Beneath a Steel Sky

The Good
It was amazing, witty puzzles, great gameplay and graphics. I completed this game in 1995 it took me some time but i got there in the end. In the first 5 minutes of this game i was hooked! I love all of the old adventure games including excellent titles such as Dreamweb but this game is by far the greatest of them all!! Try and get a hold of it, you will love it!

The Bad
Um, do i really have to say anything in here because i dont know if i can!!

The Bottom Line
Well to make it short and sweet: Class!!!

The Good
Beneath a Steel Sky is, in a nutshell, both an excellent point-and-click adventure, and a work of art. The background graphics are all hand-drawn and look excellent, with lots of attention to detail. The game itself is very detailed and well made. Good plot, memorable characters, lots of objects to interact with, multiple scenes/events that take place during the game and extend the plot, and the puzzles bring a good challenge from start to finish. The game length is reasonable as well; not too long or too short. Dialogue is extensive, and often witty and humorous, while also crucial to solving some of the puzzles.

The Bad
The voice acting from the CD version could be described as somewhat cheap and boring, creating more of a budget feel. I personally thought that some of it was just flat out horrendous. Although the music isn't bad, it can get stale and repetitive if you're in a certain area for a long period of time. Some parts of the game may require a walkthrough, and/or a dozen saves.

The Bottom Line
Like I said in the review title, Beneath a Steel Sky is a point-and-click adventure you shouldn't miss if you're in to the genre, especially since it's freeware now. It has its flaws, but whatever, I'm willing to forgive and forget. Go and download it now, either from Classic DOS Games or GOG.com, or if you're a Linux user, look for it in the package repository for your distribution. You won't be disappointed. One word of advice, though: you might want to look for the walkthrough on the Internet, if you find yourself stuck on a ridiculously hard puzzle. Also, don't forget to save often.

That said, you're in for a uniquely good experience if you're playing this for the first time. Highly recommended.

The Good
It's games like this that remind you that a good adventure game should have a good sense of humor, and boy did this game a lot of that. Robert Foster, the hero of this game must be related to Guybrush Threepwood of Monkey Island.

GAMEPLAY Now I know where Max Payne got it's inspiration in creating a "comic-like" introduction.

The game is quite easy, not big time hard puzzles which I totally loathe...thankfully the game is all about adventuring and less puzzle solving. It may be a turn off for hardcore puzzle solvers, but for people like me, I enjoy the simple cruise.

ACTING Now this is one adventure game no one will soon forget. This game has got to be one of the best actors you can find! The whole bloody place is fulled with half-wit Brits (excluding a French and an Australian), but boy do they give a Superb act! Their dialects are soothing and funny, the script "almost" rivals that of Monkey Island...you gotta love those British accents...

MUSIC This game has one of the best Jazz melodies you can find. Dang shame you can't play the music separately like in other games (if someone knows where to get the music of this game...let me know will ya...thanks!). I even saved in areas where the music is good, just so I can listen to alone...come to think of it, it's just the perfect kind of music to have with a girl and candle light dinner...

The Bad
Sometimes if you click to fast during a dialog, the you didn't read much less hear the dialog. This means you have wait for the dialog to end. But sometimes your finger gets a little trigger happy...and accidental clicking occurs.

But the biggest dissapointment to me was the ending. It so much expected a lengthy cutscene...more on the aftermaths. But you don't get any...barely a few minutes and bye-bye. Thankfully, the ending music is sooo goood, so that kinda soothed my mood...a bit.

The Bottom Line
Well it's a great adventure game, I'll give you that. And that's all that matters.

Dang the music's good!