. Other doors are color-coded requiring Bon to have the correct color key to unlock them.

Moving through the maze-like villa, Bon’s life is threatened by pools of toxic chemicals. The only way Bon can die (and fail his mission) is by hitting too many of the hazardous puddles. His health is replenished by health kits scattered around the villa and the only real inventory he must manage are quest items. Bon’s hidden microtransmitter is used automatically when he completes a quest which advances the story.

Cult’s graphics are functional, colorful but not animated. The game’s appearance (and style) is similar to the Desktop Adventures released by LucasArts. Jeremy Robson’s score is impressive, but mostly constitutes tracks that play in the background rather than being keyed into in-game events. Sound effects are limited to grunts, beeps, and blips.


The Bad
Before I get too far, Lee Blum should be applauded for releasing a stable freeware game that’s more than diverting for a few hours. Made in opposition to violent first person shooters flooding the commercial market at the time of Cult’s initial release, Cult does offer a change of pace of gamers. However, stacked up against most adventure games, commercial or otherwise, Cult is merely a decent entry.

Beyond Cult’s acceptable graphical and audio limitations, the core of Cult’s gameplay is flawed by presenting the gamer with a series of obvious FedEx quests. Cult has no real “negotiations” to speak of, since it has no conversational interface. Cult has no puzzles other than the villa’s maze and the challenge to remember which Cultist wanted what.

Finally, despite Blum’s stated intentions, one quest is completed by the threat of violence and the game’s resolution largely takes place due to the right person having access to a gun.


The Bottom Line
While not an Internet phenomena, Cult is very popular. From its 1998 8-bit origin, Cult has undergone a major revamp and has been translated into 20 languages. The Studio Blum web site contains pages of fan responses and links to reviews which found this game more favorable than I did. There’s obviously something here, but I found Blum’s effort to be underwhelming.

Although game designer Lee Blum cites his living in the Middle East as the motivation for Cult's emphasis on finding "a non-violent solution to a very delicate situation," it's hard not to see parallels or at least find some commentary on the 1993 BATF siege of the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas. Both Waco and Cult feature a religious sect isolated from the world with a potentially large weapons cache and children endangered by a prolonged standoff, although a cigar may just be a cigar.