Lunacy

"It's not insane, just eerie"

Imagine yourself, if you may, a stranger in a strange small town. You have no memory of who you are, where you came form and how you got here. You start off in a prison cell, not because you commit any wrongdoing, but because the ruler of the town you're in wants to see you. He wants to tell you about a mystical city where every wish is granted and he wants you to take him to it. You tell him that you don't know of such a legendary city, but he does not believe you. He points out that you wear a special mark on your forehead that can only be gotten in the magical city. He wants you to lead him to that city....or die.

You have entered the Lunacy zone.

Okay, so I'm not Rod Sterling, but I presented that to point out how eerie and strange this FMV graphic adventure game is. This is one of two games of this type I played (the other's D). You play the main character, Fred, who is suffering from amnesia. He is found wandering around in a place called the City of Mists. There is a foreign mark etched upon him, a crescent moon upon a staff. Lord Gordon, the evil ruler of the city orders Fred to once again find the magic city where he got the mark. A legendary city called the City of Moons, which perhaps they got the main title from. Because of his amnesia, you have to help Fred wander the city, finding people to assist him, locate objects and solve puzzles in his quest. This is a two CD set game, which in the second disk, once Fred discovers and enters into the City of Moons, he must find a way to save it and the citizens from certain doom.

The 3D graphics are great and breathtaking, especially within the City of Moons. It really tries to make you believe that you are in the two cities, running around. The animation is fluid and smooth, with no slowdown whatsoever. The problem is in certain panning scenes, it gets slightly grainy and quite pixilated, but not enough to ruin the game. The characters themselves, however, move stiffly in certain scene, especially in action scenes.

The music really sets the tone to the theme and changes at certain times with no annoying replays. Too bad you can't play the music outside the game because it doesn't have anymore track. It has one track, however it has some girl speaking in Japanese on not putting this game in a regular CD player or something. The sound effects are detailed, clear and varied. The only problem is the bad dubbing. This is originally a Japanese game translated to English and the voices don't match the mouth movement at all, making it a bit hokey in some places.

The only area that really suffers is the game play itself. It is too short and the puzzles are not that hard figure out. In fact, you have to watch certain screens before it allows you to solve the puzzle! For example, you have a can of oil and a door that it is rusted shut. Well, you can't use it to open the door until you meet with Mac the clock person, who tells you the oil is used on rusted doors. Don't know why they made it like that unless they want you to see every scene, which makes this less of an interactive game and more of a movie.

But this is a good game to rent if not have. What lacks in challenge makes up for story, interesting characters and great graphics. Some might be disappointed if they played D or MYST before this game, but this is great for people who are new to FMV and who like the sheer entertainment value.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 12/14/02, Updated 12/14/02