Callahan's Crosstime Saloon

"To...entertaining adventure games"

There's these famous books full of short stories about the things that happen at a bar on Long Island called Callahan's Place, where a time traveler or space invader is as likely to walk in the door as Mr. Joe Average. They're all fun, and they all make you think about your humanity a little.

I never would've even heard about them if Legend hadn't made a computer game about them, though.

You're Jake Stonebender in this game, the bearded folk guitarist who narrates the books. Unlike the books you'll spend very little of the game in the bar, as you're going off on one adventure after another, through time, space, and a European village that looks like a horror movie convention year round to help a bar patron with some problem or another of theirs.

I can attest that this game is not only a treat for people already familiar with Callahan's, but a fine way to get introduced to the series, too. Plenty of familiar characters from the books are present,like the mandatory Mike and Fast Eddie and Doc Webster to less frequently seen faces like Noah, Josie Bauer and Mickey Finn, to guys who are new to the Callahan's crowd like Squish and Parabolus.

This is a graphic adventure, so it means solving the problems put to you by picking up an assortment of seemingly random items and using them in bizarre ways. Like many latter-day graphic adventures, dying or getting caught without an important item is an impossibility in Callahan's Crosstime Saloon. You just need to try everything, no matter how crazy it seems (and probably is).

The spirit of the books is maintained at all times, especially around the bar. The game starts at riddle night, which is more or less exactly as it is in the books, and the game remarks that the bar looks like it could take anything short of a nuclear blast, which will make sense to the people who are familiar with the novels. Most of all, at its heart, each mini quest is about a subtle lesson in humanity, just like most of the stories that gave rise to this game.

This game was a pleasure to play. The people who read Callahan's would have fun with it and the people who don't yet would find this a fine way to get introduced. Just bring your imagination with you when you pay a visit to Callahan's.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 02/14/04, Updated 04/24/04