Adventure Game Review: Experiment 112 (Lexis Numérique)
Review by Arjen Voogt
What would you do if you wake up on a ship and the only sign of life are a few plants and a guy that's controlling the electronic devices throughout the ship? The smart types will probably not put their full trust into this guy. The main character in Experience 112 (named the Experiment in the US, 600 MB demo direct download link) isn't as smart and does.
The game starts with a woman waking up on a deserted ship. A nice variety of plantlife has infested the ship and there's a green fog. The woman finds a letter near the bed and doesn't seem to remember a thing. At first she thinks she's alone, but soon notices you are watching her through a camera. And this is where the innovative part of the game shows up. She asks you to log on into the system – the system you are using. You aren't controlling anything else but a computer, which gives you new features when you progress in the game. At first you can only move cameras around, but after a while you can turn on electronic devices, open doors and even read mails that were sent to various staff members. It's nice not to be in control of the main character for once.
Since you can view through the eye of three camera's simultaneously, it will demand quite a bit of system resources, especially since the graphics are really stunning. It becomes even more amazing when you go outside (not possible in the demo). It's a shame you'll be inside the ship throughout the largest part of the game.
Although you can't die in the game, it will still try to give you an unsettling feeling by playing the right music and use the right ambiance sound effects. Combine this with flashbacks and a big part of the story you can unfold by spending time reading mails, and you will understand that it doesn't feel relax to wander throughout the big ship.
If you look at the whole picture this game will offer you a great experience (no pun intented). Try the demo over at the official site and you will come this conclusion yourself. The game is already out in Europe in French and Dutch, but for those who speak English the game will be released on the 15th next month.
600 MB demo direct download link
Experiment 112 official web site
Adventure Gamers' forum discussion thread
Comments
It's like Uplink and Silent Hill had a hideously mutated offspring which they kept locked up in a weird boat.
Posted by: Anonymous | January 29, 2008 5:20 PM
And then Scratches came and kidnapped it to further torment...
Brilliant write-up!
Posted by: gnome | January 29, 2008 5:57 PM
This seems very much like... this game that was like it. Damn, I can't remember the name. But it was old, pretty bad and done with live acting. This should be better.
Posted by: AlbeyAmakiir | January 29, 2008 11:59 PM
The game you seem to be looking for is "Night Trap" ;-P
Posted by: Anonymous | January 30, 2008 3:35 AM
First time I heard of this, I immediately thought of Interphase. But in gameplay terms, this is probably more my pace :)
Posted by: shockedfrog | January 30, 2008 5:14 AM
Sadly, this game isn't working on my laptop. I'll definitely try it when I get to my desktop though, looks cool!
Posted by: BoboDaHobo | January 30, 2008 5:17 AM
Critical Path.
Posted by: Ilia Chentsov | January 30, 2008 10:23 PM
Critical Path! That's the one! :D
Posted by: AlbeyAmakiir | January 31, 2008 8:55 AM