Hope Springs Eternal Review

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Hope Springs Eternal: A Carol Reed Mystery

Review by TogerJanuary 2006

When we last met Carol, she’d successfully solved the mystery of a strange kidnapping case, the same case on which her friend, Conrad, had been working when he suddenly died. With the excitement of that case at an end and needing a job to continue her stay in Norrköping, Carol decides to take over Conrad’s private detective agency. Unfortunately, people aren’t beating a path to her door. Not even after she’s place an ad in the local paper.  Conrad’s sister, Katarina, comes to her rescue when she asks Carol to investigate the disappearance of a fellow teacher, Anna.

Thus begins the second installment in the Carol Reed series by MDNA Games, a Swedish husband-and-wife team. Will Carol, once again, prevail? Read on to find out!

As with Remedy before it, Hope Springs Eternal is strictly first-person, point-and-click through slideshow-style environments. Once again using the Adventure Maker engine, movement is confined to the four basic cardinal directions—meaning that access to some locations is only possible from a specific spot and/or direction. Getting in and out of your inventory is a piece of cake: move the interactive cursor to the top of the screen, which opens the inventory bar.  From there, it’s possible to drag/drop to combine items or use them in the game world. Right-clicking or pressing the “Esc” button will give you the save/load/exit options.

Hope Springs Eternal’s puzzles are mainly inventory-based and involve picking up whatever isn’t nailed to the floor and using it in the appropriate place. Sometimes, however, you won’t be able to actually take an item until some other action has triggered the need for the object—knowing which object you require isn’t always obvious, nor is it always clear where you might find the needed item, making backtracking and random wandering around town the order of the day. Some verbal cues from Carol would have helped tremendously in a couple of situations where I wasn’t sure what to do next, although there are cues verbally given when attempting to use an object in the wrong place.

There are a handful of standalone puzzles—including a slider and a short quiz—that are necessary to move the game forward; however, the Nyqvists have included a nice little “skip the puzzle” feature for those players who’re unsuccessful in solving the puzzle or who just don’t want to stop the travelogue feeling of the game by having to muddle through a brain-teaser.  With the exception of the “pat on the back” star rating at the end of the game (a star is awarded for each puzzle successfully completed), skipping the puzzles causes no ill effect on the outcome of the game.

As was done for Remedy, the backgrounds for Hope Springs Eternal are photographs of Norrköping digitally enhanced to have the appearance of watercolor paintings. It’s a beautiful effect and quite calming as you roam through the various locations—even the junkyard is pretty. When you interact with the other characters, their unenhanced photographs are superimposed on top of the background and will alter slightly as you advance through the subtitled dialogue tree.

Music and sound for Hope Springs Eternal are very nice.  The original musical score is especially soothing and Enya-like.  For the most part, I didn’t really hear it while playing as it faded into the background while I walked around town. Once again, there aren’t a lot of ambient sounds in the game, but what there were—birds singing, water flowing in a fountain or through a canal—were nicely done. Personally, I think more ambient sound would go a long way toward total immersion in the environments.

Although the music and sounds are well-done, the voice work, unfortunately, didn’t reach the level of the rest of the audio.  The majority of the actors simply read their lines or just sounded tired and bored. The below-average voice work wasn’t a deal-breaker, but the lack of feeling in some of the characters was odd considering Carol is dealing with an apparent disappearance of a mysterious nature.

I did enjoy looking at Hope Springs Eternal, but for me it was more of a gentle, sedate travelogue showcasing the attractions of a Swedish village more than an actual game. Nor did it help any that the story ended so abruptly. Judging by the ending that was presented, it would appear that the developers already have another story in mind for the series. If that’s the case, I hope that they improve their storytelling skills to correspond with the beauty of their game.

Bottom line: if you’re looking for a serene, tranquil visit to a quaint village, then definitely pick up Hope Springs Eternal; on the other hand, if you’re looking for a challenging adventure, you might want to try something else. The End

The Verdict

The Lowdown

Developer: MDNA Games Publisher: MDNA Games Release Date: October 2005

Available for: Windows

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System Requirements

Pentium 800 64 MB RAM 8 MB v ideo card 500 MB free hard disk space Win98/2000/XP

Where to Find It

MDNA Games $18 (includes worldwide shipping)

Links provided for informational purposes only.  FFC makes no warranty with regard to any transaction entered into by any party(ies).

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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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