Sanitarium Review

You see, back in the 1980s and 90s there were these things called adventure games that one might play on one's home computer. One would usually direct some digital avatar to roam a pre-rendered universe in search of obtainable objects and then figure out which objects could be combined for use or directly used on a particular section of said pre-rendered universe. So, I began my adventure with... what? You say you don't understand? Oh, I forgot. Publishers have all but abandoned the adventure game. It's a darn shame, too. Many of my favorite games were adventure games. Fortunately, we still have some good adventure games available despite the fact that they are definitely a near-extinct species.

One such game that I completed recently is Sanitarium, developed by the defunct DreamForge Intertainment. Back in the late 1990s, I applied for work in their audio department and I can only attribute their demise to not hiring me. Anyway, now that my exaggerations are out of the way, let's get to the game. First of all, this was a refreshing experience. The PC game market seems to be severly stuck in a grey-ish green haze of World War II and other military-based games and the fantastical and colorful realm of a man's psyche is the perfect place to escape those drab depictions of real-world events.

As you start the game, you are introduced to a brief montage that explains why you wake up in a sanitarium with your head wrapped in bandages... almost. It is that 'almost' that keeps the plot moving. As you move through the game, you discover through flashbacks exactly what happened to you on that dark and stormy night when your car careened off of a tricky stretch of mountainous road. You're also treated to some childhood memories which give your character a good backstory and creates a character that you might actually give a rip about. As far as the story goes, without giving much more away, it is decent. (Adventure games, after all, are 90% story, 10% game mechanics.) You have probably heard it before: you're an amnesia patient, you don't know where you are, something bad has happened, et cetera, et cetera. However, the game is still worth a shot, especially at the current bargain price of $10. For that price, you'll find yourself exploring demonic farmsteads full of deformed children, abandoned circuses, haunted mansions, alien factories, Mayan ruins, and yes, even a sanitarium or two.

Speaking of game mechanics, the introductory level is a great introduction to the game's simple interface/control scheme which is nearly invisible. Basically, you click and hold the mouse button to move your character around. Or, if your character is stationary, you can go on a pixel hunt and wait for the cursor to change icons in order to discover what you can look at or pick up. Once you have items in your inventory, you can click on your character and a circular menu of the items you are holding opens. From there, you can click an item to select it and then attempt to click on an external object while holding the inventory item to see if they might interact. It's that simple. The only bad thing about the controls is getting your character to avoid staircases. Usually, if your character gets anywhere near a staircase, the ascending or descending animation kicks in and you'll have to wait until he gets to the other end of the stairs to return to where you were. Most of the time, this is only an annoyance. Only on a level that consists almost entirely of stairs does this become a true detriment.

The gameplay is quite simple. In fact, most of the game is easy enough that you'll be lucky to get more than 10 hours of play out of this title if you've ever played an adventure game before. That could be a good thing, though, too, especially if you don't have gobs of time to sit around and play games anymore. All of the puzzles in the game can be solved by some light brainwork. Unlike other adventure games, none of the puzzles in Sanitarium are throwbacks to traditional brain games like "Peg Jump." Even if you're not sure about how a particular object works, you'll figure it out if you just play around with it for a few minutes.

This game was released in 1998 and while it shows in the screen resolution, the graphics are still great. The backgrounds are lush, beautiful, spooky, and strange. Sometimes I found myself just looking at the screen and admiring the work of the 2D artists. Some of the best work was done on a later level that mixes all of the previous environs toghether. This game is just a beautiful sight. The animations are a bit herky-jerky, but this matters little once you're actually immersed in the plot.

The audio sounds good. In terms of the music, while some of the MIDI voices have not aged well, they did not annoy me and I doubt they'll annoy almost any player. The music is well suited for each environment. In fact, multiple pieces are used in each level in different areas. As you walk from an outdoor park area into a musty church, the music automatically changes to fit the area. The transitions are a bit rough, but I can forgive that in a six year old game. The sound effects are also particulary effective. Only the character's footsteps on gravel seemed a little out of place as they might be a bit too loud. The only area where the audio falls short is in the voice acting. The quality of the voice acting ranges from "pretty decent" to "dear God, that's gotta be the secretary from the dentist's office next door". If you watch the credits for the game, you'll see quite a few names from the development team reappear as voices of characters. Let this game stand as yet another example... if you have the budget, hire REAL ACTORS. Anything less sounds ridiculous and hokey. However, in the defense of the main character, he does a decent enough job. In the places where he falls short I might be more willing to attribute the mediocrity to the voice over direction at the recording sessions rather than his overall talent. See? If only they'd hired me!

If you like adventure games at all, I urge you to pick up this title. It's in the bargain bin at your local software retailer and at an approximate value of $1 per hour of play you cannot pass it up. You don't even get that kind of value out of a movie ticket. The game has a good albeit somewhat tired story that is well-paced by puzzles that are not overly difficult. And just in case it's not entirely clear, I don't really care that they didn't hire me anymore. After all, I wouldn't be employed anyway.