 Blue Line Studios, $29. Requirements: 68040 or better, 8MB RAM, System 7 or higher, 4xCD-ROM. For more information, visit Blue Line Studios at http://www.blueline-studios.com.
Review by David Price
In The Castle, you begin outside of a locked gate without knowing where you are or what you are doing there. Upon entering the castle, and after snooping around a bit, you uncover a diary and pages that have fallen from it. This diary guides you though the game and unfolds the story of love triangle that existed between three people who, like you, had been mysteriously transported to this castle. As you explore, you find more pages leading you through the rest of the game.
As a reviewer, I found the love triangle theme present in the diary to be rather trite. The storyline consists of the rivalry between two men for one woman who is caught somewhere in the middle. If you enjoy story lines like this and aren't into lots violence you might be able to appreciate what this reviewer found to be an otherwise "cookie-cutter" plot.
A major criticism I have is that the game does not begin with a burning question. Most good games of this genre begin with a movie clip to excite intrigue and to lead the player into the game; it's unfortunate that this game lacks this trait. The short clip before a new game is mostly intelligible and in no way leads you into the story. Instead, you are simply placed in front of a gate and are expected to find your own way. The player is also forced to roam around aimlessly until finding the diary. After which, he (or she) can begin to focus on figuring out the puzzles and progressing in the game. Until I found the diary, the game seemed dull and I felt as though the game had no point. The plot could have been more evident and made into a more driving force. As the game is, you have absolutely no reason to follow the storyline other than curiosity or to finish the game.
Game play was, at times, daunting. Better attention should have been paid to the cursor and its different icon. The cursor does change when moved over an area where you can perform an action. However, when you have your cursor between two areas, the cursor fields seem to overlap. Additionally, when I would click in a direction to walk, I would get a grayed out cursor after clicking ahead of me, causing my having to click again on the path itself. These complaints may seem petty, but in the grand scheme of things, they really detract from the gaming experience.
It's obvious that a lot of work has been put into producing this game. Every screen was carefully rendered using wire frames, though most objects have very sharp edges and look boxy. The textures leave a lot of areas looking unrealistic, however, especially the trees. The sounds and music are good. The effects used throughout the game are realistic, but there are a couple of rooms I could not understand why the mood of the music changed so dramatically
This game would have been excellent had it been released five years ago near the time of Myst or perhaps before. The Castle does not play as well as Myst, however, and when compared to other games of the genre today, it fails to take advantage of modern technologies such as QuickTime VR.
Generally, The Castle still needs more work and development. Had this been a preview rather than a review, I would say that this game was on its way. Unfortunately, the game has been released, and to use a trite expression, The Castle is still rough around the edges. |