Loom

The Good
----NOTE. I have only got the floppy EGA version of Loom which has no speech and I haven't heard the audio prologue. This is a shadow of the CD version so I'm told and I'll do anything to get my hands on a copy ----

There is a ton of atmosphere. The soundtrack is great and perfect for the style and plot of the game. Your character is mildly amusing at times. The interface is brilliantly simple and dead easy to use; with difficulty settings that help the tone deaf and provide a challenge, albeit barely, to those with a more musical ear. The game designers also deserve a hell of a lot of credit for creating a world like this and making it so enjoyable and original. It has a great take on the universe and death (i.e the living world is a 4D "pattern" that is made of a thin "fabric". Outside the pattern is where the dead roam. When someone dies, the fabric opens and the soul goes outside. The fabric can be torn, allowing the living and the dead to cross into each other's worlds) and has a lot of swans. Swans are a lot more classy than monkeys if you ask me. Some of the characters look great, like Chaos. The game also has a fantastic ending which is obviously too short, but fits perfectly and leaves room for a sequel. It's not overly happy either. Oh and the box cover is brilliant. A very beautiful game and no mistake, and with so much more elegance and beauty than most Lucasarts adventures.

The Bad
This is pre-Monkey Island and it shows unfortunately. There are no dialogue options, no alternate routes, it's very linear. It's also painfully short and easy. Which is unfortunate because a game of this quality really deserves to go on for at least as long as Monkey Island 2. The game is not that hot on narrative either and only one thing has much of a significant effect on the story and that happens a little too close to the end. While the landscapes are frequently gorgeous, you have to walk everywhere and there are some quite long passages to walk down that can't be skipped. Finally, the music could certainly be used more often. The game is frequently silent in scenes of interest. This may have been improved in the CD version though.

The Bottom Line
Incredibly original and clever. Worth buying at full price even today. Just don't expect it to last long enough or provide any real brain-taxing situations. No matter anyway, you'll play it again. Also the ideas and style are so promising it deserves another title made of them. Beg for a sequel. It could be the best adventure ever.