Y2K: The Game Review

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Y2K: The Game

Review by Jen

In an effort to capitalize on the brouhaha over the impending doom that was to be the Y2K bug, Interplay released this game late in December 1999 to little or no fanfare. I saw it in CompUSA, and I bought it. It didn’t hurt that it was only $20, either. Well, the Y2K bug didn’t really amount to much. Does the game?

In this third-person game, you play as Buster, Super-Nerdman, who hits the lottery and buys a state-of-the-art, completely electronically controlled mansion. He is all set to celebrate the new year with his Super-Nerdwoman girlfriend, Candace, and drinks a little too much champagne. He falls asleep and wakes up shortly before midnight only to find that the computer that controls the mansion has taken on a life of its own and has truly become (drum roll, please) Artificial Intelligence. The computer and the various robots it controls have become malevolent, and it is up to you to shut them down and restore tranquillity and usefulness to the machinery.

The graphics are surprisingly nice. I warn you up front, though, that you should have a 3D card. You can play the game in software rendering mode, but the picture is wavy enough to make you seasick, and yet it looks marvy in hardware mode. The game takes place in various rooms of the mansion, about 10 of them, and each has a different look and atmosphere. Attention was paid to detail; the hardwood floors look almost photographic.

The puzzles are for the most part fairly easy. There are a lot of inventory items, and mostly you find the item you need in the room that you need it. Gameplay largely consists of entering a room, getting trapped in the room by a (excuse me, but I’ve always wanted to say this) lean mean fighting machine, and having to figure out how to disable the machine. However, it is easy to miss some of the inventory items because they are in a sea of extraneous items that you can’t use or interact with.

The music and voice acting are also surprisingly not bad. There is an elevator ride, and always in a game with an elevator ride, there is elevator music. (Strange … I don’t think I’ve ever heard music in an elevator in real life.) The music in this elevator for some reason acted as a child repellent—both of my sons just hated it and would run away from my computer until the elevator ride was over. I took a couple of extra elevator rides just to punish them in advance for little sins not yet committed.

Sounds pretty good so far, right? Well, now for the drawbacks.  The first and foremost is that there is only one saved game—yep, you heard right, only one saved game in this era of 30- and 40-gigabyte hard drives. That is inexcusable in my opinion. The second is that you can’t skip through any cutscenes, even if you’ve seen them before, and while they are charming, if strange, once, they are purely annoying the second time through.

And now to the reason why there was a second time through—I hit a gigantic bug about three-quarters of the way through the game.  Without giving anything away, suffice it to say that I needed an inventory item from another room to retrieve an inventory item in the room that I was in; I did not have said inventory item from the other room; I went back to get it; and when I returned with it to retrieve the other inventory item, the other inventory item was gone. Completely. As if it had never existed. And yet another inventory item that I had used to trigger the part where I needed to retrieve the inventory item that I needed to retrieve was also gone. (Huh?) Never to be seen again. And guess what? I had unwittingly saved it that way in my one lone saved game. (I suspect my neighbors wondered what all the cursing was about … and I bet they guessed wrong.)

So … I had to start all over from the beginning. And then to add insult to injury, the l-e-n-g-t-h-y  c-r-e-d-i-t-s that I was forced to sit through at the end of game listed about 50 or 100 play testers. (Hyperbole, certainly, but it makes my point nicely, you must agree.) How ever did they miss this? Overall, I had the impression that the game was rushed to market because of the date-sensitive nature of the title, and it could have really stood a little bit more polishing.

Having said that, I think the good outweighs the bad. Y2K is a fun little game and cheap to boot, plus it has a surreal aspect that appeals to me. I felt like I got $20 worth of entertainment—had I not hit the “Y2K bug” (hee hee) and just played the game all the way through on my first try, it would have lasted me about five or six hours. The End

The Verdict

The Lowdown

Developer: RuneCraft Publisher: Interplay Release Date: December 1999

Available for: Windows

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Screenshots

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System Requirements

Pentium 166 Windows 95/98 with DirectX 6.1 or later (included) 16 MB RAM 100 MB minimum available hard drive space DirectX certified sound and video card 8X or faster CD-ROM drive 100% Microsoft-compatible mouse

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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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