Obsidian Published by SegaSoft, developed by Rocket Science Games Review (c) 1997 Scott P. Harvey Storyline... In the moderately near future, the Earth is ravaged by pollution and global warming. The ozone layer is almost totally destroyed. Something must be done. Enter a team of scientists, who develop a satellite utilizing the very latest in nanotechnology to re pair the Earth's damaged ecosystems. Now, after a successful 100 days in orbit, the two chief architects of this project (Max and Lilah; you play Lilah) decide to take a relaxing vacation in one of the last unspoiled wilderness areas. They set up camp in the woods and are enjoying the pasto ral surroundings. During a hike, they discover a mysterious black crystal. Over a period of days, the crystal grows and expands until it becomes a massive, towering structure of smooth, black facets. The scientists name this mysterious formation "Obsidian" and spend some time puzzling over it. While Lilah naps, Max decides to go do some further exploring. Not so surprisingly, Max disappears, leaving Lilah to try and find her partner and unravel the mysteries of the crystalline enigma growing in the f orest. (Dis-)Orientation... Obsidian is a 1st-person adventure game; a format that has been used (possibly over-used) to varying degrees of success in recent years. As is to be expected, the graphics are all 3-D rendered, and the player interacts with this environment by moving a m ouse cursor over an exit or "hotspot" and clicking. Anyone who's played Myst or any of it's host of "me-too" games will feel right at home. However, that's about where the similarities to anything familiar come to a screeching halt. Obsidian is composed of four "dream realms", each of which redefines the word "bizarre". Myst claimed that it was "the surrealistic adventure that will become y our world." Well, Robyn and Rand Miller (creators of Myst) have been toppled from their throne in the realm of surreal creations. If you though a huge hydraulic pine tree was weird, imagine a cube-shaped realm of bureaucratic surrealism, where the walls of one side of the cube's interior form the floor of another completely different area. Figuring out how to navigate in here is only one of the oddities you'll have to wrap your mind around in order to play Obsidian. The first character you encounter is the Bureau Chief, who wishes to see you, in his office, pronto. However, his office is on the opposite side of the cube from you. He attempts to extend some sort of articulated bridge, but it crashes into a giant sta tue of Atlas, holding the world on his shoulders. Well, you can't let a simple thing like a broke bridge stand in your way, can you? Heaven forbid! You've got to get that bridge fixed! How? By submitting a Bridge Repair Request to the Bureau of Bridge Repair. Naturally, all Forms must be Approved. Before they can be Approved, they have to be Pre-Approved. And even before _that_, you've got to find the Form in the first place! Helping or hindering you (as the case may be) in this paper chase are a motley group of "vidbots": old-fashioned television screens on articulated arms. The screens usually show someone's mouth in grainy 1950's-style black-and-white, thus "speaking" what ever they have to say. Moving through the different areas of the cube and talking to the various vidbots is one of the primary pleasures of this game. They're sort of creepy, but actually become somewhat charming as time goes on. You'll do a lot of head -scratching as you watch the various screens ramble at you, giving you various tidbits of clues and advice in how to get something done. It's a kick. If you're a fan of Terry Gilliam's "Brazil", you'll be sucked in to Obsidian's world immediately. It all makes sense, honestly, it does. You just have to learn to think like "them" in order to beat the system. The paper-hunting will also evoke memorie s of Douglas Adams' classic Infocom adventure "Bureaucracy". It's really not a normal place, but it all works so well that it actually starts to feel familiar. But, familiarity was not what the designers of Obsidian were striving for. And they succeeded. As soon as you get the hang of what's going on in The Bureau, you'll find yourself transported Somewhere Else, where the process of discovery has to begin all over again. Visuals... As stated earlier, all the graphics are 3-D pre-rendered scenes seen from a first-person point of view. While this format has been seen before, you've never seen anything like this. These graphics are not just technically stunning - they're also incredi ble works of art. The scenes are moodily and artistically lit, with plenty of shadowplay and glamour. The various settings and objects range from mechanical to organic to industrial to surreal - all executed with glorious attention to detail and plenty of off-beat charm. Within these rendered scenes, various things will animate in the background, lending an air of believability to this strange place. It's not nearly as static and sterile as other similar games. For the most part, transitions between scenes are handled as brief full-screen animations. Turning from side to side is a neat "pan" effect where the view slides by as if you were making a neat 90-degree turn. It's not the free-rotate effect seen in Zor k Nemesis, neither is it the quick slideshow feel of Myst. The only drawback is when turning completely around in one step - there's no transition effect, which is slightly disorienting. Obsidian is a beautiful game, pure and simple. The graphics are among the most visually creative and impressive yet seen. A+ grade here. Sounds... As has been heavily hyped, the sound design for Obsidian was done by Thomas Dolby's Headspace group. Headspace have provided a truly fantastic auditory environment for this game. The music is subtle and almost hypnotic, drawing the player in without dis tracting from the experience. Sound effects are suitably unusual, with plenty of bizarre beeps and clicks and gurgles - the main achievement being that they're unusual without being irritating. There are a lot of things in Obsidian that have no parallel in the real world, so it's hard to imagine what else they would sound like. Thomas Dolby has long been known for his innovative electronic music, and he and his team deliver here with impressive results. Another A+. Gameplay and puzzles... Many of the puzzles involve learning how the world of Obsidian is arranged and how it operates. You won't be trying to figure out how to put Tab A into Slot B in this game, and you sure won't be operating any slider puzzles. For example, finding that pe sky Standard Damage Form to get the bridge fixed involves figuring out how documents are filed in the Bureau's massive file room. Be assured that it's... different. Once you get figure out how it works, it actually starts to make some sense. You may feel a twinge of cognitive dissonance, feeling comfortable using a such a twisted system, but it's all part of a day's work in this world. The puzzles are a mixed assortment of linear and non-linear. Getting that Form completed is a linear task, as defined by the numerous steps in getting it approved. Other puzzles are non-linear, allowing the player freedom to solve various parts in the order they wish. Very few puzzles in Obsidian are used merely as elaborate door locks - they have much better integration than typical adventure fare. True, you won't be able to get much closer to finding Max without solving the puzzles, but isn't that the basis of any adventure game? The puzzles are absolutely coherent and consistent within the plot and atmosphere of the game. There's none of the nonsensical chess puzzles and brainteasers that made The 7th Guest such a disappointment to many gamers.: simply classic abstract puzzles d ressed up with flashy graphics. Obsidian's puzzles are wonderfully integrated as part of the game. The designers could have easily taken advantage of their "surreal" setting to simply adapt classic puzzles to their strange world. Luckily, they didn't borrow "The Big Book Of Chess Problems" from the guys at Trilobyte. As there are very few inventory-based puzzles, the dreaded "pixel-hunting" is almost entirely eliminated. The only drawback to the interface is that it's occasionally hard to find which areas of the screen are places to travel to and which are just part of the scenery. It's also sometimes all too easy to overlook when you can turn to one side or another, making it easier than it should be to miss something crucial. Overall, the puzzles are among the best, and the interface has only the smallest of flaws. Gameplay and puzzles rank as an "A". Hardware and installation... Obsidian runs exclusively in Windows 95, at a resolution of 640x480 in HiColor (16-bit). A 4X CDROM is required, as is 16MB of memory, along with a Pentium 90 processor and 2MB of video memory. The review machine was a Pentium 100, with all the other sp ecs being met exactly. At times, the animations ran a bit slowly and dropped a few frames, leading to occasionally jerky playback. Presumably, a faster CDROM would alleviate this problem entirely. Apparently, those HiColor animations take a toll on sys tem performance. The only quibble is that Obsidian does not attempt to auto-switch screen resolutions and pixel depth. In fact, it refuses to proceed until the user adjusts his Windows settings. The manual, however, does a good job explaining how to accomplish this task . The installation process was flawless and painless. No problems whatsoever. In conclusion... Obsidian looks rather like a masterpiece. Admittedly, I haven't played through to the end yet (I'm into the 3rd of the four realms), but unless some radical drop in quality takes place, I can't see being disappointed with the ending. As this is such a n ew game, I haven't been able to fall back on the denizens of the Internet for hints and spoilers, my usual crutch. Solving these puzzles really gives one a feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment unmatched in other games. Obsidian has managed to startle me, impress me, give me the creeps, and keep me focused for many hours at a time. The graphics are so evocative and gorgeous that I would actually hang them on my wall. I've actually been wondering if I can somehow use so me of the sound effects as Windows 95 sound events. This is truly a unique game. Don't miss it.