Mission Critical

The Good
The puzzles in Mission Critical were all logical and had relevance to the storyline. For a point-and-click adventure game there was a lot of depth in both story and atmosphere. The eerie, ambient soundtrack helped as well. The protagonist was sensible and direct, making voiceovers comfortable and never annoying.

From the first objective (regaining control of the derelict starship), to one of the last (landing onto a planet surface to investigate an alien civilization), both the challenges and storyline were extremely engaging even though there was little interaction with other characters - most of the time the protagonist spent his time alone.

The Bad
There was very little to complain about with Mission: Critical. There was perhaps one puzzle that was too confusing for me, but other than that the game flow was superb.

The Bottom Line
Mission: Critical didn't sell well, but according to Legend Entertainment veteran Mike Verdu it was praised by critics who had the chance to play. The story was very solid, the [voice] acting as well. The puzzles were all logical and relevant to the story and the anti-climactic ending was very poignant. Ten years have passed since the release of this game and it still ranks as the best adventure game I have ever played.

The Good
This is the one and only adventure I ever played where all puzzles were LOGICAL. I mean REALLY LOGICAL. You could turn away from the pc, ponder the problem and think "how would I solve this in real life" -- and it works. Well, most of the time. Unbelievable, how rewarding it is to solve a puzzle by thinking instead of trial-and-error... Another good point: in the middle of the game, your spaceship is attacked and trying to find a means to defend it, you find yourself in a little, but cool tactical space-war-simulation. Nice idea.

The Bad
The atmosphere was a bit sterile (well, you are on an empty spaceship), the actors (the actor of Star Trek's Worf plays a role) don't fit into the rest of the graphics very well. Later in the game, the puzzles get less interesting.

The Bottom Line
Good adventure, no highlight among Legend's other works, but solid, original and well thought out.