The Journeyman Project: Pegasus Prime

Pegasus Prime is an excellent game and disearves much consideration. It may be hard to pull away from of the doom clones now a days, but for once consider not using brute force over what we can all use all the time, our minds.

Even with the interface gripes, my top hat goes off to the people at Presto. Pegasus Prime is just a damn cool game, whether you're a fan of the Mac or not. It's slick, it's appealing to the ear and eye, and it evens the playing field for the following two Journeyman games. Unfortunately, I wouldn't hold my breath to see if this game gets ported to the PC. Presto seems to think it's comfortable being at home on the Mac, so who am I to argue?

Okay, but is it different enough from the original JP, you ask? Most definitely. Some irritating things have been eliminated, such as an access code the player needs to get rolling that's in the game docs, not the game. Puzzles have been moved around a bit and some added, some inventory is moved to different locations and additional actions need to be done with what's there, and some additional environments to explore and use inventory with. And of course there's the incredible re-crafted graphic design and added cinematic sequences, nothing short of amazing in comparison to the original game. It kept me, as a "previously done the original JP player" thoroughly enthralled.

Gamers should by no means be put off by the fact that this is a remake; Pegasus Prime is more than capable of standing on its own merits. The game's features, particularly the graphics and sound, take full advantage of the advances in home computing. The four-disc set is an enticing story that gives the time-travel bit a good twist and will keep you playing for hours.

Although I wish the sound effects and music were in stereo and auto-panned, the lack of these features doesn't deduct any points from what I see as a wonderful remake of a now-classic interactive adventure CD-ROM. Improvements and additional material are far too numerous to list, allowing even the Journeyman Project veterans to enjoy the game. Game play has been lengthened considerably, not just because of 4 CD-ROMs, but due to large expansions to each environment of the original game. Beautiful animation at every turn allows the gamer to become totally absorbed in the game, causing time to fly by without the gamer even noticing. That's what a game is supposed to offer, and Pegasus Prime delivers...again.