Amber: Journeys Beyond Review

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Amber: Journeys Beyond

Review by Jen

I am pretty jaded when it comes to adventure games, having played so many of them, and so it is a rare thing for one to surprise me. But this game literally took my breath away. In retrospect, I can’t believe I hadn’t played it yet—I have had it for at least a year and kept passing it by because it looked like some metaphysical exploration/know yourself kind of junk. But no, it turned out to be a horror game extraordinaire.

The game opens with an email message asking you to check up on a coworker of yours, who is in a haunted house testing some new equipment that is supposed to aid in tracking ghost activity.  Of course you agree, and you set off. When you get near the house, an apparition appears in the roadway and you swerve into a lake.  You drag yourself onto the shore and set off up a hill to the house. When you check the garage, you find Roxy, the coworker, unconscious or dead in the loft. You enter the house and find pieces of her ghost-busting equipment all over the place. Your first task is to make it all work again, and then you must make yourself into each of the ghosts, using a special headgear called Amber, in order to free them by making them know they’re dead, and ultimately revive Roxy. Each of the subplots deals with a form of man’s inhumanity to man and thus is far more horrifying by its reality than if it were purely based on the supernatural.  The tension in my computer room was palpable as I played this game. I kept having to take breaks because the walls were closing in on me, I was feeling little breezes blow through my hair (turned out to be the heater), and I kept hearing noises. This story is thick with atmosphere and manages to be sweet, sad, horrific, terrifying, and believable all at once … it’s a real ride on an emotional roller coaster.

Gameplay is extremely intuitive. The interface is pure point-and-click, and the cursor changes shape to tell you what you can do when you move it over a hotspot. However, there were a couple of hotspots that were really small and hard to locate, so there is a bit of pixel-hunting (but not for objects, just for hotspots). There are a few inventory puzzles, but mostly you progress based on close observation of your surroundings. You can’t die or make a wrong move, which is a plus for me, and I ran across no bugs or system hangups. However, while I enjoyed Amber all to pieces, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention there was a maze (albeit an easy one) and a slider puzzle—I believe I discuss in just about every review I write how much I hate these two tired old chestnuts.

The beautiful graphics are largely photorealistic images in the slide-show style of Myst and Riven, but animated sequences are interspersed strategically throughout. It’s obvious that the artist(s) had a great deal of design experience and a good eye for layout—there was no clutter, although there was plenty to see and do, and each of the styles for each of the ghost segments was perfectly executed. Even though the graphics are not technological marvels, they were artistically almost awe-inspiring.  The level of detail was a marvel, too—for instance, Roxy got her diploma from Miskatonic University in a subtle tip of the hat to H.P. Lovecraft.

The music is movie-quality although not in the least bit bombastic.  In fact, it is downright lovely much of the time, a la Mike Oldfield, and it absolutely heightens the tension—and there is a lot of tension in Amber. Sound effects are fantastic and used in all the right places. When I heard a sound effect, I knew exactly what it was supposed to be. The voice acting, while there was not a lot of it, was not at all cheesy in the usual second-rate video game style.

In conclusion, if you want a horror game without gore (there is the teeniest amount of blood but it’s on people already dead and not at all disgusting) that truly will cause chills to run up and down your spine, I recommend Amber over any other that I’ve played in the horror genre. It was good enough that I would go so far as to rank it in my lifetime top ten.

As a final note, I would like to mention that Amber is a husband-and-wife effort by Frank and Susan Wimmer, with a very small development team. This is one of the all-time best adventure games ever produced, I believe, and I would like to see more support for these small-scale gems in order that more might be made. If you haven’t played it yet, get yourself a copy tomorrow—maybe the Wimmers will be encouraged to make another game. The End

The Verdict

The Lowdown

Developer: Hue Forest Entertainment, LLC Publisher: Hue Forest Entertainment, LLC Release Date: 1996

Available for: MacintoshWindows

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Screenshots

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System Requirements

PC: Windows 95 486DX2/66 8 MB RAM High-color (16-bit) video card 45 MB of free hard disk space 4X CD-ROM drive Sound card

Macintosh: 68040 or PowerPC System 7.0 or higher 5 MB free RAM (8 MB preferred) 13″ 16-bit color display 25 MB free hard disk space 2X CD-ROM (4x or higher preferred)

Where to Find It

Amazon.com 9.99Prices/links current as of 11/07/02Links provided for informational purposes only.  FFC makes no warranty with regard to any transaction entered into by any party(ies).

      Copyright © Electric Eye Productions.  All rights reserved.  No reproduction in whole or in part without express written permission.

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14 Responses to Fear Factor

  • Fear Factor | Tap-Repeatedly.com | Reality Topics Blog

    […] nobody@flickr.com (graftedno1) wrote a very interesting post today.   Here’s a quick excerpt:My greatest fear is to be trapped alone in a confined space with a blind human, in total darkness. They have a heightened sense of smell and hearing, and. […]

  • Matt "Steerpike" Sakey

    Lewis, you made me think of the scariest moments I’ve experienced in gaming, and we’re very similar people.

    Bioshock had two moments – the dentist and the flooded room filled with mannequins.

    Thief had Return to the Cathedral, which was terrifying to me. Thief 3 had Shalebridge Cradle, which is so scary it ought to be fined.

    System Shock 2 kept me on the edge of my seat, but it was more lonely panic than true fear.

    Korsakovia was so scary that I uninstalled it.

    And STALKER. Oh, god, the haunted labs in STALKER. The latter two games don’t have scares like that. Few games do.

    It’s especially rare for a game to have more than mere “moments” – for a game to be scary from beginning to end, that’s a triumph.

    Wonderful article. As if Gregg’s review wasn’t enough to convince me that Penumbra is not something I have the courage to play!

  • DPenn

    I’m with you Lewis … I’m a bit of a puss. I just have a hard time wrapping my head around the idea of dread as entertainment.

    Still, I’m drawn to dark stories when they have something interesting to say, whether it’s a game like Thief or a film like, say, Gaspar Noe’s Irreversible. So I’ll push through, sometimes peering through my fingers.

    The trouble with games, though, is that if you look through your fingers, you’re probably just going to have to play through the scenario again. :~)

  • Mike "Scout" Gust

    I wanted to play this game. I downloaded the demo but the controls were just too wonky for me to get my head around. I liked the atmospheric vibe a lot. I think I’m a bit desensitized from an overdose of horror movies in my youth so I don’t so much get the dread thing from these games as a nice creepy vibration. If only the controls were better…

  • Lewis B

    @ Mike, what’s wrong with the controls bud? As someone who despises poor control schemes, Penumbra’s is just like any other FPS, except to examine things you right click on them.  To use things you left click.  I’m not sure that can be considered difficult 🙂

  • Gregg B

    @Steerpike: Yeah my greatest shit-scared moments were with those games too. A few spoilers below people, so beware.

    Bioshock – Haha, I remember the dentist. I didn’t really find the game that scary overall but the bit where you go into the wine cellar and notice a mannequin facing the wall and after upgrading your weapon it’s stood directly behind you motionless and quiet just for a moment before attacking you. I shat a brick. I also missed that bit originally until Lew told me about it.

    System Shock 2 – same as you really, more unremitting tension all the way through rather than specific terrifying moments. Oh actually, theres a bit where you call a lift and it breaks then you realise a service droid is coming to fix it… I do remember having sleep issues after my first encounter with the cyborg ninjas though.

    Thief: The Dark Project – The Sword and Return to the Cathedral and Down in the Bonehoard and well, loads of them. The Sword made me break out into goosebumps though because there was a bit where you could hear this creepy giggling which seemed like it was following me about then it suddenly changed to this horrible throaty noise. What made matters worse was that the EAX (bless you Creative) made my foot steps sound like somebody else was there with me. That level was incredible, a bit too incredible as it seems I missed great chunks of it because I was so eager to leave.

    Thief II: The Metal Age – Trail of Blood where you end up in that opening with those damn tree beasts. God the first time I saw one of those hurtling towards me I actually died shortly afterward. Do you remember that Mechanist child walking around on one of the levels? That was a little creepy.

    Then there’s Penumbra: Overture – quite a few bits but I’m not mentioning them here.

    Oh and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. – The brain scorcher lab just because it was so damn quiet. My imagination seriously got the better of me there. Those stuffed animals and heads I’d seen in various buildings led me to believe that those creatures were lurking somewhere in the Zone, specifically that lab.

    @Mike: My control setup was perfect after some tweaking (as well as the simple weapon swing fix). If you ever fancy giving it another go, give me a shout and I’ll let you know my setup.

  • Lewis B

    I’m not sure why guys, but one of my starting paragraphs had gone missing, even though I copied it straight from the original source, and It was fine earlier. 

    Incase you missed it due to some technical issue you might want to re-read just after “Well no she wouldn’t in truth, but in Penumbra: Overture you don’t want to move anyway.” at the very start for those who’ve already read the article. Apologies 🙂

  • Mike "Scout" Gust

    Lewis, it was the weapon swing. It had this terrible, unresponsive feel to it, like trying to hit through molasses. I couldn’t stand using it. I tried the .ini fix as mentioned in the review but it didn’t seem to help. Of course this was the demo…but that shouldn’t have made any difference. I might try the second game instead as I guess they did away with the weapons thing.

    I’m see your first paragraph just fine. It’s the dialogue, right?

  • jdeuel

    I like the argument that weapons can remove fear, but even loaded to the teeth with ammo in AVP’99 the Marine missions were frightful because the enemy was anywhere at any time.

    As for Penumbra Overture, if the controls are anything like the original Penumbra they need to hack in some Wii-Remote 3d controls. I did not like using my mouse for 3d movements.

  • Gregg B

    @Mike: I’ve read that many people avoided conflict altogether in Overture which incidentally is something forced upon you in Black Plague. As somebody who has been renovating a house over the last 6 months with no DIY experience I can safely say that swinging a hammer is significantly easier in real life than it is in Overture without the fix. The fix balanced that for me.

    I’d highly recommend completing the first Penumbra because it’s one big build up to Black Plague which spoils the ending to Overture in the intro. And it’s a great ending too. Just so you know!

  • Lewis B

    @ Steerpike, those moments you mention are all my worst too!!  Do you remember the Robot labs in SS2? Absolutely terrifying, waiting for robots to burst out on you! 🙁 oh and have you ever player Condemned?

    @ Mike, The use of weapons in Penumbra is different to say HL2, where the player is physically holding the weapon, as in Penumbra it floats slightly infront of you.  However, if you change the control method to normal weapon swing, it’s no different!  Speak to Greggi and he’ll tell you what to do 🙂

    @ jdeuel, AVP the original and its sequal were scary however what type of fear do you think it is? I don’t think it’s anything more than sheer tension.  Having a Smart Gun makes you feel incredibly powerful.  I can honestly say in Penumbra the fear is sheer unrivalled terror, where you actually have to force yourself to play on.  It genuinly is that scary! 🙂

  • Jason Dobry

    It’s so true, an arsenal of weapons and ammo rapidly deflates any sense of horror or uneasiness in any game for reasons you already mentioned. Sakey, I thought Bioshock was more “lonely panic,” while I was pretty much always terrified in System Shock 2. I really, really, REALLY did not want to enter The Many’s nursery, and my weapons were so unreliable and ammo so scarce that I never felt safe.

    Silent Hill was terrifying for the same reasons. Ammo was rare and I frequently had to rely on my pipe for self-defense.  Even when I had ammo, the game mechanics prevented my character from being anything other than marginal with any firearm.

    Fear had one moment for me: I was climbing up a ladder, and as I reached the upper platform, my guy briefly looked down as he climbed off. As my perspective looked up again, that Ring-esque little girl was RIGHT THERE, reaching for me. I screamed and she was gone.

    What else…the original Aliens vs. Predator sent me into a locker room and I could only hear the facehuggers scurrying about somewhere within. I had to go in there. I advanced about three steps before the damn thing screamed and filled up my screen with its repulsive underside as it implanted me with its spawn. My roommate made fun of me for weeks for screaming like a girl child.

    Korsakovia–meh.  I was too annoyed and frustrated by the box rearrangement/jumping puzzles to be scared. I uninstalled it after an hour of play, I think. Maybe the scary parts were later, but I doubt it.

    As for Penumbra, I did play through about half of it before other games distracted me. I remember unease and creepiness, but no sweaty fear. I think I’m to blame here, or, more precisely, my daughter, who was still an infant at the time and generally allowed me only to play during the day for 45 minutes at a time. I was denied total immersion and the fear effect suffered. Maybe I should give it another go after I finish Call of Pripyat since she sleeps through the night now. With any luck, Penumbra will keep me from doing the same.

  • Gregg B

    I played the demo of F.E.A.R. but that ladder scare is the only bit I remember. Christ, that made me jump. I’m not too good with cat scares.

    Also I felt exactly the same about Korsakovia. It was creepy at first but then it began to irritate me far too much and it just soured the experience. I stopped playing as a result. Not to mention, when I realised I could bash those smoke-things with my crowbar they didn’t bother me nearly as much.

  • Online Up

    Great article. I look forward to reading more in the future.

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