Beneath a Steel Sky

The Good
A while ago, Revolution Software gave the source code for Beneath a Steel Sky to the makers of ScummVM (www.scummvm.org) so they could include support for it in their emulator. Not only that, they also allowed the ScummVM team to put the full game up for download, free. I figured there was no excuse not to try it. I'll never regret downloading those 67 Megs of pure magic.

The game begins with a comic book style intro cutscene, complete with still panels and "WHAM!" "BOOM!" and other sound effects. We learn that your character, Robert Foster, was in a helicopter crash when he was very young, and was stranded in the wilderness, or "The Gap." A tribe of people raised him there, and he built a robot named Joey. Then, police from the city he was born in come to get him. Just as they reach the city, the helicopter crashes. Foster survives again, and is on the run from the police, and tries to escape from the city. But he learns of the dark things that truly make the city run, and fights to...well, I don't want to give it away.

The point and click gameplay is simple, left or right click to move, left click to examine an object, right click to use it. Move the mouse to the top of the screen to select inventory items. The pixel-hunting problems of most point and click games are gone in BASS, because most important objects are very visible. The story is engaging and fast paced, and the puzzles are fun. Parts of the game were too hard for me, and I needed a walkthrough, but most adventure veterans should easily navigate the puzzles. I play these games for the story, really, not to experiment with inventory items. The voice acting (in the CD version) is very well done. The dialogue is also hilarious at times, giving the normally dark cyberpunk genre a lighthearted feel. Joey the robot is very humorous, and the courtroom scene in the later part of the game is extremely funny.

The Bad
The game has very, very few flaws. Obviously, the graphics and MIDI music are dated, but for a 1994 game, they are good. Still, they aren't as good as graphics these days, and the 320x200 resolution may require you to adjust your monitor. In the CD version, some voice acting is missing, and other times, the voice acting doesn't match the subtitles. I believe when you talk to Walter outside Burke's Bio Surgery, four or five lines are COMPLETELY different from the text displayed on screen. More minor voice acting things are present as well. For example, the text on the screen may say "jumper" (the British word for sweater) and the voice actors say "sweater." It's probably a localization thing, but it would've been nice if they changed the text too.

The Bottom Line
Before playing this game, I thought Grim Fandango was the greatest game ever made. Now, BASS is planted firmly next to that game in a tie. Even if you play with a walkthrough that spoils all the puzzles, the game is still one of the most entertaining things you can find. And since it's free now, there's no excuse to try it. It will be worth every single one of the zero dollars you pay for it.

The Good
The puzzles are solid, mostly inventory based. A couple I found particularly tricky.

The characters are a joy to talk to and meet, each with their own great and matching personalities. Your side kick Joey is a funny, sarcastic little robot who had me chuckling a couple of times.

The story is interesting enough that I wanted to keep playing just to see what happens next. Some small twists here and there really keep it feeling fresh and exciting. Tho the ending felt very bitter sweet, it was still very much worth it.

The art is fantastic and does a great job depicting a futuristic, rusty metallic, dirty and grim futuristic city. All the characters and items are also looking great, with nice smooth animations for everything.

The music is good, with lots of different tunes for different sections of the game. All very fitting.

The voice acting was a nice addition, tho near the end of the game it appears to glitch and cause some text to either go too fast or skip entirely.

The Bad
Besides the audio glitches near the end, and the ending not being the greatest, I really have no other major cons to point out. It was a very enjoyable experience.

The Bottom Line
If you enjoy adventures/point-n-clicks, this is one of those classic ones you should definitely check out! Great story, great characters, great art, solid puzzles and good music all round out to an awesome game!

The Good
The best element of this game is the scenario...

This is definitely Sci-Fi at its best. The scenario is so good that some ideas from the game have been ruthlessly plagiarized in Hollywood movies.

Then there is the humour...we're talking about real entertainment bordering on the hilarious. From the cockney accent of some characters to the unbelievable attitude of Joey, this very strong aspect of the game also creates a balance because the hero sometimes finds himself in depressing and unfavourable situations.

I also liked the puzzles, which were very logical and of medium difficulty, with some of them being fairly easy...

The music and sound effects are good and the graphics should be probably considered as artwork back then in '94.

The next positive point for this game is that the developer company promoted it to freeware status! Revolution actually gave the source code to another team of developers who made it work even on WinXP!

The only thing you have to do is download the CD-talkie version of the game so that you don't miss out on the funniness of the dialogues, and then the ScummVM interpreter that makes the game run flawlessly without crushing. The copy-protection has been disabled. I also suggest that you grab the manual (the one compiled by the Underdogs!)

Oh...one more thing. About this mature content parental advisory...

The game contains some gory scenes, but any of the military-style execution FPS games would surpass this.

Then there are a couple of nude pictures which are definitely not provocative, but rather amusing, asking a cool chick out on a date, the probability of the sexual harassment of the hero by an old widow that actually never takes place...and donating your testicles to science at some time [after your death].

The language of the paranoid and anti-social inhabitants of the game is blunt and inevitably coarse at times but it’s definitely not swearing. For example...'How many times did I tell you not to disturb me LAME-BRAIN?'

This is about how offending this game can get. Actually I found it very funny...Nobody had ever called me a lame-brain before :))

The Bad
The only drawback is that the adventure is linear, which inevitably makes the game seem smaller than it really is and also affects the re-playability in a negative way.

The other thing that bothers me is why there has not been a sequel to this great game...

The Bottom Line
Well, how do YOU feel when your day really sucks right from the start?

First, there were these Gestapo-like goons that abducted me and then murdered my foster father and the rest of the townsfolk. And then our transport crushed inside the city!

Probably you won't believe me but this was my second helicopter crash in one lifetime! Even if I joined the air force I'd be safer than that...

...and now I'm a fugitive in this nightmare city. The architect was probably depressed when he designed this dump...and he didn’t have any idea about sustainable development either!

At least I have my friend Joey with me, but he's not much help. All that's left of him is a piece of motherboard with some chips on it. Hang on in there robot pal...I’ll find a way to fix you alright.

Then I'll be ready to dispense some justice on whoever is responsible for this madness!