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Platform:
PC Review by: Paul Franzen
If the antics of a tentacle bent on world
domination or a bone (a BONE!) disguised as a cow weren’t quirky
enough for you, have at this: The Shivah, independently developed by
Dave Gilbert using the same program
our Lizo uses
for testgame, follows a boxing Rabbi on the prowl for justice.
Because it bears repeating: He’s a Rabbi, he
boxes, and he wants justice.
That’s about all I can say about The Shivah’s
story without spoiling it for you. The game is, after all, only
about five hours long, though its $5 price tag makes it far more
reasonable than, say, paying $60 for the latest sports game rehash.
It’s a point-and-clicker—what’s more, it’s a good
point-and-clicker—and by supporting Gilbert, you’ll help administer
a Phoenix Down to the adventure genre as a whole.
Like any good adventure game, The Shivah has you
exploring areas, manipulating items, conversing with other
characters and solving puzzles, all in the name of—in this
case—advancing a surprisingly serious (and even grotesque, at times)
storyline, given the game’s premise. The story never
disappoints—and, in fact, it even offers endings that surprise,
and…well…they're endingssss, plural, which is almost
unheard of in adventure titles that aren't that one King's Quest
game. But that's not all this game offers for replay value: You can
even trek through The Shivah while listening to a DVD-style
developer's commentary—a nifty feature that I'm not sure I've heard
of in videogames before now. The game's puzzles require some
thinking, but not to the point where you’re stuck for days and days
and days until, oops, you realize, of course, you were supposed to
get the crazed man sitting in the World's Largest Ball of Twine's
restaurant to use his mystical powers on your ice pick. It’s hard to
find the exits of some rooms, which can impede your progress, but
otherwise there’s nothing so illogical that you could never figure
it out on your own.
The most surprising thing, though, about this
game is its near complete lack of any traditional inventory. You
have, maybe, three items in the entire game—two of which you start
with, and all of which you use only as references. The true “items”
in The Shivah are actually clues you pick up from your character’s
research and his interactions with other people. You mix-and-match
the clues, and interrogate other people about the clues, to complete
many of The Shivah's puzzles. It’s innovative—but not so much that
you hate it and post angry messages on GameFAQs about how the
developer should never have messed with an already great system,
which is usually the case when adventure developers try to innovate.
And speaking of good ideas, The Shivah rips one
of the best from the Monkey Island series: insult swordfighting,
modified to fit the game’s premise, which has you using the hero’s
Rabbinical (it’ll make sense later) tactics to punk out another
Rabbi. It’s short, and it’s only used near the end, but it was a
welcome addition to an already solid game.
The Shivah’s visuals—gloriously!—are in classic
2D style; they’re not as cartoony as latter-day Lucas Arts, but
rather they’re strikingly like that of Loom and The Secret of Monkey
Island. They fit awesomely. The voice acting, too, is actually more
realistic than what you hear in many modern-day commercial adventure
titles, though sometimes you can make out the actors’ breathing into
the mic.
Have I ever mentioned, my dear
readers, how much I hate giving glowing reviews? Not only does it
make me lose my
street-cred, but it’s just, in general, boring. But let’s face
it—when your biggest problem is that, on occasion, it takes you
almost 15 seconds to figure out how to get out of a room, you’ve got
a good title on your hand. If you don't give this man money, you’re
doing a disservice to not only yourself, but to the genre as a
whole, which—need I remind you again?—needs support badly. Visit
http://www.wadjeteyegames.com/
right now and buy this game.
-- Paul Franzen {11-01-2006} |
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Past Reviews by Paul Franzen:
Zoo Tycoon DS (DS) |
