So yesterday I get this email asking me to review some indie game, and all I can think is… “Oh boy, another lame game hoping for promotion, This will be fun to rip on!”

I couldn’t have been more wrong… and boy I am disappointed, I was really hoping to be an asshole today.

Something Amiss is a testament to what a passionate indie developer can really do.  Sure it has a few small quirks, but everything that has gone into it is just so impressive that it’s easy to ignore them.

The first thing that stands out is that this game is the graphics.  In the first chapter, everything is nicely rendered in 3d, including Alice, the main character.  But where the game gets REALLY impressive is in chapter 2.

Tucker Bowen, the game’s creator, actually ventured out into the rainforests of Kauai to photograph the perfect background images for the game’s dense jungle. The Hawaiian island was one of the locations where Jurassic Park, and several other films, were shot.

While the scenery is well rendered, and the photographic imagery is breathtaking, there are several areas where things seem a little stiff in opposition to other areas that feel much livelier.  Still, even these scenes have a Myst type feel to them.

The sounds in this game are fantastic.  The mood and settings are not tainted by unnecessary music, rather, they all use atmospheric ambiences that just fit perfectly with the imagery.
The gameplay is about the only thing I had any issues with.  The interface, at times, is mildly unresponsive, so clicking an item or command may not actually do anything. This only happens on rare occasions, and is merely a minor nuisance.

The puzzles are the real guts of this game.  Chapter 1 was pretty simple and short, but again, chapter 2 just takes and raises the bar with a much broader playing area, and far more challenging puzzles.

The story is also quiet compelling. You wake up after what was supposed to be a routine MRI, only to find the MRI room abandoned, and you have been locked in.  Some simple investigation points to some kind of experiment, and you need to escape.  From there, it turns into a bit of a mind-bender, and the end of chapter 2 leaves you wanting more.

This game is far from complete, but Tucker keeps everyone up to date via the Something Amiss blog. Unlike most blogs (present company excluded of course), it’s actually worth reading!

Please hurry and finish this game Tucker… PLEASE!

[ Play Something Amiss ]