The 7th Guest

The Good
"The 7th Guest" was one of the first CD-ROM based computer games to really demonstrate the advantages of abandoning the traditional floppy and 3.5 disk medium. The game's full motion video clips and computer generated rooms, CD-quality music, sound effects and the risque horror themes were all really cutting edge for the computer gaming industry.

The Bad
The technological breakthroughs displayed in this game are probably lost on many contemporary gamers. First generation Full Motion Video (FMV) was no where near movie quality and almost all FMV games had B-acting and production values. While the sound effects and music are still impressive, modern gamers will likely judge "7th Guest" in terms of gameplay and horror themes. The puzzles that existed in each room tended to be very challenging and only provided short FMV clips as a reward. While the horror themes were pretty cutting edge at the time, all of the game's supernatural elements, mild profanity and sexual innuendos may seem tame in comparison to subsequent CD game such as, "Phantasmagoria 2", "Resident Evil" and "Grand Theft Auto".


The Bottom Line
"The 7th Guest" earns a place in gaming history for its ambitious usage of the CD-ROM medium. New technology had made this game possible and the creators of "The 7th Guest" showed us just how this new technology could change gaming. Today, the game may have lost some of its dazzle but it is still fun to play if you are up to facing the difficult puzzles and the mildly risqué mystery and intrigue.