Hell: A Cyberpunk Thriller

Written by Kyle Coare in PC Game Reviews, Wednesday 24 September, 2008

One Hell of a Game!

Many years ago, back in the dark ages of computer games (1994) this game was released by Take Two Interactive. A couple of years later I bought a copy, but it didn't work on my old PC, so it was doomed to lay at the bottom of my games collection for eternity...

...Well eternity came and I decided that seeing as I had a new computer I'd dust of the shiny CD and see if it worked, and to my utter surprise it did.

The game is a point and click adventure, as were a lot of PC games from the mid 90's, but the difference with this one was that it was one of the first to utilize the CD and use speech. Okay so this isn't a big deal nowadays, but back then it was quite an achievement to have actual voices talking to you from your computer's speakers. Not only did they use voices they also included some Hollywood stars to do these voices, okay so they weren't A-list stars or anything, but they were still recognisable.

But this was part of the game's problem, they advertised the fact that they had these great voices, and for the time, nice graphics, but they forgot to actually advertise the game! Which is a big shame because this game deserves to be played, although its not a brilliant game, it is a good game.

The game is set in 2095, in Washington DC, which just happens to be the place where hell and earth meet.
The earth has changed a bit over the hundred years, with the USA being ruled by a new political party 'Hand of God', this party have outlawed almost all technology and freedom for people, there are no books no television, this is all seen as sinning, and sinners sent to hell.

You play either Gideon Eshanti or Rachel Braque, two members of the Artificial Reality Containment team (ARC), these work for the 'Hand' trying to find any wrong doers. But one night you are attacked by the armed force that takes people to hell and realize that something is seriously wrong with the whole 'Hand of God' regime and find yourselves on the run, this is where you come in.

The first thing I should point out is that this game is for adults only, as there is a lot of bad language throughout. Also the game is very deep, imagine an episode of the X-Files and multiply it by 5, this game takes a lot of concentration, so its not for people that only want a five minute blast.

The game starts with you choosing which character you want to control, this really doesn't matter as both are on screen at all times and it doesn't change the storyline any. Once you're in control and you've watched the cut scene featuring your escape from the armed team, its into the game.

Your first view is of a futuristic room, with your two characters and another person sat in a chair, you will want to talk to thew person in the chair, this is done by pointing your cursor over the man and left clicking your mouse, simple. Once you've done with the long dialogue between you and him you will want to pick something up, again this is very easy, with you just moving your mouse over the item, the cursor will change to a hand and again all you have to do is click on it and then place it in your inventory.

Basically the control is just like any other point and click adventure game; if you push the cursor to the top of the screen you will get a pull down menu with a selection of icons on it, these are the main control for the game, you can access a map, which takes you wherever you will need to go in the game.

There is an option to replay any old conversations you may have had, this can come in very useful if you need to remember a password or something. There is an Examine icon, which describes an object, or can be used to show where all the exits are in a room, which is very handy as you might miss a vital area otherwise. Then there is your inventory, which is where you can store any items that you may collect, you can also combine certain objects to create a new object, this is also done in the inventory screen.

So the game is fairly easy to control, but whats it actually like to play?

Well as this is an adventure game it is very story driven, and if the story is dull you're not going to want to play it, so luckily for us the story is very gripping, with plot twists coming all over the place, the only problem is keeping up with it all! The dialogue is quite difficult to understand at some points as the game doesn't give you any information to start with, its down to you to find out whats going on, like any good detective/thriller game should.

Along the way you will have to travel to Hell a fair few times, which adds an interesting twist to this sort of game, and you will spends a lot of time talking to various demons and other characters, as I said this isn't a 5 minute game, it contains hours of dialogue.

Whilst playing you will sometimes meet up with other people that may want to join your team, almost like in an RPG game, these people will have different skills and abilities, which may be needed to pass some of the games devious puzzles.

The puzzles in this game can actually be quite difficult, and will take a lot of brain power to work out, there are none of the usual key opens door puzzles, these are real brain twisters, but that all adds to the enjoyment, and if you do get stuck you could always look at a walkthrough from various websites.

The game will keep you playing for quite some time, with its hard puzzles and hours of speech.
The game also features a few different endings and different ways through the game, so it could be played again after completion.

One problem I've had with the game is that it can get quite difficult to keep up with the plot, as a lot is spoken in a futuristic language, but fans of the Cyberpunk Genre of films/games should get on fine with this.

The game is viewed from a semi 3D angle, with you looking on at the action on screen, like a fly on the wall. The graphics were quite good for its day, but sadly look a little dated by todays standards. Whilst you are talking to another character you will get a cut scene flash up on the screen, which is nicely drawn, but the animation leaves a little to be desired. The actual locations that you will visit are all nicely drawn, with a very futuristic look and feel to them, imagine Blade Runner and you will have an idea of whats on offer.

The sound is what they tried to sell this on, with voices coming from people like Dennis Hopper, who stared in Speed. Grace Jones, who stared as May Day in 1985's James Bond movie 'A View to a kill', also provides some voices. The voice acting is fairly good, with Hopper being a stand out as the demon, Mr Beautiful. Other than the voices the rest of the sound is pretty poor with an annoying little tune in the background, which you can turn off!

This game is definitely one I'd recommend, if you can find it, but it isn't something that you will keep coming back for. If you do play it, then you should really find yourself a few spare hours because you're going to need to sit with this one for quite some time.

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