The Neverhood

The Good
The Neverhood is the single most bizarre game I've ever encountered, and for a good reason: the guys who made this game are completely insane. Is that a good thing? Hell yeah!

• The game is made entirely out of clay, which is way original and cool... the graphics are excellent and the animations mostly good. So much for the visual side.
• But what about audio? Well, ladies and gentlemen, this game doesn't fail either. It has some of the best pieces of audio I've ever heard from a game, without a shadow of a doubt the most outright insane music I've ever heard. It rocks! I still occasionally hum it to myself just for the fun of it. I can't stress this enough: this game has some kick-ass music!
• The most bizarre setting and gameplay I've ever encountered... this game is just so funny it's unbelievable. If you want an example, just click the tree in the first part of the game three times in a row: you'll see what I mean...
• Puzzles? Hell yeah. Some easy, some difficult, most are simply fun.
• The most outright ridiculous plot I've ever encountered, but it is just so well implemented!

The Bad
There are a few puzzles or riddles that should've been left out in my opinion, most notably the practically endless corridor and how to turn on the radio.
Video compression not as good as I had hoped.

The Bottom Line
One of the hardest, craziest games I've ever had the pleasure of playing. Thumbs up!

The Good
The best thing about this game is that it's made out of clay. 2-3 tons. That's a lot of clay. Secondly, I just love the characters; who can forget the Weasel, Big Robot Bil, Klogg, and, oh yeah, Klaymen? The puzzles are cool. There's even one where almost the entire world of the Neverhood is involved. You have to do certain things all around the Neverhood to open up the door to the next room. The animation is smooth and it must have been painstaking to have done so much animation frame-by-frame.

The Bad
What really stood out that I didn't like was the movie quality. It just seems way too pixellated, and why couldn't it be as smooth as when you are in a puzzle room? Oh well. Another thing I didn't really like was the compatibility issues. Sometimes on a newer machine, even though the animation is vastly improved due to the high-speed processor, the game just freezes up from time to time. It may not be like this on others' computers, but it is on mine, so it's either the software or my computer.

The Bottom Line
I would say don't listen to the people who say, "buy this game if you like Wallace and Gromit or claymation in general," I would say buy this game if you have a sense of humor and a sense of solving puzzles on your computer until you make an indentation in your chair.

The Good
This is one kRaZie adventure game. Everything is made out of clay, tons of it too. You play the hero, a nondescript character named Klayman. Klayman never speaks, but he interacts with his enviroment and other characters without hampering game play.

Klayman would indicate to you when something is important by looking at something with a thoughtful expression. The clues to solving the puzzle are often presented this way. There are a couple red herrings, but nothing too agravating. He has a long loping style of walking that reminds you of a caveman. There are several comical scenes and styles in this game that are vaguely reminicent of Tex Avery and other cartoon artists.

The story has some biblical themes, but its in no way religious. You track your progress in the game with story cartridges. These cartridges can be played in kiosks that are found throughout the game. The kiosks do not provide puzzle clues, but tell you about the Neverhood and its creator. This story is delightful and frustrating as well. You strive to find the cartridges so you can view the whole story.

The imagination and creativity in this game has gone unmatched by most game producers. The game designers took several risks and produced a piece of game history. Its a sad testimony that game producers have essentially abandoned all but the sure-to-sell game design.

The music isn't made of your traditional adventure themes. Its mostly accoustic guitar and singing. Its very cool and adds to the krazy flavor of the game. The puzzles are fairly unique. You have one music puzzle, one sliding tile puzzle, one concentration style puzzle. The rest are more original.

The game does have a built in help section, but its hard to access for the tougher puzzles.

The Bad
The thing I dislike the most is a lack of a sequel. I realize that the game didn't sell and the sequel was pending on that. It doesn't change the fact that when the game was over, I wanted to go on another adventure with Klayman. So I end up playing the game for the nth time.

I also have a beef with the long hallway walk to get the cartridge. That was dirty pool.

The Bottom Line
If you are looking for a game that has an amazing enviroment, great sound and story, and hard as they come puzzles, Try and get a copy of The Neverhood.