Beneath a Steel Sky

The Good
A not-so-well-known adventure classic by most accounts. BASS combines a gritty Blade-Runerish ambience, with a setting ripped right out of Metropolis with a lot of black humor to deliver an adventure game that gives us great ol' fashioned point-and-clicking goodness.

The storyline is pretty much a ripoff, but still it is made fresh by the use of a lot of sarcasm and black humor. Really, the comedy writing is very good in this one, tough a little dry at times (as most British comedy). The puzzles are rather average but regardless of their difficulty, they are very well laid out and follow logical paths, (even the ones that require specific timing) so they never become frustrating. In fact, most will be solved quite easily, tough not in the "use-hammer-with-nails" fashion, but in ways that require moderate neuronal use.

Graphically speaking the game is pretty good, not groundbreaking but still nice to look at, and the sound fx are accurately cyberpunkish and moody.

The Bad
Not much to write here. The only thing I noted a little of key in this game was the subject matter. More specifically, it's treatment. You see, for as much comedy as it has, the story is pretty dark at heart and has lots of serious moments. Now, I don't have anything against games that switch gears like this, in fact I love them and respect them as very ballsy products, but it seems to me that BASS switches gears a tad too fast. For instance: one second you are goofing around with a character, like you were Larry or Guybrush, the next you find her dead body courtesy of a conspiracy murder, the next your buddy Joey provides some comical relief, the other you are supposed to dethrone a cybernetic entity that has some pretty bad plans for your brain and civilization... but before you had to go through a puzzle that involved having fun with a little cutesy dog!... etc. etc.

The Gabriel Knight games managed to combine everything evenly, spacing out every "serious" element from the comedic ones, yet BASS seems to mix them all together and just throw them your way... It's not really a game-crippling mistake, but it's enough to start making things fall apart as you get further in the game.

The Bottom Line
Real funny game based on a Blade Runner/Metropolis setting. Not the best adventure game ever, and the humor is not always easy to get, but it still has plenty of puzzling goodness, and some excellent writting. Very playable, very indeed.

The Good
Beneath a Steel Sky is, in a nutshell, both an excellent point-and-click adventure, and a work of art. The background graphics are all hand-drawn and look excellent, with lots of attention to detail. The game itself is very detailed and well made. Good plot, memorable characters, lots of objects to interact with, multiple scenes/events that take place during the game and extend the plot, and the puzzles bring a good challenge from start to finish. The game length is reasonable as well; not too long or too short. Dialogue is extensive, and often witty and humorous, while also crucial to solving some of the puzzles.

The Bad
The voice acting from the CD version could be described as somewhat cheap and boring, creating more of a budget feel. I personally thought that some of it was just flat out horrendous. Although the music isn't bad, it can get stale and repetitive if you're in a certain area for a long period of time. Some parts of the game may require a walkthrough, and/or a dozen saves.

The Bottom Line
Like I said in the review title, Beneath a Steel Sky is a point-and-click adventure you shouldn't miss if you're in to the genre, especially since it's freeware now. It has its flaws, but whatever, I'm willing to forgive and forget. Go and download it now, either from Classic DOS Games or GOG.com, or if you're a Linux user, look for it in the package repository for your distribution. You won't be disappointed. One word of advice, though: you might want to look for the walkthrough on the Internet, if you find yourself stuck on a ridiculously hard puzzle. Also, don't forget to save often.

That said, you're in for a uniquely good experience if you're playing this for the first time. Highly recommended.

The Good
This is one of my favourite adventure games, hands down. I enjoyed it immensely. The graphics were rather dated, even at the time I first played it, but they transmit the dark and, yes, steely ambience of this world. An innocent man crashes a helicopter into a hospital to save his own life. A sinister employer forbids the workers in a power plant to wear protective clothing, from nothing but pure malice. For all the technology in the city, either victimising or pampering its population, its deepest root is a nest of living veins and nerves. How could I not love it? There seems to be an underlying motif of chairs... throne-like VR chairs, used for medical treatment, or transmission of information, or torture.

And the plot, gods, the plot! It is so twisty and loopy, I will not even start on it. Suffice it to say, it would do justice to a good SF novel.

And I liked Joey. In my right mind, I would hate a cute robotic sidekick, but the many witticisms and body changes of Joey proved one of the joys of the game. Plus, of course, he turned out vital to the ending.

The Bad
Cyberpunk doesn't age prettily, but that was not a problem with this game. It felt real. My problem, rather, was that it seemed to be two distinct games. The first sector (about up until Foster entered the church) is rather LucasArts in style, though with a darker background, more violence and a more acrid sense of wit. (Backtalking robot sidekicks, a Mr Burns-style madman in charge, and so on.) Howsoever, from the moment Foster finds the dead bodies, it turns into a deadly serious cyberpunk thriller. (See the death of Anita, the torture chair etc.) Now, I like both genres, but it seems like there is no way to bridge the gap.

There could have been more of it. More of the cold war against Hobart, more hints about Obermann, more city to explore. But that's not really a bad thing.

Also, this is a personal thing, but I would have liked it even more if Reich had stuck around a bit longer. Continually trying to trick a sadistic personal nemesis as well as a faceless corporation and a sinister electronic deus ex machina would have made the story even more interesting. Oh well.

The Bottom Line
An involving, baroque, dark futuristic city trip of wit and drama. A must play for all adventure gamers.

The Good
I was very fascinated by the game. It has a very dense atmosphere. The nicely drawn background graphics let you think you're really in this futuristic town, the animations of the characters are also very smooth. I also liked the speech (CD-ROM version only, of course), it fits excellent to the people's look and character I think. The game itself features very logic riddles to solve, if you're a bit experienced you should do it in no time.

The Bad
Hm ... I can't think of anything negative in this game.

The Bottom Line
Revolution Software didn't do many games - but each of the ones they released were great - Beneath a Steel Sky is one of them. Its quality is comparable to the classic LucasArts adventures, like Day of the Tentacle or Monkey Island and Indiana Jones. But there's less humor in it, it even critizises this future society.

The Good
I liked pretty much everything, and the voice acting was superb for its time. BASS was made by Revolution Software, and that was not a very well known company back then, and to say that BASS could be compared to Lucasarts adventures is to say that they are pretty damn good at what they do!!!

The Bad
My copy of the game had a bug in it (which was probably why I bought it for $10), every 5 mins or so the game would come up with a blue screen of death and quit, so I had to save every 2 mins or so. Other than that it was fine.

The Bottom Line
If you like Lucasarts, then get this!!! This is very much like Lucasarts games.

The Good
Just about everything about this game is superb. The comedy, the puzzles, the graphics (for its times) and most especially the STORY! Another perfect game by Revolution!

The Bad
Some of the puzzles (like one or two) are really annoying.

The Bottom Line
Cyberpunk, intelligent, funny (and not in a silly way either!) and utterly, utterly brilliant! Almost impossible to play these days, but if you ever find an old PC in the attic, put it to good use before you throw it away and play this game!

The Good
Beneath a Steel Sky is a very entertaining story about Rob, the character you control, who is kidnapped from his home in the wild outskirts known as the Gap, into the big hostile city in which the game takes place. After staging an escape, Rob must discover why he was brought here and find a way back to the Gap. Like almost all good adventure games, BASS has a great story with a lot of mystery and suspense which will keep you interested right up to a surprise ending. The game also has some good humor mixed in as well. Its not as off the wall as Monkey Island or Grim Fandango(which is good because BASS' story is meant to be a serious) but Rob and his robot Joey add some much appreciated levety to the rather dark story. The artwork and environments for the most part are rather well done(considering the age of the game) and add to the game's dark atmosphere. The simplistic two button control scheme didn't really hinder gameplay. I didn't really like it or dislike it. I guess to newbies of the adventure genre its probably a plus.

The Bad
The music is a different story. There was a few good tracks but I found it corny for the most part and it took away from the edgy mood. While we're on sound here... Am I the only one who noticed that Rob and Joey are the only ones without British or French accents. I guess Virgin Interactive didn't feel the need to "Americanize" all the other characters when bringing the game over to the States. Oh well. My biggest gripe with BASS is its lack of quality puzzles. There are very few puzzles that aren't of the "Use this item with this item" variety. When I did get stuck in this game the solution was often to go to a previously explored area and trigger an event that didn't make much sense. The lack of challenging puzzles will leave veteran adventurers bored and will make the game seem shorter than it is.

The Bottom Line
A good game to try if you've never played an adventure game before. It's certainly not a classic adventure game, but those who have enjoyed LucasArts' adventures will find the same strong story and and witty humor here. I just wish BASS would provide the same depth as far as puzzles go.

The Good
Beneath a Steel Sky is Revolution's second adventure game, and an excellent one, I must admit. Robert Foster stumbles across a barren wasteland known as The Gap. During his stay, he is raised by a peaceful tribe, and learns how to hunt and survive in the wasteland. Suddenly, outsiders destroy the wasteland and kidnap Foster, and take him to a city where everything is controlled by a super computer, known as LINC. As he explores the city, he tries to find out who or what LINC is and the person called Overmann that he is accused being of.

As Foster, you are also accompanied by his robot friend Joey, and you'll need to activate him at the start of the game. He can perform tasks that you can't – tasks such as hacking into security systems, jimmy door locks, and do other things without your presence. Once you get him up and running, he gets rude and arrogant, greeting Foster with “Is this the best shell you could find?” and answering one of his questions with “It's not worth explaining, you're too thick.” One interesting thing that you can do, however, without the help of Joey, is log into various LINC terminals around the city, to change the functioning of machinery.

BASS introduces Version 2.0 of Revolution's Virtual Theatre system. Characters are free to walk around, speak to people, and do their own shit – like what we do in everyday life. Speaking of characters, most of who you meet in the game can give you information that may or may not answer Foster's questions, and some are funny. One of the funniest characters that I met is Mrs. Piermont. I found it amusing to listen to her speak especially if you buzz her apartment. She becomes so stress if you do something with her dog.

There are a few comedic situations in the game, such as the courtroom appearance, presided by a judge who doesn't know what he is talking about. And later on in the game, you will meet a talking jukebox that attempts to seduce you while trying to select a song. If you select a particular song, the jukebox will get stuck.

BASS's interface is easy to use, and like Revolution's last game, it is intelligent. You see, click on an object with the left mouse button and the game assumes that you want to examine it, and if you click the right mouse button on that object, or other ones, it assumes that you want to manipulate it. And whatever button you click on a character, the game will always assume that you want to speak to him or her.

BASS is a lot better than Lure of the Temptress in terms of two things – graphics and sound. The graphics are a lot detailed, and they make you feel that you are walking into workshops, security rooms, or out on walkways or investigating something. What I like about the game is that it gives you the ability to enter LINC-space. The backgrounds, as well as individual objects, look well drawn, and even there are dangers that you must overcome, such as the eyeball that watches you wherever you go in the room. I love the graphics when you reach the end of the game. You enter room after room containing advanced technology, and veins sticking out from everywhere. Unlike Lure of the Temptress, there is background music in the game. One of the better pieces of music lies within LINC-space. The sound effects are suburb, especially when played through the Sound Blaster.

Anyone who doesn't like solving puzzles in an adventure game will be pleased to know that there is very little of that here. You just basically find places where you need to be and do whatever you need to do. As you progress through the game, the story goes much further and it eventually leads to one involving androids taking over the city.

Users with CD-ROM drives will get full speech throughout the game, and it is the speech that enhances the pleasure of the game, with talent from both the US and Britain. As well as this, though, users are treated to a comic book introduction that gives them a good background on how Foster came to be. I enjoyed listening to the old man rambling on about The Evil. Users of the disk version would already have a comic book in their box.

The Bad
Whenever you use text in the game, you notice that certain words are in uppercase (eg: How come your FIRE exit leads NOWHERE?) I suppose that it serves as emphasis on certain objects, but if I wrote like that in high school, I would have gotten bad marks. In fact, a review that I saw in a games magazine made fun of this nonsense.

The Bottom Line
Beneath a Steel Sky is an excellent game that has a story which becomes more and more interesting as progress is made. The game has very good graphics and sound, and you will enjoy reading the comic book that gives some info on Foster's background. I was glad that Revolution released the game (both floppy and CD versions) three years ago, giving you all the more reason to try it out.

The Good
It's games like this that remind you that a good adventure game should have a good sense of humor, and boy did this game a lot of that. Robert Foster, the hero of this game must be related to Guybrush Threepwood of Monkey Island.

GAMEPLAY Now I know where Max Payne got it's inspiration in creating a "comic-like" introduction.

The game is quite easy, not big time hard puzzles which I totally loathe...thankfully the game is all about adventuring and less puzzle solving. It may be a turn off for hardcore puzzle solvers, but for people like me, I enjoy the simple cruise.

ACTING Now this is one adventure game no one will soon forget. This game has got to be one of the best actors you can find! The whole bloody place is fulled with half-wit Brits (excluding a French and an Australian), but boy do they give a Superb act! Their dialects are soothing and funny, the script "almost" rivals that of Monkey Island...you gotta love those British accents...

MUSIC This game has one of the best Jazz melodies you can find. Dang shame you can't play the music separately like in other games (if someone knows where to get the music of this game...let me know will ya...thanks!). I even saved in areas where the music is good, just so I can listen to alone...come to think of it, it's just the perfect kind of music to have with a girl and candle light dinner...

The Bad
Sometimes if you click to fast during a dialog, the you didn't read much less hear the dialog. This means you have wait for the dialog to end. But sometimes your finger gets a little trigger happy...and accidental clicking occurs.

But the biggest dissapointment to me was the ending. It so much expected a lengthy cutscene...more on the aftermaths. But you don't get any...barely a few minutes and bye-bye. Thankfully, the ending music is sooo goood, so that kinda soothed my mood...a bit.

The Bottom Line
Well it's a great adventure game, I'll give you that. And that's all that matters.

Dang the music's good!

The Good
Everything. Really. This is my all time favorite game for a good reason. It has a brilliant atmosphere, terrific graphics, great humour, beautiful locations, tricky yet not too obscure puzzles and a great plot twist. This is THE game that got me into PC gaming with a punch that would make Mike Tyson blush.

The Bad
Nothing really. Maybe the game was a tad too short but then again, better to keep it short and go for quality than drag it out and lose the plot!

The Bottom Line
Beneath A Steel Sky takes elements from all kinds of movies and books ranging from Star Wars to Blade Runner to Asimov's Robot series. This really is one of the most underrated adventures ever and best of all: it's 100% free.

If you like the idea of a sci-fi thriller with murder mysteries and a great plot twist near the end, this is the game for you. Laced with black humour, great characters and wonderfully drawn backdrops (courtesy of Dave Gibbons) this is really the "crème de la crème" of point 'n click adventures.

The Good
Where do I start?

Interesting plot and nice twist plots, not so great as the Gabriel Knight series plots but nice.

What concerns gameplay... Having your robot side-kick to use it in different ways expands the game's puzzle possibilities.

The graphics are good too, the sprites are cool I liked the backgrounds very much, they depicted very well the division of the metropolis into parts.

The Bad
Not much flaws, but the following can be disappointing for adventure game hardcore players: It is ridiculously easy! I finished this game in two days.

Some of the music was repetitive, except for the main theme, which was good.

I also experienced some bugs with the ScummVM interpreter, but the game ran nice when I played it on DOS. Not much

The Bottom Line
If you liked books like 1984 or Animal Farm by Orwell you will like the plot of Beneath the Steel Sky, but If you don't care about that you will find in that game a mediocre adventure game.

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
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 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!

The Good
Most of this review you'll find it in the "the bad" section. It's difficult to discover something good and prominent in an adventure that is very poor in every aspect. Maybe the best thing is its comic-book-style introduction, well narrated and illustrated, but short. Sadly, there isn't any vestige of that comic style in the rest of the game. I suppose a few pages of comic book won't convince to someone about this game, …or yes?

The Bad
I'm not a guy who is on pursuit of every "over-hyped" game, in order to then join to the adoration with rest of people. Neither I'm of those that hate this games before play them. So, I approached to "Beneath a Steel Sky" with a moderate expectation, but with intention of enjoy it, such as with every adventure that I play. However, other than a promising preface (its comic-book), it took me no long time realize this game is of those that gained good reputation because of to have a nice title and a little of good luck in the law of "chain reaction" acceptance of gamers, even though in its essence is rather ordinary and lacking of personality.

As I said, the start is attractive, but I lost that interest immediately because of the important thing about the game is to solve frustrating and not very clever puzzles, which don't fit very well with the main story. Puzzles are of type (but not quality) of Lucas Arts's games. Perhaps I might have tolerated that if the story's unfolding had been attractive, but not: the unfolding is very, very superficial and simple, what confirms far more that the important thing is to solve un-intuitive puzzles.

The atmosphere is very poor: the graphics don't convey any feel of to be in a huge futuristic city, since they are so static and unoccupied that sometimes seem cardboard backgrounds. The music is practically one song, plain and monotonous. The (few) characters aren't interesting or important, in part due to hollow dialogues that we have with them: they inform very little about situation, background story, other characters, etc. They're there just because they're an ingredient of some annoying puzzle.

In its "comic"' introduction, the game shows a dramatic tone. However, that is an illusion. The main character jokes with everything, and in general, he doesn't take anything seriously, although there is blood and deaths during the plot. This attempt of comedy, plus its puzzles, did me feel as if I were playing a Monkey Island, but with deaths, little humor and boring puzzles. It is a confusing blend.

The Bottom Line
I don't understand why so many people consider it a classic adventure, raise it at the level of TRUE classics, like lots of Lucas Arts and Sierra's adventures. But, is it that they don't see (or feel) the huge difference? BASS is not a complete waste, but like sci-fi story, it's void and simple, and like a game, it's boring and frustrating. That's not to be a good game. And much less a classic.

The Good
It was amazing, witty puzzles, great gameplay and graphics. I completed this game in 1995 it took me some time but i got there in the end. In the first 5 minutes of this game i was hooked! I love all of the old adventure games including excellent titles such as Dreamweb but this game is by far the greatest of them all!! Try and get a hold of it, you will love it!

The Bad
Um, do i really have to say anything in here because i dont know if i can!!

The Bottom Line
Well to make it short and sweet: Class!!!

The Good
The whole game had a very distinct feel and look that was a breath of fresh air from the many Lucas Arts cartoony ones that were on the shelf at the time. Also it is probably the only graphic adventure I have played where you can actually get killed. The little Robot Joey was adorable and it even has a swear word in it which was BIG news at the time. There really is not much I cannot recommend about this underestimated title.

The Bad
The only thing I did not like was sometimes you had to talk to someone to go to the next part of the game like a lift repair being finished so you can access the lift but these conversations often had nothing to do with the actual task at hand.

The Bottom Line
Blade Runner meets batteries included in a Sci-Fi adventure that will blow your mind. You are Foster and with you side kick Joey you must uncover the truth of what has happened to you and the city.