Secret Chamber Review

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Secret Chamber

Review by MrLipidMarch 2005

Full Disclosure

As much as I enjoy playing computer games, I have, of late, gotten as much or more enjoyment out of modifying them. Apply a dash of ingenuity and it becomes possible to wander about without risk of death in Mob Enforcer, play Panic in the Park on something other than a Win3.1 machine or improve the odds a bit in Milo.  Why play the game you bought when you can play the game you want?

Full Admission

Latest example? Secret Chamber. Never heard of it? Hardly surprising. It currently sells for $4.99 on the bargain rack at CompUSA. This 2004 title from Full Armor Studios is a clever and attractive twiddle puzzle that has been saddled with annoying arcade elements. Happily, those annoying arcade elements can be sent packing with a few surgical hex edits. Better still, those edits have been neatly wrapped up in a tiny patch called No Bugs 1.0, available here.

The Basics

The core puzzle in Secret Chamber is a model of simplicity.  The player must open a series of locked doors to reach—what else?—the Secret Chamber. The locks consist of an array of jewels spread across what appears to be a wooden grid. A lock opens when the jewels in the grid are configured to match the pattern in a small frame on the lower left side of the screen. The rows can be shifted right and left and the columns up and down to move the jewels into position. Of course, moving a row or column means moving everything in that row or column, and that’s where the fun begins. The higher the number of jewels, the more difficult it is to put them where they belong without accidentally moving something else out of its proper place. Simple, engaging, satisfying.

The main game screen is uncluttered and richly textured. What is supposed to be the beam of the player’s flashlight reveals grain in the wooden jewel trays and highlights on the jewels. Music and sound effects offer more than a tip of the hat to Jewels of the Oracle and Gems of Darkness. Trays are dragged into place with the mouse. Given the horizontal and vertical moves the game requires, it’s too bad that there is no option for controlling the jewel trays with the keyboard.

Stop Picking Your Mode!

Secret Chamber offers three modes: Story, Puzzle and Survival.  In Story mode, one is told the tale of an inventive king as one unlocks doors to reveal his inventions. In Puzzle mode, one strives to match patterns with as few moves as possible. In Survival mode, one attempts to match patterns while swarms of scarab beetles “fuse” with the jewels. When, not if, the scarabs manage to fuse with all the jewels before the pattern has been matched, game over.

Of the three modes, Survival is the most successful. Its rules are very clear. It’s the player against the scarabs, and the scarabs always win. The better the player, the longer it takes for the scarabs to win. Players are ranked by survival times.

Puzzle mode is less successful. It gives players, of all things, a letter grade for their efforts and, worse yet, no clear idea what determines that letter grade. As long as players save their game, there is no grade. Quit out of a game without saving and a grade appears. Solve the first puzzle in just a few moves, and one gets an F. This suggests the grade takes the total number of puzzles solved into account. Or maybe it divides the total number of moves by the total number of puzzles. Not clear. Not good.

Story mode is the least successful. It begins promisingly enough.  Players match jewel patterns to unlock doors to reveal the inventions of the king. Then, at about level 13 or so, scarabs start streaming onto the screen and fusing with the jewels. So long, twiddle! Hello, arcade! If, as in Survival mode, the scarabs fuse with all the jewels before the pattern is complete, game over. And once the game is over, Secret Chamber deletes (!) the saved game file for that game. Talk about rough justice.

Happy Ending!

Applying the No Bugs 1.0 patch corrects this crime against contemplative twiddlers and allows Story mode to tell its story. Once modified, Story mode offers at least ten times the minimum daily adult requirement for pattern-matching puzzles. Let’s just say the folks at Full Armor Studios were very generous about providing value for money. That generosity does not, however, extend to saved game slots. Secret Chamber sports only six.

There is no copy control on Secret Chamber. The game installs completely to the hard drive and does not require the CD to play.

For those curious about Full Armor Studios’ other games, the Secret Chamber CD comes with ten-session demos of The Walls of Jericho, Manna Munchers and The Library of the Ages.

Full Patch Disclosure

Want to know what the patch actually does? It changes six values in the chamber0.apk file. All scarab_spawn_cap values are set to zero, all scarab_spawn_delta values are set to either zero or 0.0 and all scarab_spawn_base values are set to either -1 or zero. You can do this yourself with your trusty hex editor if you are so inclined.

The patch assumes a player has installed Secret Chamber in its default folder: C:Program FilesFull Armor StudiosSecret Chamber.  If Secret Chamber has been installed somewhere else, use the Browse button in No Bugs 1.0 to point the patch toward the Secret Chamber folder.

The Puzzle and Survival modes, while locked by default, can be played immediately by opening the user.cfg file in the Secret Chamber folder and changing puzzle_mode_unlocked=0 to puzzle_mode_unlocked=1 and survival_mode_unlocked=0 to survival_mode_unlocked=1. The End

The Verdict

The Lowdown

Developer: Full Armor Studios Publisher: Mumbo Jumbo Release Date: 2004

Available for: Windows

Four Fat Chicks Links

Player 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

Windows 95/98/ME/2000/XP DirectX 6 or later Pentium II 300 MHz equivalent 64 MB RAM 8 MB DirectX 6 compatible video card DirectX 6 compatible sound card CD or DVD drive 16 MB free disk space Mouse and keyboard

Where to Find It

Download from Reflexive Arcade $19.95CD-ROM from Mumbo Jumbo $9.99

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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