EVERGOOD BUT NOT GREAT
Also for: Amiga, Amiga CD32, iPhone, Linux, Macintosh, Windows
I started this third or fourth replay of Revolution Software's classic
point-and-click adventure Beneath a Steel Sky to assess its worth
as a possible Hall of Fame-entry. Upon release, it shook my world with its
dystopian setting, depicting a totalitarian metropolis structured into a vertically inverted class hierarchy.
In this universe, the wealthy elite live on the clean ground level, while the poor have to live and work on the higher planes, elevated much closer to the polluted skies above. Such class awareness in games was unique back then. And at the time, in 1994, the setting and story made it feel
serious, like a revolution for storytelling in video games.
But that's just it - just about everything good about Beneath a Steel Sky
comes with that caveat: "At the time..." Replaying it all these years later
reminds me that it's not very serious at all. In all sincerity, it could
probably be compared to Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge for all the
shits 'n giggles. At the time it was a great representative of an
enthralling point and click adventure game, and the story was as good as any
we had ever seen in games.
But that doesn't mean a lot. Back then, few games were story-driven at
all, and the ones that were rarely had great stories to tell. These days, Beneath a Steel Sky qualifies as an evergood game
that is too formulaic to be considered evergreat. It didn't break much new
ground, and although the story and setting were serious, the same cannot be
said about the characters, dialogue and soundtrack, all of which lean heavily
into lighthearted comedy and satire. This causes quite a bit of tonal dissonance. It's as if Revolution Software couldn't settle for a general direction, and ended up exploiting the fantastic setting and politics to appeal to the masses.
It begins in an unspecified future. Your alter ego, Robert Foster, gets
apprehended by security forces from Union City, a bustling metropolis of
skyscrapers, factories and smoking chimneys. They force him to leave his
wasteland home to return to the city he left with his mother as an infant.
But
as they reach the city, the helicopter malfunctions and crash lands on one of
the walkways high in the sky. Robert survives the crash and sees his chance
to flee. He eludes the guards and hides in a nearby factory. In order to escape the city and get back home, he needs to work his way down to ground
level, with security forces and camera surveillance constantly on his heels.
That's the backstory I grew up with, as I originally played this on the Amiga
back in 1994. Not until I played the CD talkie version for DOS, which I am now
reviewing, did I become aware of the accompanying comic by Dave Gibbons (who illustrated the classic Watchmen). A digitized
version of the comic constitutes the opening narration of the game, and it's a
good read. It further details the circumstances regarding Robert's mysterious
birth and upbringing in "The Gap", as his wasteland region is called.
Apart from that, I might actually prefer the Amiga version's lack of in-game
music and spoken dialogue. The often upbeat music simply ruins the oppressive mood, squandering the
potential of the setting. And the stereotypical voice performances
turn the game into a sitcom.
Both Monkey Island-games (1 and 2) of the same
era handled comedy in a more graceful manner, without sacrificing the great
atmosphere. You can turn off the voices and the music, but the latter starts
playing again as soon as you enter an area with a different tune.
But I don't want to come across as too negative. Beneath a Steel Sky made a
lot of refinements to the genre, primarily in its interface, without
sacrificing much of the challenge. It relies in equal measure on inventory
puzzles, timing puzzles, dialogue-as-investigation and story exploration. The
point-and-click interface only involves the two mouse buttons, removing the
need for different verbs to interact with things. Left-clicking inspects them,
and right-clicking is for interacting.
You have a robot sidekick, called Joey, who tags along throughout most of the
game. He's essentially a small chip, which you can transfer into different
robot shells as you see fit, which is a necessity for solving a few puzzles.
And the fun part is seeing his personality change instantly with his
appearance. I know I complained about the effect of comedy on the atmosphere,
but Beneath a Steel Sky can, at times, be really funny - especially in the
banter between Robert and Joey, and the latter's commentary on the absurd
things going on in Union City.
Ever so slowly, or quickly - depending on your progress - the pair of you work
your way down to street level, and beyond, to solve Union City's big problems. The
story is clever, with a few surprising twists along the way. And the
dialogue is very effective, short and to the point. Apart from quickly
defining character traits, I like the way it can reveal hints, disguised as
humour, without being obvious about it. But you have to pay close attention,
because once spoken, the characters won't repeat what they said. If you don't focus, you might feel at a loss of what to do next.
The puzzles are fairly logical, and the streamlined interface kills a lot of
trial-and-error. I also like that your inventory never gets cluttered by
random items - it's often limited to just a handful of objects. And most of
the time, the game keeps the rooms available to a minimum. Even at
times of feeling stumped, the player never has very far to go to get back on
track.
On the other hand, some essential items involve pixel-hunting. The worst puzzle of the game requires you to notice a piece of explosive
putty that's just a couple of grey pixels in a slighly less grey environment.
And you don't even know you need it. It's only when you equip it that you
might figure out a use for it - if you're lucky - but it's hidden in a room
where the focus is on other objects, and you already solved a tricky,
multi-step puzzle just to get in there.
And in your first playthrough, the three short segments taking place in
Linc-space (an in-game virutal reality world) will probably confuse
your socks off. It is far from self-explanatory, and the game does very little
to assist you with its innate logics. The manual gives you no hints, either,
but the interface remains the same as the game proper, and the scarcity of
interactable objects within the setting should shorten your time there.
Death is a possibility in a few instances, but you can save (manually)
anywhere, and in order to die you almost have to be stupid or intentionally
reckless (not counting the surprise death close to the end). Hey, how about
opening the door to a nuclear reactor without any sort of protection? Or how about breaking and entering into a security office while the guards are watching?
And a
great big plus is that you cannot lock yourself into an unwinnable state, which
was an annoyance in many Sierra On-line adventure games of the era. I got
worried when I lost a few inventory items, but they turned out to be duds;
trinkets completely non-essential to future progress.
Beneath a Steel Sky utilizes Revolution Software's own Virtual Theater system,
first implemented in their debut game Lure of the Temptress. In the
Virtual Theater, some residents of Union City don't stay rooted to one place, but move around according to a schedule. It was supposed to create
a more living, flexible world, where side characters interact with each other.
It was fun to witness some of those conversations in Lure of the Temptress,
but here, there's not much left of it. I didn't notice a single
scene like that, and only a few characters moved around at all.
Apart from that, the pixelated visuals, with its expressive background art,
establishes the scene and frames the story nicely. Revolution Software balances the amount of hotspots on the screen well, so that they give the world great flavor,
without hiding all the important stuff behind visual clutter. Even tiny things are usually relatively easy to notice, thanks to good use of pattern irregularities and contrasting colors.
Upon release, in
1994, Beneath a Steel Sky received accolades for its marvellous visuals. This is obviously no longer the case, but it's an example of where the competence
has provided the game with a retro charm that many nostalgic point-and-click fans want
to relive. If you were there, at the time, it still looks beautiful. If you weren't, probably not so much, but who am I to say?
The world nevertheless remains appealing in its satirical depiction of societal services available to no-one but the exclusive elite: Travel agencies, insurance companies and cosmetic surgery clinics with
years-long waiting lines. A nightclub so exclusive that barely anyone gets inside. A court where the judge believes himself to be the host of a televised
game show (this segment was cut from the Amiga release). An empty cathedral guarded
by a security guard, barring everyone from entering.
Beneath a Steel Sky still holds great promise, and remains entertaining on a
superficial level. It's garnered a well-deserved cult classic status over the
years. But the core concept had potential to become something even more
timeless - groundbreaking even - if it would've dared to create a futuristic
drama out of its well-defined setting.
I get that it would've been a big
financial risk, because that would probably have been unprecedented at the
time. Maybe gamers weren't ready for it? In 1994, the crowd wanted the comedic
LucasArts and Sierra On-line adventure games. But I nevertheless
must lament the fact that Revolution never took the chance with this neat
idea.
And you don't even need to make a drama - or a thriller for that matter - completely sober and devoid of high spirits to connect. In fact, throwing in a raunchy joke and some outgoing
characters makes the drama even more relatable. But the comedy doesn't have to
permeate every single beat of the narrative. Here, it feels like a cop-out, and it feels
forced and predictable. So it pains me to admit to myself that Beneath a Steel
Sky, in spite of all the good things going for it, doesn't qualify for my
personal "Hall of Fame". It's simply not great enough.
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