Reviewed: September 15, 2004
Reviewed by: David Caviness
Publisher
Got Game Entertainment
Developer
Dejavu Worlds
Released: August 23, 2004
Genre: Adventure
Players: 1
ESRB: Everyone
4
8
5
5
5.6
System Requirements
Recommended System
There is a certain four letter word often uttered when the adventure genre is spoken of, rising up like a Lovecraftian behemoth from the ancient depths of the 90’s, pushing everything to the brink of insanity. Myst. Whether you love it, or loathe it, shall determine how you feel about Alida. Story, puzzles, graphics, presentation – it’s all comparable in almost every way to Myst and Riven and the millions of clones lurking in the darkness.
Alida, though, is not a simple clone, but rather an inspired homage. You begin with no backstory, other than what you’ve read on the box and or in the manual. Instead you are given an imperative: travel to Alida and find Arin.
And with that you find yourself on the island called Alida. Only, as you may have guessed, this is no normal island, for it is rather lacking in sweaty tourists and five star resorts. No, this island was purchased by the uber-successful band also called Alida, who sought to create a musical theme park constructed in the form of a massive guitar. Obviously something went wrong and instead of a happy place that children pester their parents to go to it has become somewhat of a tomb.
The first thing you must do is click. Clicking will move you in whatever direction the cursor indicates or will allow you to manipulate something, and this is the sum of the controls. No need to take notes or consult the manual, just click yourself into oblivion. At the very least, your clicking muscle will be well primed for the next deathmatch. The island is huge; traversing it from end to end is likely to send your left mouse button into some kind of overdrive. How many clicks does it take to get to the center of Alida? One…two…three…you get the point. Slap a cartoon owl on the box and you’ve got a viable marketing angle, if a bit unoriginal.
Through most of the game you won’t be prompted to move to the next area or given a clear objective, you will just be clicking your virtual avatar to the next puzzle and then clicking your way through that. Am I getting redundant here? Good, now you understand. There is a story, and it is somewhat interesting, but aside from some FMV sequences and some discovered journal pages it is largely absent. It’s hard to criticize Alida for things like this when so many other games rely upon the same devices, but when they become the sole focus it feels less like a game and more like a brainteaser.
The puzzles are well crafted and satisfyingly challenging, but they seem to be the only inhabitants of this Disneyland gone wrong. The story simply does not start off on the right foot, leaving you with too little information and expecting you to just puzzle your way across the musical monstrosity until you sort of have an idea of what’s going on. Background elements exist, but they’re too little too late. This is fitting because Alida is a barebones game, which you really can’t complain about since it did not have a big development studio behind it. This is a labor of love, and in that respect it achieves much.
A fast transport mode is available for the impatient; only it will almost certainly be used by everyone because of all the backtracking. This is helpful when you want to avoid the click-fest between you and the next bizarre piece of machinery you’ll be tinkering with. Oddly, when you actually operate the cyclopean guitar it doesn’t sound that great. Very anticlimactic. Alida has the makings of a great game, especially when considering how much work was put into it, and this is all immediately evident when you play it. Those makings, however, are outdated and outworn. Unfortunately, it has little else to offer.
First off, the bad: the game is limited to 800x600 resolution and the graphics basically amount to a slideshow. The world around you is as linear as it gets, and you won’t be panning the camera around to find different angles. Where you go is what you see, nothing more.
That being said the artistry in this game is outstanding, and definitely takes the edge off of the puzzle mongering. The fluidity and detail in the scenes easily outdo games that were created by an entire staff of talented artists. The animations, though also woefully low in number, are professionally and aesthetically pleasing.
For a game that apparently revolves around the bizzaro antics of a few wildly popular and very wealthy (well, until they get the utility bill for their damn guitar fortress) musicians, it seems like there should really be a lot more music and sound. Everything you do hear is excellent, from the ambient sound to the rattle of sci-fi inspired puzzle devices. It’s just that when you hear tale of a band that has broken all records and set the world aflame with their sound, you want to know what the hell that sounds like. Granted, a lone developer could accomplish no such task, but it makes the entire concept less believable. Such a minor flaw does little to tarnish the game, but when compounded with everything else you begin to wonder what could’ve been.
You can take this crazy ride for the humble price of $30 US dollars. It isn’t much but it could be lower, and has been for greater games. Conversely, I can think of many a game almost twice the cost and yet not worth even half of the time spent playing Alida. If Alida appeals to you so much that you just have to have it, this money will not be wasted. Otherwise, scope it out for a while and either wait for it to end up in the bargain bin or just got out on a limb and get it. I don’t think it’ll come down to a decision between this and some blockbuster leviathan of a title, so you’ve probably already made up your mind.
Ah, what could’ve been…that, my friends, is the death knell. But you have to remember that this is a solo effort, and that it does indeed succeed on many levels. Take away every chink in Alida’s armor and it would have bested Myst at its own game. Regardless, it is a pleasure to see and interact with a creation made possible only by great talent. Given a few years we’re sure to see something worth raving about coming from Dejavu Worlds, and that’s not to say certain aspects of Alida aren’t worth it. But the genre has to move beyond this battleground, because the carcasses of its fallen brothers are beginning to fester.
As it stands this game will not get the attention or praise that it deserves, because most people won’t even give it a fair shake. There are a lot of incongruous facets to the story, like the godlike knowledge of science and music that these band members seem to possess. And overall, it’s hard to recommend this to any but to most devoted to this format. If you aren’t, just click yourself back to the mainland and unleash your anger upon the undead. They deserve it.