Screenshots :.
Loom
PC
Matt
13-08-2009
"These hands that do dishes...."
"Staircase of DOOOOOM"
Imagine for one tiny second that your entire life was a point-and-click adventure. Can you begin to imagine how awesome that could be? Use knackered sense of foreboding on getting out of bed. Pull shower lever. Insert bread into toaster. Smash foot on corner of door. All it would be missing is the natural reflex to repeatedly say ‘that doesn’t work there’ when you tried something silly, like use small iron on tub of margarine. In any case, it’s time to use opinion with fingers.
See, yesterday I bought and completed Loom. For those who don’t know, Loom was one of the very first LucasArts adventure games, pre-dating Monkey Island by a few months. However, whilst Monkey Island used various verb commands to allow you to perform actions with a whole range of items that you’d collected, Loom never actually saw you have to pick up anything or use an item on another at all. I suppose that makes my opening paragraph somewhat redundant, but there we go.
Kicking off on a hillside overlooking a village, the plot treads a relatively interesting line that some compare to a modern day equivalent of swan lake. Whether you’re particularly interested in that or not, there’s something curiously interesting about guiding your character – brilliantly named Bobbin Threadbare – through the potentially cataclysmic events of the game’s rather brief 3-or-so hour lifespan.
The general idea of the game is that you start off with a weaving stick that can play a number of musical notes. Certain crucial items in the game play a melody that you have to note down (yeah, actually write on paper kids) and play to other people/items throughout to solve simple puzzles. In some circumstances, you realise that a particular melody can be played backward to have a reverse effect, which leads to more conundrum solving.
Not only is this mechanic unique to anything other than Zelda: Ocarina of Time, but it means that Loom is fresh enough that even despite its 19-years of age it is an enjoyable, fresh challenge. It really is like nothing else you’ve ever played, and that’s mainly as nothing since has tried to do something similar. It can be a bit obtuse at times (as most old school puzzlers tend to be), but by-and-large once you get off and running most of the tasks are solvable with a little bit of thought.
Whilst not quite as amusing as the Monkey Island series, it’s also a game that must have been quite a step up in story telling at the time of release. Whilst the earlier versions were not voiced (the latter versions including the one reviewed were, with most of the cast providing pretty decent performances save someone doing the most horrendously cack Scottish accent of all time), the general atmosphere and script both come over well and absorb you nicely into the game.
As a starting point for what then went on to be a very popular genre – one that is making a roaring comeback right now – Loom was a particularly good effort, despite its brevity. The fact that it has a unique way of presenting puzzles is a bonus and one that will seriously improve enjoyment too, as it really is something that stands alone. Consider me one very surprised critic.
See, yesterday I bought and completed Loom. For those who don’t know, Loom was one of the very first LucasArts adventure games, pre-dating Monkey Island by a few months. However, whilst Monkey Island used various verb commands to allow you to perform actions with a whole range of items that you’d collected, Loom never actually saw you have to pick up anything or use an item on another at all. I suppose that makes my opening paragraph somewhat redundant, but there we go.
Kicking off on a hillside overlooking a village, the plot treads a relatively interesting line that some compare to a modern day equivalent of swan lake. Whether you’re particularly interested in that or not, there’s something curiously interesting about guiding your character – brilliantly named Bobbin Threadbare – through the potentially cataclysmic events of the game’s rather brief 3-or-so hour lifespan.
The general idea of the game is that you start off with a weaving stick that can play a number of musical notes. Certain crucial items in the game play a melody that you have to note down (yeah, actually write on paper kids) and play to other people/items throughout to solve simple puzzles. In some circumstances, you realise that a particular melody can be played backward to have a reverse effect, which leads to more conundrum solving.
Not only is this mechanic unique to anything other than Zelda: Ocarina of Time, but it means that Loom is fresh enough that even despite its 19-years of age it is an enjoyable, fresh challenge. It really is like nothing else you’ve ever played, and that’s mainly as nothing since has tried to do something similar. It can be a bit obtuse at times (as most old school puzzlers tend to be), but by-and-large once you get off and running most of the tasks are solvable with a little bit of thought.
Whilst not quite as amusing as the Monkey Island series, it’s also a game that must have been quite a step up in story telling at the time of release. Whilst the earlier versions were not voiced (the latter versions including the one reviewed were, with most of the cast providing pretty decent performances save someone doing the most horrendously cack Scottish accent of all time), the general atmosphere and script both come over well and absorb you nicely into the game.
As a starting point for what then went on to be a very popular genre – one that is making a roaring comeback right now – Loom was a particularly good effort, despite its brevity. The fact that it has a unique way of presenting puzzles is a bonus and one that will seriously improve enjoyment too, as it really is something that stands alone. Consider me one very surprised critic.
8/10
