Beneath a steel sky (White label)
If the sales charts are anything to go by, Virgin are making a
lot of people happy by re-releasing classics at cut price on the
White Label range. A recent addition was Beneath a Steel Sky,
a post-apocalyptic adventure game. The White Label range may be
classic, but this isn't a euphemism for crap. Beneath a Steel
Sky is a decent graphical adventure, admittedly without the enhancement
of video, but still quite pleasing on the eye.
The best thing about this adventure is its sense of humour. You are accompanied on your quest to get away from your captors by a recalcitrant robot, who rarely shirks from telling you just what he thinks of you. Interaction with the characters in the game can be tellingly witty too. Generally you are given a choice of questions, to which they reply in well-acted speech.
BaSS fits comfortably between adventures driven by pure puzzles like Seventh Guest and its sequel, and the obscure adventure games like the early Zork family, where it's often necessary to do something pretty unlikely to get what you want. (Waddyamean, it's obvious you need to put a bra into a furnace to get some milk?) The puzzles in BaSS are mostly logical, and fit nicely with the story. I liked it a lot.
Overall - Not high tech, but a good, solid graphical adventure with plenty of humour. Priced at £9.99 in the UK. Produced by Virgin Interactive Entertainment.