The Experiment

The Adventure Company has been making some off-kilter and unique adventure games for years, and in my opinion are targeting the truly, truly, ingenious gamers that still exist out there patiently waiting for the next coming of Myst. Well, love 'em or hate 'em, the folks at The Adventure Company have made it their place in the world to scratch that so specific itch. This is the company that writes games for my Mom, and I don't mean that in a bad way; my Mother is an amatuer detective and puzzle champ who doesn't care for the blood and guts or excessive speed found in 90% of the games out there. She would rather use her noggin to find the end of a game and that is what we have here.

In "The Experiment," you play as an amnesiac, having no idea who you are or why you find yourself in a large dilapidated ship's security/control room. Desperate to find anything or anyone you see another lost soul wandering the ship, a woman mind you. Having no traditional form of communication you must help this woman escape the ship, and ultimately escape yourself otherwise you run the risk of succumbing to a fate none to good. The problem is that you can't talk to her directly and must use the ships cameras and controls to help her maneuver through the pretty creepy and eerie sounding ship. Using your camera to nod "yes" or "no" and highlighting objects with light can only take you so far, but the game constantly challenges you to help your friend overcome the odd and devious situations she finds herself in. Instructing her how to complete a puzzle or move from room to room is surprisingly difficult as she often displays the brains and common sense of a dead fish.

 
"Does this suit make me look fat?"

And that is where I think the game is going to only be completed by that really extreme hardcore adventure gamer. Since you are essentially at a computer terminal in the ship, there is a sense of "actually" being there if you play in a dark room and try and become enveloped in the game. The atmosphere of the game needs credit where it is due and in the background almost-hypnotic music helps round out what can be a good gaming experience. The ship, it seems, was a former military vessel and it has been all but scuttled since the dead shipmates are laying all over the place. That and the dark corridors, strange things and creepy, grainy camera shots actually lend to the games imposing sense of dread. Like if you don't figure out a way for your new friend to escape, you won't either (and you're not that far off). While it is unlikely that any facility would have as many cameras that this ship has, there is some authenticity in their placement and function. Some cameras work better than others and at some points you can actually improve upon their function. Being able to see heat signatures and in black or white actually makes you appreciate what the developers were trying to do.

I say that because the game is not without its faults, namely the woman who you are helping - Lea. She constantly whines about this and that, as if trying to help her escape isn't pressure enough, to hear her say over and over the same hints can become somewhat distracting and steals some of the game's thunder as does the sometimes confusing French to English translations that this game has. I suppose that you could all wind this up and just say "the game is totally accurate because Lea could be French and she been working in labs all her life so her common sense is nil," but somehow that just doesn't jive with the whole concept.

 
"If that Predator thing is running around this ship I'm given up!"

In the game there are some things that provide even more challenges (not that you'd need any more), including only being able to have three cameras open at once and the pseudo set of "windows" the computer terminal has. It's kind of nifty but can also provide some frustration. The whole game made me feel as if I was in a early pilot for the TV show Lost. Oftentimes the game feels a lot like that since you never quite completely know what the devil is going on. The benefit of an original title like this one is that there is no preconceived notions as to who is supposed to do what, or what the big twist at the end is.

Back to the corpses, now the game does have dead bodies all over the place and I don't have to be the one to say this, but I couldn't tell you how many times I was expecting one of them to sit up and this become a really freaky game with the living dead wandering around. Actually, that's exactly what I was hoping for, but the game relies much more on your brains than the zombies eating brains.

Gameplay: 7.0
It is disconnected and unlike anything you have played before, but once given a chance, creates a much more esoteric experience.

Graphics: 6.7
They can be cool and the different camera views are nifty, but there is nothing new here in terms of visuals and style.

Sound: 6.5
The translations are a bit weak and Lea's blathering can get long in the tooth but I liked the atmospheric music.

Difficulty: Hard
There's no bones about it, this game is tough.

Concept: 7.5
A completely new and different take on the adventure genre.

Overall: 7.0
The game is totally off kilter in its design and inception, but the good folks at The Adventure Company are on to something here and the next incarnation could be revolutionary.