Published by
Interplay Productions
Reviewer: Shannon Egan
Normality is an adventure game with Kent as the main character who roams the city of Neutropolis, a city where all fun has been sucked away by something unknown. Kent is a teenager who just recently completed a jail sentence of one week, for reasons not
given. The player's goal is to take on the personality of Kent and search for the people who have made Neutropolis so lifeless. Following clues presented in a logic puzzle format, the player begins the game in Kent's apartment which consists of a living
room, kitchenette, and bathroom. The apartment is ratty and the kitchen and bathroom are disgustingly filthy. Kent, the "hero," has a serious attitude with dark sunglasses, dreadlocks, and a goatee. The overriding aspect of this game is that the city i
s dark and ominous looking, similar to the movie set of the Batman movies.
The player can use the mouse to "look" around the room(s) to view the different objects. Objects that can be used in play are labeled. You can choose from a list of options what you want to do with a particular object. You can pick-up, use, or examine
an object. If you pick-up an object it will go into a knapsack, that is illuminated in the upper right-hand corner, for you to use later when you need it. Otherwise, if you need it and did not pick it up, you would have to go back to the apartment, or w
hatever location it originally was in to then get it. Since nothing in Neutropolis is normal, some of the objects cannot be used for their obvious purpose. Also, objects can be used in conjunction with each other to perform an overall task. For example
, to make a cup of coffee for the character Dai, Kent first has to use the kettle to boil water, use the kettle and the cup together to make coffee, and use the can of white paint and the cup of coffee together to add "cream."
While in Kent's apartment, Norm-troopers are yelling various things at Kent through the door. Comments include such things as, "You had better turn that t.v. back on and sit down and watch it or you are going back into the pen!"
After Kent is able to get out of the apartment, he is free to roam the city streets in search of the "villains?" who are ruining Neutropolis. Some of the places Kent can visit include the factory, TV station, the mall, outpost, TV shop (notice a theme?),
sub station, and stadium.
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According to the producers, you can spend over 40 hours roaming the city exploring over 17 settings and 120 locations. More than 100 motion-captured animation sequences bring the 17 characters to life.
One shortcut to choosing objects is to use the Voodoo Doll. By clicking the right button on the mouse, the Voodoo Doll appears. By clicking on the various parts of his body, you can use an object, open a door (if the program allows), pick-up an object t
o put into the knapsack, talk to a person, or select the eyes to look at things. This is a more interesting way to play the game.
One downside was that from time to time, the screen would go black, Kent would appear and look at his watch while tapping his foot so that the program could prepare for another scene, etc. This did slow things down, but not too terribly. Personally, I w
ould have preferred to continue looking at the same screen where I was than to go to this one.
I would have found this game a lot more fun if I would have had more control over my options. 90% of the things I tried to do the program would not allow. For instance, I tried to use different objects to break out the window in the apartment so I could
escape. Nothing I tried worked. Finally, I looked through the manual for some help. It told me exactly what I was to do but it was worded like, "Remember this is a puzzle, so you have to think cleverly to accomplish what you want." I thought what I w
as trying was more logical and clever than what I was forced to do. It was obvious there is a certain track players are to take with minimal variation from it.
Also, I felt the sound was incredibly low. I turned it up as much as the Options page allowed. I do not know, however, if this was a limitation to the way I installed the program, a limitation with my computer, or the program itself.
The overall atmosphere of the game is negative, dreary, and depressing. The different verbal segments are intended to be funny, but to whom? I found them to be imbecilic. I realize for many teenagers, this is what is considered cool. However, I think
they would tire quickly with the choices they are limited to while playing. For instance, I found every door I came to be locked except the one the program wanted me to enter. Everything I tried to find a way into a building was unsuccessful. I tried t
o pick the locks, use a blow torch to make things explode, etc., but it would tell me things like, "Why would you want to do that?" For a game that aspires to being something akin to the Terminator movies it is pretty unimaginative.
For a game that is advertised as, "Welcome to Normality and life in Neutropolis - where something strange has been happening: the population is lifeless and anything remotely fun has been stamped out of existence," it must be referring to the producers o
f the game.
I used a PC with Windows 95. It was by no means as simple to install as the manual implies.
Computer Type
Memory Requirements
Graphics Supported
Sound Devices Supported
Games Domain
17922 Fitch Avenue
Irvine, CA 92714
714-553-6655
Fax: 714-252-2820
Release Date: July 1996
Suggested Retail Price: $49.95
Graduate Student
Library and Information Science
University of Texas at Austin
4-7-97
Content
Use of Multimedia
The multimedia techniques used for this adventure game are really quite impressive. It incorporates a first person point-and-click 3-D game perspective. Just by using the mouse, or certain keys if you do not have a mouse, the player can view in all dire
ctions including up and down and move forwards or backwards. Unfortunately, you cannot move up or down. I tried to climb a wall or jump off the edge of a wall but was unable to do it.
Recommended Audience
Personally, I feel the use of this game with young teenagers should be with caution. Parents need to definitely play this game prior to buying it to make sure it contains material you feel appropriate for your child. Viewing the material's cover should
be warning enough, but I feel it is very misleading that the target audience is explicitly listed at ages 13 and up. Yet, in the Reviewer's Guide, distributed by Interplay, it lists the target audience as ages 18 and older. I find this to be a huge vari
ation and contradiction.
IBM, Tandy and 100% compatibles running MS-DOS 5.0 and Win 95 w/16 bit CD-ROM
CPU: 486DX2/66 or faster
Double speed CD-ROM Drive required
Mouse Required (not necessarily. Keyboard controls for most things are listed.)
8 MB RAM minimum, 20MB hard disk space
256 VGA color SVGA
Sound Blaster series (Pro, 16, AWE 32), Microsoft Sound System, Gravis Ultrasound (+Max), Ensoniq Soundscape
Other Reviews
The Games Place
Loved it.
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Game Revolution
Loved it. Gave it a B+.