11th Hour Review

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The 11th Hour

Review by Orb

Do any of you remember the Vincent Price classic The House on Haunted Hill? The 7th Guest’s environment always reminded me a bit of walking through that house. Now what do gamemakers, dealing with the exact same environment, do to vary it and make it look fresh? Give it to a motorcycle club as an open house for the weekend. And that’s exactly the condition you find the Stauf mansion in this sequel to The 7th Guest, and believe me, it works just fine.

You are Carl Denning, an investigative reporter for the television series “Cases Unsolved,” and you have gone to the Stauf mansion to find your missing TV producer, Robin Morales, a woman you’ve been previously involved with. The story opens with news reports of her disappearance, occurring while she was investigating a series of bizarre murders and disappearances, and Carl receives a mysterious package containing a PDA that, when opened, shows a frightened Robin trapped in the Stauf mansion.  Carl, of course, goes to the mansion to get to the bottom of the mystery, embroiling himself as well, and once the mansion is entered, the game becomes first-person, with you playing as Carl. Plot, usually a weak point in adventure gaming (especially in a straight puzzle-solving environment such as Jewels of the Oracle) is pretty darned good.

The 11th Hour has great FMV sequences, and the actors are definitely working professionals this time around. There were a few tracking problems with sound and video, but these were very minor. As I said above, the designers have very cleverly changed the look of the house itself, keeping the gameplay very fresh and really giving the game its own legs—you never once get the feeling of a rerun. There’s a nice turn-around feature, time saving for backtracking, and a repeat of my favorite game cursor in the whole world, the beckoning skeletal hand. The PDA, called a “GameBook” here, serves up the FMV in little morsels as a reward for moving the action along, with (!) five full chapters after full portions are completed.

Now about the music. The first thing I want to know is where is my @#$%&@* music CD? The music to The 11th Hour is every bit as good, if not better than, The 7th Guest’s. So what, no companion audio CD? Okay, okay, maybe you couldn’t package it as it was already top-heavy, weighing in at four CDs (are we all looking forward to DVD or what?). The music was again created by “The Fat Man,” and it’s another fabulously spooky job. Sound and music both quite properly capture the feeling of being in a very creaky old house.

The game contains some fiendish AI puzzles, which cleverly outwit walkthrough writers everywhere, which may have been part of the plan. In other words, the player is forced to play the game and beat the program in most instances to get bits of plot, which works exceptionally well as the story is good enough that you actually care what happens next. It is well-designed, and it could just not have been done any other way. Stauf makes wry comments as you fumble around, but only if you miss the boat in what you click on or fail to solve a puzzle and it gets reset, so if he’s laughing at you, you deserve it.

The weakest point of the game is a series of anagram puzzles, which force one to take out pencil and paper and get smart to figure it out (for all of those Pamela Anderson Lee types out there, that’s the end without the eraser you need to be using there, honey). The game includes clues but no solves, a big change from The 7th Guest, but I felt the puzzles were much more original and entertaining so didn’t mind one bit. I love AI but hate anagrams—if I wanted to do those, I’d just get a Games magazine subscription.

This is a much more sophisticated game in story and design, from the much improved acting to the oh-please-no-walkthrough-just-grow-up AI puzzles and no game solves feature.

(By the way, it looks like the bikers got in via the kitchen window—maybe someone should look into bolt locks for that.) The End

The Verdict

The Lowdown

Developer: Trilobyte Publisher: Virgin Release Date: 1995

Available for: DOS Macintosh Windows

Four Fat Chicks Links

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Screenshots

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System Requirements

PC: 486 66 MHz or faster 8 MB RAM Local bus video CD-ROM drive with minimum 300k per second transfer rate Sound card with PCM sound 4 MB free HD space MSCDEX 2.2 or higher DOS 5.0 or higher or Win 95 Mouse

Mac: Power Mac 80 MHz or faster 12 MB free RAM Thousands of colors 4X ROM Drive 6 MB free HD space System 7.5.3 or higher

Where to Find It

Playing Games 19.95Gogamer 7.90

Prices/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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