The Feeble Files Review

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The Feeble Files

Review by Orb

The Feeble Files is a 2D cartoon adventure game originally made in 1997 and brought to the Macintosh by Epic Interactive, the publishers of Simon the Sorcerer II. It’s a comedy that matches wit for wit some of the most well-known comedic adventure game productions, and it is every bit as enjoyable as any classic LucasArts or Sierra game that I’ve had the pleasure of slapping into the ol’ computer.

It is an animated comedy, cleverly written and well-drawn, with superb voice acting. The game also has two features that make it worth every dime the player spends—it is the longest game I have played (taking into account that The Longest Journey has not been ported to the Mac, of course), and the puzzles in this game are some of the most difficult, if not the most difficult, of any adventure game. This is a game that requires patience—if you don’t have it, don’t play it.

The game is third-person, and the main character is an otherworldly being called Feeble, from the planet Grenelon. Feeble lives in a society controlled by an entity known as the Omnibrain, an all-powerful, all-knowing, all-seeing Big Brother. But here the Omnibrain is a really jolly, smarmy version of Big Brother who balances his installation of fear in the populace in equal parts to buying it off with arcade galleries, pill-popping shops, and a zoo with examples of conquered species floating in preservation liquids, among other things. It is a society with happiness by decree or threat, and with this in mind the game is also a clever parody on the ethics of governmental interference in the lives of its citizens. But this message is subtle and never hammered home; rather it is delivered with the best of comedic sensibilities in a very light, clever manner.

Feeble, a worker in the Crop Circle Division of the Omnibrain’s dictatorial government, known as the Company, unwittingly finds himself involved with revolutionaries called the Rebellion in a plot to overthrow the oppressive Company. As a member of this group of rebels, Feeble enjoys a series of misadventures leading to a wonderful surprise ending.

One of the finest things about The Feeble Files is the absolutely sterling writing. The player is given an extraordinary amount of long, well-played movie sequences, where large chunks of the storyline are rolled out. This is not a game with a lot of tedious reading to get the flavor of what’s going on; instead the story is carried forth by well-drawn, richly detailed characters that are an absolute pleasure to follow.

The graphics feature rendered animation and are well-designed and consistently amusing and interesting to look at throughout the game. There is quite a bit of back and forth of the characters as the game progresses, but unlike other games where this mechanism begins to wear painfully thin, in The Feeble Files it never comes off as redundant because there is just so much darned garish, interesting stuff to look at. Colors are bright; characters are well-drawn and funny. The movie sequences are just great, with a real depth to the animation that is very dissimilar to the usual style of most cartoon adventure games.

The game screen design is very clean, with everything needed by the player stored in something called the Oracle Systems personal database, accessed from the game screen by clicking an ever-present circle in the upper left corner of the screen. In the Oracle, an encyclopedia is included, and it is important to use not just to gain valuable clues to solving puzzles in the game but also because it contains much clever and amusing writing read out loud to the player by the voice of Peter Tuddingham (previously known by Brits for his work in Blake’s 7 as the voices of Orac and Zen), who captures well the haughty, autocratic essence of the overwrought government laws.

The one drawback to the Oracle is the inventory system. Inventory does not disappear once used, and Oracle does not allow the player to reorganize items so that used ones are at the bottom—in fact, it keeps the most recent items the farthest away. This system is cumbersome.

I would be remiss if I did not take the time to say just what a high-quality job the voice actors do in this game. Led by Robert Llewellyn as Feeble, the actors bring the writing to life, and the two work in tandem to make the game an excellent example of what can be done right in adventure game stories. Llewellyn, a British author and television performer best known for his portrayal of Kryten in the sci-fi comedy series Red Dwarf, gives Feeble just the right degree of bewilderment and irony to pull the character off properly.

Did I mention that the puzzles are hard? Let me reiterate. These puzzles are hard. I double-dare anyone to finish this without the use of a walkthrough at some point. And yes, you can certainly consider this a challenge. With that said, it’s fair to point out that the puzzles are, at the same time, fun and fiendishly clever. Some are inventory-based, and some are built directly into the game. There is an action sequence, but it is certainly built for the adventure gaming crowd, giving the player unlimited chances to try it again until she gets it right. A good thing, as this player was using a trackpad and needed more than a small amount of leeway. There are also some arcade puzzles that must be completed in enough quantity to progress to the next portion of the game, and to those who’d like to know what the secret is to get through these, all I can say is persistence is your best tool, as these randomize each time they are played.

Some problems that I experienced that are worth noting: The game had a repetitive problem of freezing on my computer. I did not try a pared-down set of extensions, which may have addressed this problem. It was, however, played on a six-month-old iBook with lots of RAM, and not a lot of third-party extensions, that is used almost exclusively for gaming (and this is the first game to crash like this since I acquired my iBook), so I felt that this may be more a situation with the game than computer. It was however, very easy to “Force Quit” the game and quickly reload, so I wouldn’t let someone considering trying the game be put off by the prospect of these freezes.

Although this is a minor point, the game docs omitted an explanation of how to use inventory and where it is stored. This caused a fair amount of frustration and increased the learning curve at the beginning of the game.

One bonus is that the game comes with a folder of saved game files so that if one of the devilish puzzles thoroughly stumps the player, she can still play and not miss the rest of the game.  Whoever had the foresight to do this gets a gold star, as it was, based on the difficulty in completing some the puzzles, a wise move. The End

The Verdict

The Lowdown

Developer: Adventure SoftPublisher: Adventure Soft (PC); Epic Interactive (Mac) Release Date: August 2001 (Mac); 1997 (PC)

Available for: MacintoshWindows

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Screenshots

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System Requirements

Mac: PowerPC 180 MHz or faster Mac OS 8.6 or higher 32 MB RAM 4 MB VRAM 760 MB hard drive space GameSprockets

PC: Windows 95/98 Pentium 16 MB RAM 100% Sound Blaster-compatible sound card 4X CD-ROM 25 MB free hard disk space DirectX-compatible SVGA graphics card

Where to Find It

Links 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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