Like many
adventure game enthusiasts I have at one time or another thought it
would be nice to create and/or develop my own adventure game and I
have spent many idle, but pleasant, hours thinking of possible story
lines and creating fiendish puzzles. However, for most of us, myself
included, this will probably remain a dream, an unfulfilled
ambition. This is not the case with Peter Hewitt. Peter’s name will
be familiar to many Boomers as the creative force behind the
independent developer Mulawa and ultimately the adventure games
Xiama and Magnetic. I have recently finished Xiama and wished very
much to review it in this forum, so here is my humble offering – a
review of Mulawa’s adventure game “Xiama”.
As a prelude to the review proper I feel it is appropriate to lay
the foundation as to how Xiama came about, and I hope Peter will not
mind if I describe a little background information here. Peter
Hewitt is a computer programmer and like so many of us his avid
interest in and enthusiasm for adventure games blossomed after
having played the genre-making epic, “Myst”. He like many of us had
the notion to create his own adventure game, unlike many of us
however, he actually did it. Peter is a small independent who
creates his games using a simple computer from his home in
Australia.
With this in mind many of you who may be unfamiliar with Peter’s
work might already be thinking, “Oh no, ‘Amateurville’ here we come”
and effectively you could not be more fundamentally mistaken. Put
very bluntly, Xiama is one of the most enchanting, enjoyable,
challenging and rewarding gaming experiences I have had for quite
some time. It is true to say that the production of the game lacks
the sophistication and polish of games produced by the big,
commercially recognised developers, but in many ways I found this
added to the charm and overall ambience of the game.
The game is set in the Australian rain forest, to be more precise a
national park neighbouring Peter’s home. The game is effectively a
photographic trip through the Alligator Creek Falls. The backdrops
are Peter’s own photos of the absolutely beautiful and breathtaking
rain forest and creek, movement is achieved through clicking on
directional arrows at the bottom of the screen whereupon you are
transported to the next location. There is no panning and the most
obvious analogy here is Myst where movement is between static 2D
rendered scenes.
Xiama is not a particularly story driven game and is moulded very
much in the style of Pandora’s Box and the Jewels’ games. This is
not to say that there is no story. You start the adventure at the
beginning of a jungle trail. On the ground in front of you is a
note, upon reading the note you discover that you are to meet
someone at the head of the creek, though your ‘friend’ informs you
that he has made your trip more interesting by providing a number of
challenges for you to overcome on the way. And thus your adventure
starts. From the opening scene you can then navigate through the
creek to your rendezvous, while on the way tackling the myriad of
puzzles thrown at you. In actuality you will have to solve all the
puzzles to reach your final destination.
There are no plot threads nor hints nor in-game nudges, neither is
there any equipment or machinery to fix or construct, there is no
pixel hunting, no inventory, no dialogue, no human characters. It is
just you, the rainforest and those puzzles.
And so, what about those puzzles…..
During your journey of discovery through Alligator Creek Falls you
will happen upon little shining stars, this is the indication that a
puzzle is lurking within the location. All you need to do is click
on the twinkling star and hey presto! there is the puzzle for you to
solve. In a few instances the star is absent, but the presence of a
puzzle is obvious, for example, while clambering over a series of
rocks you stumble upon a card table, which you are hardly going to
pass by without a little further investigation.
The puzzles themselves are one of the main strengths of the game,
they are varied, original, well thought out, interesting and
challenging. They range in difficulty from reasonably easy and
straightforward to really rather difficult and certainly challenging
for the old grey matter. There is also no paucity of them either so
you will not be disappointed on this front. Like many games once a
particular puzzle has been solved you are then allowed access to
more puzzles. In addition, some of the puzzles are games that you
can return to and play long after you have finished the game.
In other reviews posted by the author I have said that I was not
particularly keen on games where you were presented with a puzzle
for which there were no clues, hints, nudges or plot threads and
where puzzles appeared rather illogical and out of place. With Xiama
I have completely reversed this opinion. Peter unashamedly informs
you that there are no clues or hints and that, for him, working out
the logic of the puzzle in order to crack it is part of the
enjoyment of the whole experience. After playing Xiama, I have to
agree with him, certainly in this instance and for games of this
ken.
My only criticism of the game was that it was too short and I would
dearly have loved to extend my experience in Alligator Creek Falls.
I already have Peter’s second offering, Magnetic, and am eagerly
looking forward to loading it up. In conclusion I would like to say
how much I enjoyed this game and, without putting undue pressure on
Mulawa and Peter, I look forward with great anticipation to any
further projects.
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GameBoomers
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