Review: Amber—Journeys Beyond
Product Information
System Requirements
Created by: Hue Forest Entertainment
Published by: Changeling and Graphic Simulations
E-Mail: thewimmers@hueforest.com
Web: http://www.hueforest.com/overview.htm
Street Price: $45 US
68040 or PowerPC
System 7.0 or higher
5 MB free RAM (8 MB preferred)
13" 16 bit Color display,
25 MB free hard disk space
2X CD-ROM (4x or higher preferred)
Also Recommended: darkened room, thunderstorm or full moon
Also available for Windows 95
Amber has been on the shelves since late last year, but I've heard very little about it from the web gaming community. I'm puzzled by this, because in my opinion, the game has many attributes of a classic.
The genre is a rendered, first-person perspective adventure game, similar to Myst in execution. However, comparisons with Myst aren't all that useful. Amber runs on the recent beefy PPC hardware that was unavailable when Myst was designed.
The plot is introduced by a QuickTime movie. You've been asked to visit a friend, Roxy, at her remote house in the country. She's been doing cutting-edge experimentation in some sort of psychic field, her colleagues are getting worried that she's getting in too deep, and want you investigate to ensure she's not taking any risks. The sun sets as you make the long drive out to her place. As you round a corner near her house you see something on the road that causes you to lose control of your car and you finally stop by a jetty in the lake at the foot of the house.
The appeal of Amber is twofold: problem-solving and "atmosphere."
Most of Amber's puzzles are enmeshed with the story line, so you feel like you're actually investigating a mystery. It's obvious that the designers have made the story as non-linear as possible. If you do get stuck solving one problem, the game doesn't come to a dead stop. During my second game, I noticed some clever and subtle hints for some puzzles within the story line.
For those who like to be immersed in a story with atmosphere, this game has great, big gobs of it. It's really dark! Turn out the lights when you play. The story is best when viewed in a darkened room. Listen for the barely audible noises! Watch as the invisible finger writes on the fogged-up mirror! There were moments when I was genuinely frightened, a pleasant surprise for a computer game!
Graphics
Graphics range from very good to stunning. The required 16 bit (thousands of colors) monitor allows very high-quality graphics presentation. Color is used to great effect throughout the game. Some visual effects, such as a "cinemascope-like" distortion in one part of the game, must be seen to be believed. The scenes are rendered in great detail, right down to the original artwork that litters the walls of Roxy's house (you can zoom in). Light-source effects are particularly stunning.
QuickTime animations are scattered throughout the game. These are the scariest parts of the game. Live action is performed well, believable, and seamlessly integrated into the rendered backdrop.
Sound Sound effects are also stunning, with great use of sound post-processing to distort and morph speech. Original music is used sparingly but to great effect to build the atmosphere. Some of the music is really catchy, I found myself going back to parts of the game to hear the music again. The live voice work, like the acting, is excellent.
Interface
One problem with this game is navigation. It's a point and click sort of game. The cursor changes into an arrow as you move around the scene indicating which directions are available. However, making turns is often confusing. In one scene you might turn 90 degrees, in another 135 degrees, another 180 degrees. It's easy to get disoriented. Some scenes are worse than others in this respect. There are irritating constraints about where you can and cannot go, which makes it difficult to move around and explore. In addition, you must remember to look up and down so as not to miss important clues and move your mouse around the scene to find all the hot-spots.
On a positive note, the mouse is very responsive. On my machine, the scene changes were rapid. The game itself was rock solid, even on my extension-overloaded machine.
Duration
Amber comes on 2 CDs. The first installs the game and contains some of the final scenes; the second holds the bulk of the game. I played Amber with my two flatmates during a week-long holiday, and together it took us about three days to finish. We weren't stuck long within any scene, certainly not long enough to get irritated. In comparison, Myst took my flatmates about two and half days to finish, with some hints from me when they got stuck. I haven't worked out whether it was the high quality of the game or the relatively short time we played which left me wanting more after I finished. Before writing this review I played half the game for a second time and I'm still impressed. More details are available from the developers' web page at: http://www.hueforest.com/overview.htm.
Overall, Amber is a brilliantly atmospheric game, skillfully brought together. For people who enjoy adventure games, this is a "must-have."
Copyright © 1997 Dr. Simon Tout, <s.tout@unsw.edu.au>.
Reader Comments (28)
When I wrote the review several years ago, the game certainly did come on two CDs. You needed the first CD to install the game on the hard disk, and the second CD to play.
If you've had no problems, perhaps they have put out a version on a single disk. I don't know one way or the other, sorry.
Make an Amber 2. Say something went wrong and the ghosts came back, but they were at your house because they wanted you to join them.
Even though that part rocked, it's a shame that it only happens once!
-Dreadfullymissing"AJB"
But, they often don't, for a variety of reasons. Maybe they think someday they'll want to do something with it, even if they never actually do. Maybe it just doesn't occur to them to release it.
Whatever the reason, if they don't, it's still not legal to post it as "abandonware" which is a concept ATPM doesn't believe in, at least not in the way most people do.
http://www.atpm.com/12.09/classic.shtml
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