In 1995, it eventually shipped and sold like gangbusters. To the tune of $12 million. So it was a commercial success, but there\u2019s more than a lurking horror under the surface of this particular Williams outing. So let\u2019s take a bit of a look at what we have here.<\/p>\n
Two weeks ago [because Easter happened and I had family over, so this review is about a week late] we looked at another game based in another house. Gone home<\/a> is very much descended from Phantasmagoria and even occasionally uses one or two of the same scare tactics [though, as noted there, it\u2019s not at all a horror game] to great effect, but it\u2019s Phantasmagoria that helped the genre along. Aided and abetted by The Seventh Guest before it.<\/p>\n There were games before Phantasmagoria that tried this, of course, but they weren\u2019t nearly as effective. Nor did they have the advertising muscle that Sierra had. But really, what crippled most of these games out the gate was the astronomical cost to film them. Sierra certainly had money to throw at the project, sandwiched as it was between Gabriel Knight 2 [a game in the same sort of vein] and Space Quest 6.<\/p>\n What it really didn\u2019t have was know-how. And, unfortunately, it shows in lots of little ways.<\/p>\n The biggest problem is probably the acting, because it\u2019s just…dry. Dry as a bone. The only guy who\u2019s having any kind of fun is Carno. It\u2019s very much the same issue Hell: A cyberpunk thriller had. Somehow, Dennis Hopper is in that game and somehow that sort of works. Carno is a lot like that, here. For most of the scenes he\u2019s in, he\u2019s over the top and completely goofy. Yeah, he\u2019s killing women and sure, that\u2019s despicable [and more on that in a moment] but he\u2019s so zany and crazy that it\u2019s almost [but not quite] funny.<\/p>\n The plot doesn\u2019t really help matters much. While there\u2019s an incredible amount of suspense [and more on that, later, too] \u2013 it readily and easily gets broken down by banalities. Sierra film everything. They wanted you to have a kind of window to the protagonist\u2019s life. So whenever she stops to look into a mirror [and she does this a lot] you get a cut scene.<\/p>\n So, to the plot: Adrienne and her husband Don buy a rambling, old estate house for a song. He\u2019s a photographer and she\u2019s a novelist and they\u2019re both kind of looking for inspiration. They don\u2019t really do research, so they don\u2019t know that the house they\u2019re buying is mired in tragedy. Carno, a 19th<\/sup> century magician \u2013 lost four of his wives there and eventually came to ruin one night when he and his last wife got into a fight that ended in death.<\/p>\n Adrienne can\u2019t really resist the allure of exploring the rambling mansion while her husband fixes it up and as she\u2019s exploring, she finds all sorts of clues that something is very amiss here. Conversations with townsfolk allude to the fact that there\u2019s a dark secret lurking just under the floorboards. They can\u2019t say what it is, exactly, but it\u2019s not at all good.<\/p>\n These little strands all come together at the end of day one when Adrienne finds a hidden spot in the house and sets free an evil that had lain dormant for a century.<\/p>\n This all sounds good, of course, but it is mired by the game built around it. Because Roberta Williams does adventure games, this is, in turn, an adventure game. But it is the barest level of adventure game you can possibly have strung between Full Motion Video sequences. Sure, there are puzzles, but most of them are pretty banal. Here\u2019s a newspaper and a locked door. The key\u2019s trapped on the other side. I can\u2019t really imagine how I\u2019m supposed to get the key, can you?<\/p>\n And take heed! It\u2019s possible to get yourself into an unwinnable situation. I managed to do this on two separate occasions. [to be fair, occasion number two only seemed unwinnable. But there\u2019s no clue as to how to proceed if it seems like you\u2019ve somehow messed everything up.]<\/p>\n This design trend runs all the way through the game. Sometimes, like in the end sequence, it\u2019s pretty clear what to do. But sometimes, the game just leaves you to your own devices, praying that you\u2019ll go to the right room and do the right thing. And let\u2019s not even discuss the hint-keeper. He doesn\u2019t so much hint as outright state. Lost? Ask the hint keeper. He\u2019ll flat out spoil the puzzle for you.<\/p>\n But that\u2019s not all, oh no. There are conversations. Some LONG, dreary conversations. Early on, Adrienne meets a lady who knows a fair amount about the Carno estate. So she stops to quiz the lady. And you have to suffer through EVERY dialogue if you want the whole story. You can\u2019t pick which dialogue to hear. You have to start at the first conversation and then wade your way through all of the topics she has at hand.<\/p>\n All that aside, lots of people have trouble with the pacing. It\u2019s too slow. I found it just right. The sense of horror builds slowly across the seven days you play, until, by day four and five, deaths start racking up and the music becomes quite ominous. These two things utterly salvage what could have been a really bad show. The music \u2013 all low thrums and slow plinks and plonks \u2013 really turns up the dread factor by just being present.<\/p>\n Of course, that dread is all basically undone by the gory nature of the deaths. Some of which are spectacularly horrific. The trouble for me \u2013 as an adult and twenty years along is that \u2013 apart from Carno\u2019s clear insanity, none of these ladies needed to die. They were just in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong man. Most of them are basically minding their own business when, \u201cShazam!\u201d Carno appears, is unhappy with them and summarily kills them.<\/p>\n That right there is probably my biggest problem with the game. Lots of what happens is needless: needless dialogue, needless exposition-y film footage and above all a lot of needless death. Yeah, it\u2019s a horror game. And sure, you need scares for that.\u00a0 But it all feels so…cheap. And a little tacky.<\/p>\n![\"One](\"http:\/\/greywolfe.co.za\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/pantas_1_carno-150x150.png\")
<\/a>![\"As](\"http:\/\/greywolfe.co.za\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/phantas_1_the_house-150x150.png\")
<\/a>![\"The](\"http:\/\/greywolfe.co.za\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/phantas_1_outside-150x150.png\")
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