Full Moon in San Francisco Review

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Full Moon in San Francisco

Review by Old RoosterJanuary 2003

Edmonton Has Long Winters

Full Moon in San Francisco is an adventure title from Alternative Games, a small development house in the frozen north of Alberta, Canada. The enthusiasm, energy and dedication of the team becomes evident when one visits the nicely designed and presented website.  The promotion of Full Moon and the general game description is inviting and encouraging. Unfortunately, I’m compelled to say, the game itself is tragically subpar—characterized by a primitive interface, outdated graphics, horrible voice acting, simplistic puzzles, unfunny jokes, and a potentially interesting story muddied by an amateur script.

As we proceed from a smooth installation, the first peculiarity of concern rears its head. Full Moon demands the letter of your CD-ROM drive to proceed, does a search to verify your selection, then lets you hit a continue button. Okay, fine. But it does this every time you start or restart the game! The ensuing menu hints at the kind of humor to come, with selections such as, “New Game, New Pain,” and “Laugh and Load.”

Character Creation and Skill Selection

Does Full Moon have RPG-like components? Is there variability in how the game proceeds based on such selections? Are there even different outcomes depending on your choices? One may think so, but one would be quite wrong. Full Moon does offer the choice of playing a male or female lead, and there are 140 points to distribute among general ability, age, aim, strength, perception and magical energy. You can even pick a virtual, irrelevant and annoying popup pet—in my case a gorilla with a “radiant smile and sporty shorts.” These popup visits, which you will quickly turn off, feature such side-splitting (a little sarcasm here) comments as, “Do you like coconuts as much as I do?” and “Guess what, I need to go to the washroom.” Yet all of these selected attributes, except possibly for the money amount, do little or nothing to measurably affect the flow and outcome of a very linear game.  Barely having the endurance to finish the title once, I tried another game, this time playing the female P.I. with other characteristics, finding nothing obviously different in gameplay.

“Where Are My Shoes; Where Did You Put Them?” —Tracy

You play the role of a private investigator, newly hired by the Copper Detective Agency (that’s Copper, not Cooper, get it?) to locate a stolen painting. About a third of the way into the game, you are immersed in solving the mystery of the gruesome serial decapitator (“heads roll for a mile or so”)—the Full Moon killer.  The premise is interesting, as are some of the story components; but it’s largely intended to be played for laughs and, I’m afraid, the laughs come very rarely in this game. There are oblique movie references, inside developer jokes, and such feeble attempted funny lines as these:

  • “I have a heart of gold but can’t take it out to show you; I would die;”
  • “Beating Paranormal Butts Since 1980” (agency slogan);
  • “Be there or be square;”
  • “The officers [911 call] aren’t available; they’re watching T.V.”;
  • “Look good every day” (an unreflective mirror);
  • “You scumbag; you’re a jerk;”
  • “Freaking Far Avenue” (the most distant street on the map).

To top it all off, the developers suggest that the conversational spider system “offers a high degree of replayability and hundreds of jokes.” Please, help us! This statement misleads, in that there are no differences in the linear gameplay progression—only more of the awful jokes! Not only that, but you can’t skip through these conversations, which are virtually meaningless substance-wise.

Another gimmick the developers find funny is the “Full Moon Action Button.” Occasionally available, this button allows such opportunities as hitting a vending machine three times to produce a drink, drawing a happy face on a wall, and taking a shower, which elicits the comment: “Now you smell good; people will enjoy talking to you.” Retiring to your bed in the evening (alone) produces a “Yahoo!” and a “Mega-thud.”

“Life Is a Puzzle and I Have to Unpuzzle It”

Full Moon’s interface rolls from the bottom and right side of the game screen. Due to borders, the actual gameplay window comprises only two-thirds of the screen. The game uses a first-person view, point and click, with horizontal view and movement only. Hotspots are readily indicated, as are locked doors. Indeed, primary puzzle solving involves finding keys, letters, numbers, combinations, and opening locked doors. There’s very little that’s at all complex.  The inventory is accessed by moving the mouse all the way to the right of the screen, and it easily slips away from your control, especially when needing to scroll to later pages. This frustrating feature could have been alleviated by using a simple “I” key access. You can save anywhere, any time, although the saves are arranged alphabetically, not chronologically. Perhaps the most interesting feature, and one that helps boost my rating a bit, is an “Objectives” button on the lower toolbar. This shows what you have to accomplish next, although not how.

Graphics are, to be kind, retro. They’re colorful, 800×600 resolution, but the cartoon-like characters simply face you, with no other animation or movement except unsynched lip activity.

The voice acting is as bad as I’ve ever heard in a direct English adventure game (one not translated from German, for example). Unfortunately, the worst of this was “featured” with the male lead, the voice you hear the most. His ongoing ruminations, sounding as if spoken in a shower stall, are laughable, but not for the reasons intended. Most of the characters—some obviously playing different roles—also fall flat. They aren’t helped by the inane script, to which even Russell Crowe would have trouble giving life and expression.

“Will You Be Part of Their Crazy Team?” —Invitation to the Agency

No, I’m afraid not; neither the Copper Agency nor this failed attempt at a tongue-in-cheek adventure game. Edmonton has long winters, and I’m sure these folks worked long and hard on their “baby,” undoubtedly feeling pleased with and proud of their creation. But Full Moon just doesn’t cut it as a commercially viable adventure title. Perhaps Canadian humour is different—what they find funny, we in the U.S. may not. Still, I found the game excruciatingly dull, hard to finish, and only groaningly funny on two occasions. 

Adventure gamers are a patient lot, playing and reminiscing about the good old games, hoping for the next great, or even decent, title.  We’re willing to have “retro” graphics for the sake of good puzzles, an involving story, an entertaining script. Unfortunately, Full Moon fails to deliver in any respect, leading what some may call “campy” graphics or “deliberately over-the-top” voice acting to be revealed for what it is—dated, primitive and unprofessional.

To switch genres for a moment, RPG and action gamers don’t accept the kind of game today they played ten years ago, and neither should we. Nor should we be so desperate or blinded as to welcome a game of this uneven design and quality. The Dark Falls and Tony Toughs are out there, and these are the kind of efforts we need to support. Full Moon may have been an interesting little shareware title, but I can neither recommend it for your purchase consideration or playing time. All of the major factors that make a game good are flawed—interface, graphics, script, acting, puzzles. The Edmonton group is planning a second Full Moon title. We wish them well in their efforts during their long winter, hoping that the outcome will not be “part two, deja vu,” with all of the critical limitations we’ve examined here. The End

The Verdict

The Lowdown

Developer: Alternative Games Publisher: Alternative Games Release Date: October 2002

Available for: Windows

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System Requirements

PII 300 64 MB RAM 350 MB free HD space 12X CD-ROM drive

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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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