AMBER: Journeys Beyond

The Good
Amber uses the Myst point and click slide show method to tell an interesting ghost story. A psychic researcher has moved into a haunted house and is developing technologies to interact with the "residents." Unfortunately, she hasn't been answering the phone and you are the closest to the house. It is up to you to investigate the house, learn the machinery, and assist the missing researcher by learning the reasons why the different ghosts haunt the house.

The benefit of the Myst style interface is that it allows for photorealistic graphics. A Quicktime plug-in, also allows for animation. So if you click on a rope, it grows taut, etc. Also, this style offers high performance for low end systems. The house's interior and the exterior grounds look great. Also, the Quicktime animations really come into play when you acquire a device that allows you to spy in rooms where hauntings are occurring.

I really don't remember ambient sounds as being that impressive, but a section of the game that takes place during an earlier part of the house's history features a radio that plays several different channels of contemporary music.

Voice acting was good except for once instance I'll mention below.

There weren't too many puzzles, but the ones that were there seemed logical.

The Bad
The Myst style interface has several drawbacks. First, because you are navigating through mouse clicks, the suspension of disbelief is diminished. Of course, this game was developed for older software. Still, one of the main problems is that it is easy to overlook an area-- often having to make a three-point turn, and that you can only look up and down in certain areas.

Voice acting was good overall, but very poor during the section that takes place on the lake.

Finally, I'm from the school of thought that computer games should tell stories. This one deals with a very interesting story, but tells it poorly. The reasons for the hauntings are readily apparent, rather than being slowly unfolded. Also, I believe the ending is supposed to contain a twist, but it is so apparent from the beginning of the game that I'm unsure.

The Bottom Line
This was probably very entertaining in its time, but would now offer less than $5 worth of gameplay. Few puzzles and limited area to explore, combine to make this a short game. Not particularly scary or challenging.

The Good
The creepy, haunted house atmosphere that this game creates is very effective. Most of the QuickTime FMV cut scenes are very well shot and well acted. Contains some very cool scripted sequences.

On a technical note it is worth mentioning that this game was developed entirely in Macromedia Director, which is a tool frequently used to make interactive business presentations. This may not sound impressive now, but when this game was released in 1996 Director was a far less suitable tool for game making than it has since become.

The Bad
Due to the inherent limitations of the game engine (i.e. Director), the transitions seen as you move about the game world are extremely choppy.

Like almost all first person perspective adventure games of this type, there are no characters to interact with in the game world. After a while, you start to feel a little lonely.

Puzzles are mostly of the variety that require you to root through your inventory until you find the correct item to use.

The Bottom Line
Worth a look if you loved Myst or you managed to play more than five minutes of Temujin without hurling your mouse out the window. Well written, engrossing story accompanied by mediocre gameplay.