Blade Runner

Moby ID: 341
Windows Specs
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The game is based on the movie bearing the same title (which, in turn, is based on Philip K. Dick's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?). In the grim world of the future, cities lie in darkness, and nature gave its way to artificial, bio-mechanical production of all creatures - including human beings. Those artificial humans are called replicants, and are treated as servants unworthy of being "true" humans. The police officer Ray McCoy is a "Blade Runner", whose special job is hunt down replicant rebels. During his investigations, McCoy also gets to see their side, and his vision of the world and society begins to change.

Blade Runner is an adventure game with an emphasis on detective work rather than on puzzles. There are very few "real" puzzles in the game, and the gameplay mainly consists of questioning suspects, gathering evidence, etc. There are also some action sequences, and throughout the game the protagonist has the ability to use his gun. The player's decisions can (and will) influence the outcome of the story, bringing the game to one of the six possible endings.

Spellings

  • 銀翼殺手 - Traditional Chinese spelling
  • 银翼杀手 - Simplified Chinese spelling

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Credits (Windows version)

232 People (231 developers, 1 thanks) · View all

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Average score: 86% (based on 39 ratings)

Players

Average score: 4.1 out of 5 (based on 172 ratings with 12 reviews)

Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?

The Good
In 1997, Westwood Studios, perhaps best known for the “Command and Conquer” franchise. Released Blade Runner. Based on the 1982 film by Ridley Scott, and the novel, “Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep”. By prolific sci-fi writer Phillip K Dick. Whose work has also spawned(Among others.) the films: Imposter, The Minority Report, and more recently, 2006’s A Scanner Darkly. It may surprise fans of the game to learn that it not only has references from the film, but many from the novel as well. But is this enough to make for a good video game?

“Man Has Made His Match… Now It’s His Problem”-Blade Runner Tagline-

Set it Los Angeles in 2019, the world of Blade Runner, is a dark, anti-utopian society. Continued social and economical problems, have left the world in a decayed state. Much outside of LA, is just ashes, or “kipple“, as called in slang of Blade Runner. Furthermore most animals have either gone extinct or have been driven near the brink of extinction. Thus McCoy’s Dog, and Deckard’s Sheep in the novel. Having a real, non-electric animal is sort of a status symbol.

Enter the Tyrell Corporation. They produce androids or “replicants”. Mainly for use of slave labor for the colonization of other planets. Replicants are illegal on Terra, as they instigated a massacre of humans in the past. They are stronger, faster, and at least equal in intelligence to humans. Occasionally, they escape to the Earth. Enter the Blade Runner. A type of detective, that is trained specifically, to track down and “retire” the replicants.

Set around the same time as the film, you are Ray McCoy. And are fairly new to being a Blade Runner. Replicants have broken into a electric-animal shop, and killed the pseudo animals, as well as the human shop keep. Now it is your job to find the replicants and retire them.

The game world is modeled after that of the film and somewhat from the novel. Which is a nice touch. Many areas were re-created based exactly from the film. On one hand it is cool that the game is set around the time of the film, but that also causes some contradictions. And the cast of the film reprise their roles in the game. More on both of these later.

Future Noir

Blade Runner, is an adventure game, in the vein of “Police Quest”. You explore various areas, find clues, question witnesses, etc. Other things unique to the Blade Runner game include, being able to administer the Voigt-Kampff Test. It checks the emotional response of the test-taker, with questions such as; “What would you do if some one served you dog?” Many of the questions are from the film, and novel. The test tells the test administrator if the subject is or is not a replicant. If they are in fact a replicant you have the option of retiring the subject. This is one of the coolest aspects of gameplay. Unfortunately this is only used about twice.

The Esper Machine is another cool gadget from the film, that you get to play with in the game. When every you come across a photo you can use it in the Esper, and get a better look of the snap-shot. You can zoom in, pan the view, and see things you would have other wise missed. And even take pictures of items in the picture. You will use the Esper much more often, than say the Voigt-Kampff.

The police spinner is also at your disposal, it lets you drive or fly, anywhere in LA. You will need to backtrack at times. You also often must meet a requirement in the game in order to unlock new areas, knowing what that thing is can be trickier than one would like.

A police issue firearm is also at your disposal, a fairly powerful gun it is practically a hand cannon. You have the opportunity to upgrade it during the game, once you get paid that is.

The game is very open ended. You can go about most situations various ways. That in the end change the game slightly, and will determine what ending you receive. I am told from my sources that there are six. I am not entirely sure of this, as I was only able to see one, despite the fact that every time I played the game, I did different things. WTF?

“Blade Runner Blues” Or, “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale”

The audio in Blade Runner is nearly perfect. With Vangelis’ awe-inspiring score. All the music from the film is here. As well as some new arrangements from Westwood. From “Blade Runner Blues” one of my favorites, to the retro sounding, “One More Kiss Dear”. As well as two other favorites of mine the main and ending titles from the score. (In fact the opening of the film Blade Runner, as well as its score, was plagiarized by Squaresoft, in Final Fantasy VII’s opening, I shit you not.)

The voiceovers are solid for the most part. After all many actors from the film reprise there role in the game. So Rachel is voiced by Sean Young. Edward James Olmos returns in his most enigmatic role as Gaff. And often arrives to impart some help or wisdom to McCoy just as he did for Deckard in the film. Tyrell is once more played superbly by Joe Turkel. Interestingly enough M. Emmet Walsh does NOT return as Bryant. Nor does the character appear in the game at all. Despite the fact that, with the game taking place and the same time as the film, it makes little sense that he is in the film and not the game.

The only place the audio really hiccups is with the voice work of the new characters. Such as McCoy and Crystal. They do a fair job not quite as well as the rest of the cast. On top of that, I have to agree with fellow Moby Gamer, Zovni, that Crystal is not a very good character.

The Graphics for the time were excellent. Today they are okay. I do give Westwood credit for the graphic style they chose. The pre rendered backdrops are sharp and perfectly done as if they are the very sets used in the film. The also got the lighting effects down, which is often neglected in games with pre-rendered graphics. This still looks amazing. However, the characters and inhabitants of the world of Blade Runner fair less well. They are made up of ultra-realistic sprites. That at a distance look incredibly real. Yet up close they are fuzzy and oft undistinguishable. Furthermore when the characters speak, they motion with their bodies. But these movements are often delayed and look off. For example when McCoy is at the elevator at his apartment, and tells it, “McCoy, 88 F.” The motions he makes with his hands are off by at least 20 seconds.

The Bad
“All these moments will be lost, like tears in rain.”-Batty, Blade Runner-

Here I will talk about the bad aspects of Blade Runner. First on my mind is the discrepancies caused by the game, in respect to the film and book. I mentioned the auspicious disappearance of Bryant earlier. This as it turns out is only one of many such discrepancies. Perhaps I am being a little anal but bare with me. ( I could be worse, and say anyone that does not like this film, is a complete fucking moron, but I won’t go there.) The film and the novel tell us that, there is only one or two Blade Runners per Police district yet in the game there are at least six Blade Runners, at one precinct. WTF?

The multiple paths for open ended gameplay looks good on paper. But fails in practice. As I played the game several times, making sure to take different paths, and while the game does change slightly and lead seemingly down a different path. But I received the same ending, that just makes no sense. (If any of my fellow Moby Gamers have solved this enigma, feel free to drop me a Private Message.)

There are also some cool moments, one comes to mind that was seemingly torn from the pages of the novel. In which McCoy is captured and grilled by two Blade Runners from another precinct. They accuse him of being a replicant and threaten to retire him. With your help McCoy must escape. This is a very cool sequence, but unfortunately, did not go anywhere in the sense that I got the same outcome.

These coupled with the fact that the game can be frustrating when you are unsure how to advance the game. And the plot gets strained later on. And before you solve the first case, you are bombarded by others.

The Bottom Line
“It too bad she won’t live,…then again who does?”-Gaff, Blade Runner-

Blade Runner as a film created Neo-Noir. And led to the advent of the term Cyberpunk. Upon which many games are based, and other films. Games like Shadow Run, and films like the Matrix all spawn in some way from the film Blade Runner, and the novels of Phillip K. Dick.

So if you enjoyed this game, check out the film. With a new DVD due later this year. And the Directors Cut available now. I promise, I won’t make fun of you if you have not yet seen the film, or if for some reason, it was not your cup of tea;)

I would also recommend the novel, “Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?” As they film and the novel are in the end better than the game.

If you have seen the movie, and read the book, I would recommend playing the game, as it is nice trip through one of the most influential movies of all time. And most prolific American writers of the 20th century. You may also be interested in the book, “Future Noir: The Making Of Blade Runner”. By Paul M. Sammon.

Windows · by MasterMegid (723) · 2007

Do Adventure Gamers Dream of Electric Sheep?

The Good
Blade Runner is probably one of the most misunderstood and undervalued science fiction films. It failed to generate big box office success in 1982, only to slowly become a cult classic, decades later. This point n' click, graphic adventure game, loosely based on the film, seems to have suffered the same fate. The film's dark, dystopian look and mood is wonderfully recreated in the game, which features amazing animation, graphics, music and sound effects that help to capture the look and feel of the feature film. The voice talents are, for the most part, equally impressive and the game takes great pains to avoid being trapped in linear game play. The game features several different possible endings, depending on the choices that you make at key points in the game. The game unfolds in a real time format and is set in the same time frame as the film, but shortly after its events begin to unfold, thus weaving in plenty of settings and characters that are both familiar and new.

The Bad
The game does feature several fast paced, arcade action sequences within its vast point n' click, adventure gaming format, which needed to mastered to win. While the control is smooth (allowing you to easily run, walk, pull out and aim your weapon) the sequences can be a bit tricky for traditional adventure gamers who might not excel in area of arcade action, may have to spend some quality time at the police shooting range. The philosophical-political themes in the film have been, slightly, watered down in the game as has the mature sexual content. Some of the technology needed to advance in the game, i.e. the ESPER photo-enhancement machine, will take some trial and error before you fully appreciate them. Last, but not least, while the game does not need any special 3D graphics card, it does need a pretty fast computer to work. Getting it to work on Windows XP or Vista may be a challenge.

The Bottom Line
Blade Runner is an amazing graphic adventure computer game, which like the film that it is based on, has become a cult classic. It helped to redefined what was thought to be possible and if you can find a computer that will run the game, then you are in for a real treat.

Windows · by ETJB (428) · 2010

Westwood dreams of electric sheep

The Good
Once upon a time, when Westwood was a serious developer and didn't just go around pimping it's C&C franchise all over the place, them crazy folks decided to do a game out of the seminal sci-fi movie of the 80's: Blade Runner... disaster insues! I thought, after all the idea sounds good on paper, but it's a tricky deal to do a successful game out of a movie, let alone do one about one based on one of the biggest visual masterpieces in motion picture history which also happens to be a textbook example of "what happens when you don't give a damn about screenwriting" that while adding to the movie's charisma by injecting it with even more mysticism and ambiguity, had the downside of making it's plot as cryptic as hell.

Anyway, the resulting quality of Blade Runner's videogame adaptation came thus as a surprise to me, and proved that Westwood still had some life in it. First of all it doesn't make the mistake of trying to adapt the movie per se, but instead takes the basic material and runs with it, creating a brand new story with new characters that runs parallel to the movie's plot. Yes, you are a Blade Runner that looks exactly like Harrison Ford, but you are not him and in fact you are investigating a completely different case that starts from a Replicant assault at a pet store and evolves from that point on.

Following the many wild interpretations of the movie's story, Westwood gave players the excellent choice to allow you to swing into any direction as far as the plot is concerned, and depending on how you play the game you can end up running from the law as a replicant exile yourself, or doing your work as a human Blade Runner and closing the case like a good boy, with dozens of variations inbetween all related to a series of random events, as well as the attitude and disposition you take when questioning the many npcs in the gameworld and finally with the different solutions you find to the problems at hand (do you waste time questioning a bum about where did an escapee replicant go, or do you just lunge at the nearby alley hoping you don't lose him?, etc.).

The gameplay might make the game look like a classic adventure game, but it makes the right choice of leaving puzzles aside to some extent, and instead focus on the detectivesque investigative procedures and the like were just observing a certain event, or using the ESPER and the Voigt-Kampff test checks the right flags to move the game in a certain direction. Not only does this match the mood and tone of the game, but also has the effect of making you feel as if it's you the one who's driving the action instead of being a collection of plot sequences related only by "use hammer on nail"-like exercises.

The production values for the game are dead on. A must really, as Blade Runner the movie was all about creating a visual and aureal "vibe" that could only be done with quality visuals and the unique Vangelis soundtrack. The game uses a collection of pre-rendered backgrounds and even looping fmv's to illustrate the gameworld (which brings to your monitor all those haunting neon reflections, murky streets and foggy landscapes) with voxel characters placed on top. The soundtrack and sfx are excellent, basing the entire work around Vangelis and complementing the gameworld perfectly.

The Bad
The absence of puzzles plays against the game from a difficulty standpoint, and ends up making it a tad too short and a tad too easy. Aside from that I can only point out at certain cheesy elements that seem slightly out of place like the Crystal Steele (god! Who came up with that name??) character who is your stereotypical "badass babe with a gun" character and which always sets the game out of it's tracks mood-wise whenever she appears on a scene. At least the inclusion of stuff right out of the novel makes up for those moments...

Anyway, on the technical side of things, I do agree that the voice acting could have been more polished and while I don't exactly hate the character graphics and their voxels as some people do, I do question the graphical need to use them in some situations, I mean, yes the game is loaded with cool fmv expository sequences, but there are some moments that could have benefited from this treatment and are played out simply in your static gamescreen. I mean, wouldn't some firefights be a tad more dramatic with some well directed fmvs? or how about the shocking moment were a replicant is caught in flames and falls through a window to her death down below?? Isn't THAT something worthy of making it into an fmv instead of simply watching it develop from a mile away in your standard 3rd person perspective view??

...And were the hell is Pris??? Why is it that some of the coolest characters of the movie appear only doing cameos or not at all????

The Bottom Line
Excellent adaptation of one of the most fantastic visual feasts of the silver screen that not only is a great game on it's own, filled with replayability, interesting concepts and good gameplay; but it also catches the vibe and feel of the movie (and quite a particular movie which just so happens to be ALL about vibe and feel) and delivers it to your monitor in perfect condition.

Besides, isn't this like almost the last non-C&C game to come out of Westwood? That's got to count for something

Windows · by Zovni (10504) · 2004

[ View all 12 player reviews ]

Discussion

Subject By Date
Is it really randomized? BurningStickMan (17917) Apr 28, 2010
Which Version Do I Have? mobiusclimber (235) Jul 2, 2008

Trivia

1001 Video Games

Blade Runner appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Blade Runner legend

Here's an interesting, if unprovable, bit of legend behind Blade Runner the movie and the game. The original movie was noted for having many numerous corporate sponsors seen throughout the film. (e.g. Coca-Cola, Pan-Am, Atari, etc...) After the films release many of these corporations suffered huge financial losses, some like Pan-Am filed for bankruptcy and have since ceased to exist. This has been known as the Blade Runner Curse. The curse, it seems, did not end there. The game was produced by Westwood Studios in 1997, less than a year later they would be acquired by Electronic Arts. By March of 2003, Westwood Studios ceased to exist when Electronic Arts shut down its operations after several of its titles such as Command & Conquer: Renegade failed to meet sales expectations.

Blade Runner similarities

Blade Runner made is based upon the Blade Runner movie from 1982. The movie was based on Philip K. Dick's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. The novel story happens somewhere around '90s, since that was distant future for the author, but when the movie was about to be made, they had to increase the time-line and post it on the beginning of the 21st century, since '90s wasn't much of an unknown future for the time movie was made, back in 1982.

Most of actors that played in Blade Runner movie gave their voice talents to some characters in Westwood's Blade Runner, first 3D real-time adventure game, and some of the characters were made as same as movie characters look. Not to mention how many locations in a game looks exactly like the ones from a movie.

Globally speaking, the plot is almost exactly the same as the movie. Sure, the names are different, there are a few more locations, but that's about it.

Compression

Uncompressed Blade Runner with all the polygons, perfectly clear animations and everything at its highest level was over 400 gigabytes which took Westwood's mastership to compress all this on only four compact discs (there is also a DVD version of Blade Runner), so basically, other then main characters are in much less polygons and detailed, and even on McCoy pixelation can be noticed on some locations (lift, for example).

Endings and quality assurance

There are actually 12 different endings to this game.

Some of the endings are somewhat random, at certain locations during the game, an event will take place. The outcome of the events, as well as which events happen, will help determine which ending you receive.

This game was a testing nightmare, random events and 12 endings meant a tiresome test cycle. The Westwood Studios Quality Assurance Department played through the game over 2500 times.

Installation

The maximum installation takes 1,4 GB, which was enormous for the time.

Music

Vangelis, the composer of the movie soundtrack, did not compose anything for the game. Even the short parts of his pieces in the game are not played by Vangelis himself.

Pictures

Look in the folders on the CD There should be some graphics with some weird names. Click on them. You have a few (amusing) pictures of the Westwood staff.

References

  • In the police station, look at the score board : there's Deckard (Deckard is the main character of the movie).
  • As you can see on the screenshots, there is a Command & Conquer: Red Alert game in the arcade center.
  • In the movie. Deckard visits the fish lady in Animoid row to find out if the scale is from a fish or from something else.

When you pay a visit to Izo in his pawnshop at Hawker's circle (Animoid row), he'll use the flash of his camera to blind you and escape. When you run the picture he has taken of you through an Esper, you can see Deckard in the background when he is talking to the fish lady. * The game opens with a crime scene at a pet shop owned by a man called Runciter (the shop in question is named after him). This is a nod from the developers to Phillip K. Dick, author of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968) (the book from where Blade Runner is based), since Runciter is also the name of one of the protagonists in another novel written by PKD called Ubik. Coincidentally, there was a game based on Ubik developed by Cryo Interactive Entertainment. * Throughout Blade Runner there are numerous references to the source material, such as the movie, and Philip K. Dick's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, however the game designers threw in one subtle reference to another movie not related to either of these. At the beginning of Chapter 4, send Roy McCoy up the tunnel with the train tracks. On the right side of the tunnel are the letters CHUD. A obvious reference to the 1984 horror movie about Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers. * The poetry Clovis leaves on McCoy's answering machine at the end of the first day is the first four lines of A Poison Tree by William Blake.

Secrets

  • For a good laugh: Click on McCoy or hit ESC to view the KIA and type POGO.
  • Start Blade Runner with the command line option SITCOM. (in command line: blade.exe SITCOM) After some sentences spoken in dialogs you will hear applause or laughter.
  • Start blade.exe with the parameter SHORTY. (from commandline: blade.exe SHORTY). All characters are shorter and speak with a pitched voice.

Speedrun

The game is beatable in 41 minutes if you skip through all the dialogue and know exactly where to go, what to do, who to talk to, and what to say.

Trilobyte

Originally Trilobyte had first thought of aquiring the rights to make a game out of Blade Runner. But they ultimately abandoned the idea for the "lack of creative control" dealing with licensed material would cause.

Voice Actors

Nearly all of the characters who appear both in the movie and the game are voiced by their original actors. These include James Hong as Dr. Chew, Brion James as Leon, Sean Young as Rachael, Joe Turkel as Eldon Tyrell and William Sanderson as J.F. Sebastian. Edward James Olmos did not reprise his role as Gaff.

Information also contributed by Goteki45, Michael Palomino, Itay Shahar, Juan Pablo Bouquet, MAT, ROFLBLAH, Shogun, Timo Takalo Yeba and Zovni

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by robotriot.

Macintosh, Linux added by Plok.

Additional contributors: emerging_lurker, Unicorn Lynx, Jeanne, Zeppin, CaesarZX, Picard, Paulus18950, Patrick Bregger, FatherJack.

Game added October 31, 1999. Last modified March 19, 2024.