"Not as good as LucasArts’ later adventure games but still worth playing."

Loom was released in 1990 by Lucasfilm Games, present day LucasArts. The company was then still best known for it's point and click adventures and rightly so. This reputation would only strengthen in the years after Loom's release when the studio came up with a slew of classics like the Monkey Island series and Day of the Tentacle. As such, Loom may not be as well or as fondly remembered as those games. I will explain why that is something of an injustice.

GRAPHICS
Taking into account that Loom was originally released almost twenty years ago, it comes as no surprise that the graphics are technically dated. The visuals are pixelated and the animation is somewhat limited. It is also noteworthy that Bobbin predominantly moves on a horizontal plane, thus mostly walks in a straight line across the screen and rarely diagonally or vertically.

This will only be a problem for those who can't see beyond such limitations. Those fortunate enough who can do just that will find a charming looking game. It's fantasy style is pleasant and the game can look even beautiful at times. The first location for example is simply gorgeous with a star filled sky and an island settled in dusk. The magical effects also really sparkle against the background. So the visuals are indeed dated, it matters very little when the design still holds up after all this time.

SOUND
For a game centred around music, Loom actually has very little sound to speak of. What music there is sounds very good though, giving a decent rendition of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake. The circumstance that it is only played during important events does add to Loom's fairytale atmosphere. There are also not a lot of sound effects, being mainly limited to the magical effects. The voice acting is decent but not all that remarkable. Bobbin sounds good but the rest of the cast don't really sparkle. All in all, the sparse audio may be a sign of Loom's age but it is a shame nonetheless.

GAMEPLAY
The world of Loom is run by numerous Guilds. One of these Guilds are the Weavers who have not only mastered working with cloth but can manipulate time and space itself. The plot revolves around Bobbin Threadbare, a young man and a member of the Weavers who is mistrusted by the rest of his Guild. On his seventeen birthday he is summoned by the Weavers' Elders, witnesses a heated row and finally sees everyone being transformed into swans who fly away. The thoroughly confused Bobbin, spurned by warnings of an impeding apocalypse, decides to go after these swans and thus begins his adventure.

Loom's plot isn't typical LucasArts fare. The studio isn't particularly known for high fantasy settings, a genre which Loom most definitely falls into. The game is also rather light on humour, something the average LucasArts title tends to posses in abundance. Although the setting is quite interesting, the story itself could have been better told. Bobbin is a likeable and hapless protagonist, constantly wondering what exactly is going on. The other characters, on the other hand, are walking and talking cliches. The plot's atmosphere has a nice melancholic quality to it and the ending is quite surprising. Unfortunately it is told at such a brisk pace, it almost seems like the summery of a bigger and more elaborate story. It is over almost before it even begins.

Although Loom looks like a fairly typical point and click adventure it does quite a lot of things differently. Bobbin still explores a couple of locations, speaks with other characters and interacts with the available hotspots in order to solve the puzzles presented to him. The big difference lies with the manner of interaction and how he solves the puzzles. There is no traditional inventory so Bobbin doesn't collect any items. Instead he learns drafts, a string of notes that empowers his magic. You see, the only item he carries with him is a distaff that produces musical tones. Through these string of notes Bobbin can manipulate his surroundings. Opening and closing things for example or lighting the darkness.

This music based system works well and offers a pleasant change from the usual fare provided by the genre. Puzzles revolve around using a draft with the correct item or location. If such a draft isn't available, Bobbin must explore some more to get the appropriate one. If he just isn't capable of playing the correct notes, Bobbin must find a way to learn how to do that. It's a fun mechanic but not without it's problems.

The most important issue is that the puzzles can become rather basic. Loom lacks the variation offered by puzzles founded on inventory, conversational or system based mechanics. In essence, the drafts replace the traditional actions available in point and click adventures at the time. Instead of choosing a standard option to interact with an item, by for example using ‘open', ‘push', ‘pull' or even simply ‘use', the player must use a draft. There are some more elaborate puzzles which involve several drafts but they are few and far between. The gameplay remains somewhat simple throughout because of this.

A feature that wouldn't have gone amiss is a way to record the collected drafts. As it stands, the player must write them down somewhere. Failing to do so means that he runs the risk of loosing a few drafts that may have been needed later in the game. The original release of Loom apparently came with a booklet for writing them down but an ingame solution would have been preferable.

The interface resembles that of later LucasArts adventures. The playing field takes up the upper half of the screen. The left side of the bottom half shows the distaff and the accompanying notes and the right side shows a selected object. Through pointing and clicking with the mouse, the player can direct Bobbin where to go. Sweeping the screen will reveal interactable hotspots which when selected show up in the aforementioned spot on the lower right portion of the screen. Playing the notes can be done by clicking on them or by pressing the appropriate button on the keyboard. This interface works very well but has one annoying problem. When Bobbin is moving across the screen, the cursor becomes unable to identify hotspots, so he can't walk and search for interactible items at the same time.

Loom isn't a long game and will be over in a very short time. As mentioned earlier, the gameplay is quite simple and not all that challenging. So long as the player diligently writes down all the drafts there shouldn't be a problem. Loom does provides three different difficulty settings which affects the way drafts are portrayed. On the most difficult setting, drafts must be identified just by sound while the lower setting also provide some visual cues.

FINAL REMARKS
The presentation really shows Loom's age. Despite this, the visuals do have their moments and while the audio is rather sparse the music that is there is sounds very good. The plot and gameplay is atypical for a LucasArts game with it's high fantasy theme, scarce humour, lack of an inventory and a mechanic based on a musical system. Loom is also very short and won't last very long.

It is that break from the norm however that adds greatly to Loom's charm. It's different type of gameplay still feels fresh, even after all these years. That there haven't been that many games like it certainly helps in that regard. That the gameplay is rather simple can be held against it but Loom does contain some moments where it shows that it didn't have to be that way. With so much potential, it truly is a pity that it has never gotten it's sequel. Loom may not be in the same league as Day of the Tentacle or Grim Fandango but it certainly deserves to be played and remembered.

OVERALL: a 7,4.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 10/26/10

Game Release: Loom (EU, 1990)