What a satisfying trip down memory lane. Loaded it up out of a mix of curiosity and nostalgia, and before I knew it I had beaten the game, and wasted my entire day off. Of course it's dated and clunky, but every once in a while that very clunkyness will add to the suspense. There's a very real sense of satisfaction which comes from solving the more challenging puzzles. Oh god the puzzles. They range from pleasantly distracting to downright sadistic. The worse offenders will have you backtracking for what seems like hours. I found the chess puzzles to be particularly infuriating. My heart set to racing on more than once occasion, from the challenge alone. Younger audiences will probably be deterred by just how dated this seems, but I was swept away from the charm inherent to that era. The acting is just about as broad and cheesy as you'd expect, partially due to the low video quality. It somewhat reminds me of old silent movies, with actors mugging it as hard as they possibly can simply to be understood. The live-action video director mentions in the included making of video (nice touch by the way) that the actors were encouraged to 'use their whole body' when speaking. It's frikkin' great. Took me about 7 hours to make it through the entire thing, even while attempting to cheat my way through the more head smashy against the wallsy bits, and I'm quite glad I did. It may be an archaeological exercise, but it sure is a fun one.

What a satisfying trip down memory lane. Loaded it up out of a mix of curiosity and nostalgia, and before I knew it I had beaten the game, and wasted my entire day off. Of course it's dated and clunky, but every once in a while that very clunkyness will add to the suspense. There's a very real sense of satisfaction which comes from solving the more challenging puzzles. Oh god the puzzles. They range from pleasantly distracting to downright sadistic. The worse offenders will have you backtracking for what seems like hours. I found the chess puzzles to be particularly infuriating. My heart set to racing on more than once occasion, from the challenge alone. Younger audiences will probably be deterred by just how dated this seems, but I was swept away from the charm inherent to that era. The acting is just about as broad and cheesy as you'd expect, partially due to the low video quality. It somewhat reminds me of old silent movies, with actors mugging it as hard as they possibly can simply to be understood. The live-action video director mentions in the included making of video (nice touch by the way) that the actors were encouraged to 'use their whole body' when speaking. It's frikkin' great. Took me about 7 hours to make it through the entire thing, even while attempting to cheat my way through the more head smashy against the wallsy bits, and I'm quite glad I did. It may be an archaeological exercise, but it sure is a fun one.