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Loch Ness

The time has come to turn our attention to one of the merely forgotten mysteries of the world - The Loch Ness monster. The people from Galilea Multimedia decided to take us back to 1932 and cast us in the role of Alan W. Cameron, a private eye from Chicago, who is set to solve this famous mystery. For one reason or another, the owner of the castle on the very banks of Loch Ness, Sir Alistair Mac Farley, seems to have been unable to find a detective in Scotland, so he decided to bring Cameron all the way from the US to explore the strange occurrences and supernatural phenomena at the manor... So, Cameron arrives to the land of his ancestors just in time to realize that Mac Farley disappeared and that the situation surpasses the boundaries of what could be explained by modern science...

	Ah... they found a great time to give me this case... Ahaaaa, what's all this, then?

All this has been set in Myst-like engine, or to be more specific, probably in the same engine used by the last-year's The Messenger. Only, for some reason, it looks as if though it is using an older version of the engine (4x4 Technologies' Phoenix VR engine). The specifications say that this is a 3D engine, but what you will in fact get is a pseudo 2D/3D engine, which lets you freely look around, but it doesn't render the locations - it simply distorts 2D pictures of the room. I never was too enthusiastic about this type of gameplay as it doesn't let you move freely. The worst thing about this is the ridiculously low graphic quality. The game runs in 640x480, but the screen tends to get pixilated frequently, which makes it look below, say, 400x300. Distant parts of the rooms with a lot of items look particularly ambiguous and indistinct. Another downside to the graphics is that everything looks too static... only a couple of backgrounds contain animated elements, like the pendulum or the watermill. Sounds also help create a sterile and monotonous atmosphere as they come down to sound-effects and but one interesting Scottish theme.

I suppose that the sterile atmosphere and technical flaws present the greatest obstacle for most people to fully immerse themselves into this adventure, especially for those who are used to modern standards and flashy 3D effects. What can I say, the game does not look impressive, though if you manage to get past the lacking visuals, there is an interesting adventure lurking underneath.

It seems that the mystic medieval castle and the relatively easy ancient puzzles were the winning combination that made this game as playable as it is. Your quest begins in the castle on the lake, and continues in its surroundings. At first, you will be limited to several locations in the castle, but in the couple of days of your investigation, you will see quite a lot of locations in the area, in a linear and pre-scripted manner. The entire game has been written in a way that it makes you think in a certain direction, and doesn't let you stray away from the main plot development. So, if you see any doors closed, be sure you do not have to pass through them... if the game doesn't let you examine an item, be sure you do not need it, etc.

The interface, i.e. the cursor will directly instruct you in what you are supposed to do, and as soon as you learn its behavior, you can completely relax. For instance, when it turns into two cogs, that is a sure sign that you are expected to use something; if it turns into a stop sign, that means you are supposed to do something here, but not before you did something else... etc.

As there are no dialogues (OK, there are dialogues, but they are all video sequences which interrupt gameplay; and I must admit that I expected better voice-acting and better pronunciation) everything comes down to solving puzzles. I don't think that the puzzles will pose much of a problem, as the game will lure you by constantly giving you the feeling you're progressing through it. I have to point out that you will at times run into an action sequence... don't expect too much action, though. These are actually time limited puzzles - if you don't solve them in due time, you die. So, keep concentrated and save the game as much as possible. You do only have eight slots for it, but that should be enough.

The inventory looks functional enough. One nice thing is that you will never get to carry too many things at once: 10-15 objects at best, so that there will always be enough room on the inventory's main screen, so there's no senseless scrolling for the desired item. This is also where you will find the map which will let you travel easier, all the books that you collected and your diary. Your diary is very useful as it contains all your thoughts and things that happened to you, as well as your plans. Whenever you are not sure what to do take a peak at it.

Loch Ness is a relatively interesting, but also fairly easy adventure game, which took me three days of easy playing. Pity it doesn't have the flashiness of today's top-notch games.

			click to learn how we rate games
	Okay   59		highs Interesting plot, logical puzzles;		lows Outdated engine, difficult movement, poor sound.		stability / learning curve /