OBSIDIAN REVIEW!
sharvey
Repost...
---
Obsidian
Published by SegaSoft, developed by Rocket Science Games
Review (c) 1997 Scott P. Harvey
Summary:
A fantastic game, an "A", 100%, five stars out of four, don't
miss out! Turn off Diablo and read on...
Storyline...
In the moderately near future, the Earth is ravaged by pollution and
global warming. The ozone layer is almost totally destroyed. Something
must be done. Enter a team of scientists, who develop a satellite
utilizing the very latest in nanotechnology to re pair the Earth's damaged
ecosystems.
Now, after a successful 100 days in orbit, the two chief architects of
this project (Max and Lilah; you play Lilah) decide to take a relaxing
vacation in one of the last unspoiled wilderness areas. They set up camp
in the woods and are enjoying the pasto ral surroundings. During a hike,
they discover a mysterious black crystal. Over a period of days, the
crystal grows and expands until it becomes a massive, towering structure
of smooth, black facets. The scientists name this mysterious formation
"Obsidian" and spend some time puzzling over it. While Lilah naps, Max
decides to go do some further exploring. Not so surprisingly, Max
disappears, leaving Lilah to try and find her partner and unravel the
mysteries of the crystalline enigma growing in the f orest.
(Dis-)Orientation...
Obsidian is a 1st-person adventure game; a format that has been used
(possibly over-used) to varying degrees of success in recent years. As is
to be expected, the graphics are all 3-D rendered, and the player
interacts with this environment by moving a m ouse cursor over an exit or
"hotspot" and clicking. Anyone who's played Myst or any of it's host of
"me-too" games will feel right at home.
However, that's about where the similarities to anything familiar come to
a screeching halt. Obsidian is composed of four "dream realms", each of
which redefines the word "bizarre". Myst claimed that it was "the
surrealistic adventure that will become y our world." Well, Robyn and
Rand Miller (creators of Myst) have been toppled from their throne in the
realm of surreal creations. If you though a huge hydraulic pine tree was
weird, imagine a cube-shaped realm of bureaucratic surrealism, where the
walls of one side of the cube's interior form the floor of another
completely different area. Figuring out how to navigate in here is only
one of the oddities you'll have to wrap your mind around in order to play
Obsidian.
The first character you encounter is the Bureau Chief, who wishes to see
you, in his office, pronto. However, his office is on the opposite side
of the cube from you. He attempts to extend some sort of articulated
bridge, but it crashes into a giant sta tue of Atlas, holding the world on
his shoulders. Well, you can't let a simple thing like a broke bridge
stand in your way, can you? Heaven forbid! You've got to get that bridge
fixed!
How? By submitting a Bridge Repair Request to the Bureau of Bridge
Repair. Naturally, all Forms must be Approved. Before they can be
Approved, they have to be Pre-Approved. And even before _that_, you've
got to find the Form in the first place!
Helping or hindering you (as the case may be) in this paper chase are a
motley group of "vidbots": old-fashioned television screens on articulated
arms. The screens usually show someone's mouth in grainy 1950's-style
black-and-white, thus "speaking" what ever they have to say. Moving
through the different areas of the cube and talking to the various vidbots
is one of the primary pleasures of this game. They're sort of creepy, but
actually become somewhat charming as time goes on. You'll do a lot of
head -scratching as you watch the various screens ramble at you, giving
you various tidbits of clues and advice in how to get something done.
It's a kick.
If you're a fan of Terry Gilliam's "Brazil", you'll be sucked in to
Obsidian's world immediately. It all makes sense, honestly, it does. You
just have to learn to think like "them" in order to beat the system. The
paper-hunting will also evoke memorie s of Douglas Adams' classic Infocom
adventure "Bureaucracy". It's really not a normal place, but it all works
so well that it actually starts to feel familiar.
But, familiarity was not what the designers of Obsidian were striving for.
And they succeeded. As soon as you get the hang of what's going on in The
Bureau, you'll find yourself transported Somewhere Else, where the process
of discovery has to begin all over again.
Visuals...
As stated earlier, all the graphics are 3-D pre-rendered scenes seen from
a first-person point of view. While this format has been seen before,
you've never seen anything like this. These graphics are not just
technically stunning - they're also incredi ble works of art. The scenes
are moodily and artistically lit, with plenty of shadowplay and glamour.
The various settings and objects range from mechanical to organic to
industrial to surreal - all executed with glorious attention to detail and
plenty of off-beat charm. Within these rendered scenes, various things
will animate in the background, lending an air of believability to this
strange place. It's not nearly as static and sterile as other similar
games.
For the most part, transitions between scenes are handled as brief
full-screen animations. Turning from side to side is a neat "pan" effect
where the view slides by as if you were making a neat 90-degree turn.
It's not the free-rotate effect seen in Zor k Nemesis, neither is it the
quick slideshow feel of Myst. The only drawback is when turning
completely around in one step - there's no transition effect, which is
slightly disorienting.
Obsidian is a beautiful game, pure and simple. The graphics are among the
most visually creative and impressive yet seen. A+ grade here.
Sounds...
As has been heavily hyped, the sound design for Obsidian was done by
Thomas Dolby's Headspace group. Headspace have provided a truly fantastic
auditory environment for this game. The music is subtle and almost
hypnotic, drawing the player in without dis tracting from the experience.
Sound effects are suitably unusual, with plenty of bizarre beeps and
clicks and gurgles - the main achievement being that they're unusual
without being irritating. There are a lot of things in Obsidian that have
no parallel in the real world, so it's hard to imagine what else they
would sound like.
Thomas Dolby has long been known for his innovative electronic music, and
he and his team deliver here with impressive results. Another A+.
Gameplay and puzzles...
Many of the puzzles involve learning how the world of Obsidian is arranged
and how it operates. You won't be trying to figure out how to put Tab A
into Slot B in this game, and you sure won't be operating any slider
puzzles. For example, finding that pe sky Standard Damage Form to get the
bridge fixed involves figuring out how documents are filed in the Bureau's
massive file room. Be assured that it's... different. Once you get
figure out how it works, it actually starts to make some sense. You may
feel a twinge of cognitive dissonance, feeling comfortable using a such a
twisted system, but it's all part of a day's work in this world.
The puzzles are a mixed assortment of linear and non-linear. Getting that
Form completed is a linear task, as defined by the numerous steps in
getting it approved. Other puzzles are non-linear, allowing the player
freedom to solve various parts in the order they wish. Very few puzzles
in Obsidian are used merely as elaborate door locks - they have much
better integration than typical adventure fare. True, you won't be able
to get much closer to finding Max without solving the puzzles, but isn't
that the basis of any adventure game?
The puzzles are absolutely coherent and consistent within the plot and
atmosphere of the game. There's none of the nonsensical chess puzzles and
brainteasers that made The 7th Guest such a disappointment to many
gamers.: simply classic abstract puzzles d ressed up with flashy graphics.
Obsidian's puzzles are wonderfully integrated as part of the game. The
designers could have easily taken advantage of their "surreal" setting to
simply adapt classic puzzles to their strange world. Luckily, they didn't
borrow "The Big Book Of Chess Problems" from the guys at Trilobyte.
As there are very few inventory-based puzzles, the dreaded "pixel-hunting"
is almost entirely eliminated. The only drawback to the interface is that
it's occasionally hard to find which areas of the screen are places to
travel to and which are just part of the scenery. It's also sometimes all
too easy to overlook when you can turn to one side or another, making it
easier than it should be to miss something crucial.
Overall, the puzzles are among the best, and the interface has only the
smallest of flaws. Gameplay and puzzles rank as an "A".
Hardware and installation...
Obsidian runs exclusively in Windows 95, at a resolution of 640x480 in
HiColor (16-bit). A 4X CDROM is required, as is 16MB of memory, along
with a Pentium 90 processor and 2MB of video memory. The review machine
was a Pentium 100, with all the other sp ecs being met exactly. At times,
the animations ran a bit slowly and dropped a few frames, leading to
occasionally jerky playback. Presumably, a faster CDROM would alleviate
this problem entirely. Apparently, those HiColor animations take a toll
on sys tem performance.
The only quibble is that Obsidian does not attempt to auto-switch screen
resolutions and pixel depth. In fact, it refuses to proceed until the
user adjusts his Windows settings. The manual, however, does a good job
explaining how to accomplish this task .
The installation process was flawless and painless. No problems
whatsoever.
In conclusion...
Obsidian looks rather like a masterpiece. Admittedly, I haven't played
through to the end yet (I'm into the 3rd of the four realms), but unless
some radical drop in quality takes place, I can't see being disappointed
with the ending. As this is such a n ew game, I haven't been able to fall
back on the denizens of the Internet for hints and spoilers, my usual
crutch. Solving these puzzles really gives one a feeling of satisfaction
and accomplishment unmatched in other games.
Obsidian has managed to startle me, impress me, give me the creeps, and
keep me focused for many hours at a time. The graphics are so evocative
and gorgeous that I would actually hang them on my wall. I've actually
been wondering if I can somehow use so me of the sound effects as Windows
95 sound events.
This is truly a unique game. Don't miss it.
--
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| reply-to header hacked | official version a falsified story |
| to prevent spam | the truth lies buried in a shroud |
| sharvey at enteract dot com | of glory -KMFDM, Glory |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
dgco...@interport.net
Thanks for the review. Does Obsidian require the dreaded DirectX?
Jason Doyama
In article <32E23B...@interport.net>, <dgco...@interport.net> wrote:
>Thanks for the review. Does Obsidian require the dreaded DirectX?
no it doesn't. It uses some kind of quicktime player of sorts.
So you have to install a new version that comes on the cd. Pretty
painless compared to the horrors of DirectX.
Jason Doyama
--
email doy...@vrg.toronto.edu
WWW-page http://www.ecf.toronto.edu/~doyama/
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The KOR Project and The Ranma 1/2 Project Archives
Anatoli Vassilina
I've got only 1Mb video memory. Will I be able to get it to work?
Jason Doyama
In article <32E3CC...@post1.tele.dk>,
Anatoli Vassilina <ana...@post1.tele.dk> wrote:
>I've got only 1Mb video memory. Will I be able to get it to work?
You should be ok. However you WILL need to run in 16 bit
colour. So if you run in anything higher than 640x480, you'll need to
reduce the resolutoin to that level. I BELIVE that svga in 16bit is
possible with 1Mb