Alida Review

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Alida: The Enigmatic Giant

Review by OrbFebruary 2003

Where do I begin? I have found myself, for the past several weeks, consumed by Alida, a refreshingly complex and well-designed first-person, point-and-click adventure game from independent Australian developer Dejavu Worlds. Really consumed. Bad. But it’s now over, and I’m here to tell you the tale. First let me say I haven’t had a game eat away at me like this for a long time.

It’s really been a great season for point-and-click fans, with the recent independent releases of the soon-to-be-published Rhem and the critically acclaimed Dark Fall, both fine examples of the burgeoning independent adventure game movement. Add Alida to this lineup, and it becomes apparent that the market for adventure games is evolving, with some really exciting, quality titles making their way out to the public on their own.

Alida is the story of four musicians who have achieved worldwide fame and accolades for their craft and have made a potful of money as a result. They decide to take their earnings and build a monumental theme park in the shape of a monster guitar on an island ten miles out to sea. The island has lain deserted for fifteen years, and one of the musicians goes back to Alida for reasons unknown. You are contacted by his wife—she has become suspicious and concerned as she has not heard from her husband in a while. It is your job to go to Alida, locate Arin, her husband, and find out what has happened. In the process you uncover a dark story of jealousy and greed.

The graphics are a stunning accomplishment, especially for an indie developer. Textures are really well-defined and amazingly detailed. The minutiae in such things as wallpaper really add to the degree of immersion in the game. The cutscenes rival in quality any of the bigger, more well-known adventure game titles.

People that love these sort of games will adore Alida. Myst detractors will not. So if you don’t like Myst-style games, don’t even open your trap to yap—just move on to the next sideshow booth, fella. It seems that with Alida, the intention was not to try and win those sorts over, but rather to do a fabulous job crafting a game in this popular niche style.

The game interface is very simple. Controls are found by running the cursor along the top of the screen to access the drop-down menus. The cursor is the classic white hand, which changes based on the directions available for travel or to show that items may be picked up or moved. There are some transitional lags that can be handled by adjusting the speed of transitions, and the motion of the sea water can also be switched off in the interest of transition speed. There is also a rocket mode that lets you jump directly to the end of previously traversed paths.

I really want to not forget to mention something about the soundtrack.  There is no constant looping of music throughout the game, but rather music is included in specific spots to heighten the dramatic effect, and indeed it does. Quite often I found myself with goosebumps when I would access an area and music would begin. And I must say, the music is of incredible quality. It fits amazingly well with each environment and adds much to the gameplay. It’s also really beautiful in its own right—it is reminiscent of the style created by the Rand brothers for the Myst series.  Certainly it is at least as evocative, giving the feeling of something deep and mysterious in front of you. This is some of the best adventure game music I’ve heard, and that’s after playing hundreds of adventure games. I can think of only a handful I have enjoyed as much.

There’s a small bit of FMV, and the acting is certainly in keeping with the rest of the game. The first time one of these segments appeared, it was so unexpected that I just about went through the roof. And it’s also done in such a way that it looks natural in the environment, not like some little box on the screen as is the case with some FMV sequences in games.

As for the puzzles, let me just stop and whine for a bit. They made me think. I had to really reason some of these suckers out.  The game definitely is not designed to be played on autopilot, let me tell you. The puzzles are in some instances devilish, fiendish.  The clues to solve them are all presented to the player in the environment, however. There is a fair amount of thought needed to marry up all of the clues with their respective puzzles; thus, the pace of the game becomes quite languid. There is no inventory, but note-taking is a necessity. The puzzles mostly are of the mechanical variety, and they are built into the game so as not to be incongruous with the environments, a complaint many have had with other point-and-click games.

This is a designer that grasps the concepts involved in making a complex, entertaining first-person point-and-click adventure.  Honestly, there were times where I was very frustrated by Alida because the puzzles were so clever and subtle. Finally I realized that this was not some fly-by-night game that I could just flip through in a sitting or two, as many of the bigger published titles seem to have become, but rather I needed to step back and take my time to look at the environment, exactly what I was doing and why, and just how everything went together in the bigger picture.  With my game-playing viewpoint shifted, I was able to dig in, taking what ended up being weeks exploring the environment and solving puzzles.

Interestingly enough, I’ve realized that this sort of gameplay has become uncommon in recent years, at least from a purist adventure gamer’s perspective. With the exception of the quality indie titles I mentioned earlier, the luxury of taking one’s time puzzling out a good, old-fashioned adventure seems to be becoming an increasingly rare experience.

The monolithic (or is that monosyllabic) publisher Dreamcatcher has made a business of publishing a high volume of repetitive adventure games at cut-rate prices. This has acclimated the market to these low prices, and lesser games, cutting off at the knees other, lower volume, higher quality publishers that are required to sell their products at prices more common to games outside the adventure genre. Those same common market rates do not allow smaller publishers that may bring something fresh to the public to turn a profit. So I say any independent developer with a quality title should be supported, in part to break down this onerous climate that is causing the market to be glutted with poorly conceived and executed drivel that further lessens interest in adventure games by the public at large. Fight the man, baby!

Alida currently is for sale at the developer’s website.  For the amount of gameplay in the game, and the breadth of it, I would definitely say that it is worth every cent of the purchase price. The End

The Verdict

The Lowdown

Developer: Dejavu Worlds Publisher: Dejavu Worlds (originally self-published for Mac only); Got Game Entertainment Release Date: February 2003 (Dejavu Worlds); May 2004 (Got Game Mac release); August 2004 (Got Game PC release)

Available for: Macintosh Windows

Four Fat Chicks Links

WalkthroughPlayer Feedback

Screenshots

Click to enlarge Click to enlargeClick to enlarge Click to enlargeClick to enlarge Click to enlargeClick to enlarge Click to enlargeClick to enlarge

System Requirements

Mac: G3 233 or faster 4X CD-ROM drive QuickTime 4 or 5 Mac OS 8/9/X 21 MB RAM free 185 MB free hard disk space 640×480 screen, 16-bit color

PC: Pentium 3 700 MHz Windows 98/00/XP QuickTime 5 or 6 (Quicktime 6.5 recommended; included on disk) 128 MB RAM 285 MB free hard disk space 640×480 screen resolution 16-bit color (24-bit or 32-bit recommended) Sound 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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