Developer
Traveller's Tales

Released: November 18, 2002
Genre: Platform
Players: 1
ESRB: Teen

8
6
6
6
6.5

Supported Features:

To set you up with the basic plot, there’s an evil emperor who rules over most of the galaxy. He’s kept all the races he’s conquered subjugated by injecting everyone with a slow acting poison. So, as long as you keep a steady supply of the antidote, which takes the form of little glowing spheres, you can keep it from hurting you, but if you go too long without picking up any then you start to take damage. Hint: in game mechanics this means that all those little pick-ups you have to get are actually related to the story by more than just a tenuous plot device.

So you’re the unwilling slave of a galaxy spanning empire; what do you do - push huge stone blocks while trying to avoid the slave driver’s whip? No, because you’re not rebelling really. The problem is that you’ve been chosen to hear the Voice (the capital letter means that it’s not just any voice), which according to legend is a harbinger of the return of the king (who used to rule here eons and eons ago with a gentle hand and was loved by all). The emperor of course doesn’t look forward to a change in the current power structure, because, well, evil tends to get killed when the good guys start cleaning house.

Of course the emperor doesn’t have you killed right off; just watched, because that’s always proved so much more effective in eliminating threats to your plans. We pick you up as a slave late for work because you’ve just put the finishing touches on a pet mechanical bird (Clash of the Titans anyone?). Yes, you’re a slave. Yes you apparently have enough free time, spare parts, and tools to build an independently functioning robot that can make decisions. I wonder if it’s fluent in over 6 million forms of communication as well?

The game does do some unique things however, because you do a lot of things using a yo-yo. That’s right you attack with a yo-yo, and as cheesy as it sounds it’s actually pretty cool, despite the fact that you made it yourself apparently. You also use a shield that can defend from most types of damage, which was made...by you. Frankly, if I had a slave who was making all these high tech devices in his spare time, I’d think that either he had too much time on his hands or he needed additional supervision, like under the fist of a large bulky guard. Anyway, your yo-yo does more than just break barrels and hurt enemies. It also functions as an overhead grappling device; basically it ties into overhead energy fields that will zip you along at something resembling the speed of sound. In straight lines this is great, but if you zigzag too much then controls get a little hairy and if you steer off the track you’re falling.

Other than these few novelties Haven is basically your average platform game. You run and jump and shoot and break things in order to collect items to advance the story. The real problem is that this game is very directionless. I wandered around for like half an hour just trying to find everything I needed to leave the first level let alone getting to the exit. It wasn’t that things were that difficult, just that everything looked the same so one direction was so much like another I got lost, and with no obvious linear direction, it was just like wandering through a sprawl. While this can be a good thing if the graphics are that engaging and the play control is as well, with Haven it’s much like wandering aimlessly through a factory.

Some of the stuff is really cool, but there’s not much point to it. This is also frustrating when you’re actually trying to play to get things done and getthrough the game. If you’re trying to get everything in one try then you'll have to be very careful. There is no way to retrace your steps, so once you leave the area there’s no going back and a lot of the time you don’t know when you’ve passed that point until you try to go back and can’t. Of course, I will admit to some pride and say I usually pick the way that leads out, rather than a dead end, when I arbitrarily choose a direction to explore so maybe it’s just me.

While the levels aren’t very well planned out, they are excellently rendered, outdoor levels especially so because of a quick day/night cycle and an occasional shower (during which time Haven throws his hood up and hunches his shoulders). The lack of foresight in the blueprints of the level is made up to some extent by details that tie everything together such as the robot walking through lava in the cavern or various steam jets and other heavy machinery that you have to work around. The other tech all blends together, they keep it all very cohesive and believable that everything is part of the same empire and all from the same tech base. Other good effects include the energy coruscating along the yo-yo and the tracks that hold it, and the charging pots for your shield.

The most detailed thing I’ve seen in this game is the textures, and one of my favorites is the bird you see during Haven’s dream. It is bar none one of the best animations I’ve seen for wings outside of Final Fantasy or actual drawings. The only problem is that things do tend towards a flat looking wall rather than having depth, which makes it a little difficult to get around seeing as how your depth perception gets totally screwed.

The other really big problem I have is the palette they used on all of the levels. It’s not exactly drab, but a lot of things tend to look very similar, almost as if they used the same base for every level and used every other color from a range around that. While this does lend cohesiveness to the levels they also chose too small a range around things. Nothing comes alive on the screen; it is just there in a kind of hyper-realized exquisitely detailed black and white.

The overall voice acting is very good. I’m pretty sure they got the guy who did Megabyte’s voice (Reboot) to do the emperor. Just watch out for that opening movie, you can’t skip it and the doctor who tends to you in the beginning you'll want to throttle in order to get him to either enunciate clearly or to stop stuttering.