Summary
Not worth the media it's published on
The Good
I admit that I was curious about this game from the moment I heard about it and I anxiously awaited its release. The long descriptive "history" behind it sounded intriguing and the comparison to
Blade Runner made it very tempting. After its release, I was perplexed by the differences of opinion posted on all of the web sites whose ratings I trust. Reviews cover the full spectrum from really good to a major flop. Curious, I had to see for myself whether this was good or bad.
The game ships on 3 CDs which are copied in their entirety to your hard disk during a very lengthy installation routine. You can then put the CDs away since they are never accessed during start or gameplay.
One of the first things I noticed was the lack of a printed manual. I found it later on my hard disk after installation in an Adobe PDF file. It appears that the developer intended to print one but did not for some reason. (A budget issue perhaps.)
The game begins not with a customary video, but instead with a short "prologue" chapter to help you get accustomed to the simple point and click interface. The location is 1942 in a bunker during the battle of Stalingrad. Two Russians occupy the bunker, one of which you play. Unless you've read the background story (on the web or on the game box), you'll have no idea what this part is all about. After your character finds a strange box in the wreckage of a downed airplane, the actual title page appears, followed by the main menu. Clicking on "new game" you meet your new character, Ren Silver, as she arrives on the planet Mars for a much needed vacation. The year is now 2138. Sounds pretty good so far, doesn't it? Well ..
Legacy: Dark Shadows does have many of the components that we adventure gamers have found to our liking in the past ..
- An attractive female heroine
- A science fiction setting
- Multiple locations on Earth and in outer space
- 3rd person perspective
- Easy point and click interface
- Interactive puzzles
- Numerous people to meet and talk to
But .. you will find, as I did, that those things alone do not make this game worth playing. It takes more .. much more.
The Bad
Legacy has some major deficiencies as well as some irritating technical problems .. all of which detract from the players enjoyment.
If you depend entirely on what is presented within the game itself, these questions remain unanswered ..
- Who?
The character development is a joke. Who they are and what relationship they have to each other is not explained .. at all! None of the dialogs or journal entries help. For instance, early in the game you are told that someone named Ted is missing. It is never really explained why on earth Ren should care what happened to Ted .. or even who he's supposed to be.
What you find are cardboard characters with blank slates - absent of personality, backgrounds and purpose. This includes the main character, Ren. She is advertised as being similar to April Ryan (The Longest Journey) and Kate Walker (Syberia). Unfortunately, she's not even close.
The bad character development is compounded by poorly written dialog scripts and abysmal voice acting. Ren sounds like she's speaking through a tube. I grew tired of listening to English badly spoken in a thick Russian accent, mispronounced words, and sentences that didn't make sense. Subtitles contain numerous misspellings as well.
- Why?
The vital component which separates the good from the bad is an engaging story -- and this game doesn't have one! If there is a plot, the player never learns it. Reading the box, manual and company lines only give you the gist. We are -never- told about the supposed evil plot. Nor do we learn why Ren should care.
- What?
The puzzles in the game are few .. and very easy. They're similar to some I've seen in Nancy Drew games only not nearly as imaginative. Nothing worthy of note here.
- How?
Although most of the collectible objects are conspicuous, the "hot spots" for using them aren't clear. As an example, Ren finds a safe that needs to be opened. Running your cursor around the safe's door doesn't yield any interactive spots. You can interact with it .. but you're not shown where.
And there's more ..
The graphics are only fair with low quality cut-scenes and short animation loops in the pre-rendered backgrounds. Lips don't move, the hands are fingerless, and body movements are unrealistic. The whole thing looks out of date .. say 1997.
The music neither adds nor detracts .. except for the obnoxious rap song that plays during the rolling credits.
The game crashes to desktop (often) and
every time you exit.
The Bottom Line
Needless to say I was disappointed .. but more than that -- I was bored!
But .. adventure game players take heart! There are
much better games out there. Forget about this crap and move onto something else.
