"Much time has passed from the era of the Second Shadow, when dragons ruled the sky and the stars were bright and numerous ... "
In a possible future, the company is organized in the city was built around guild trades: smiths, shepherds, glaziers and clerics are powerful clans that share the legislative power, administrative and military. Isolated on the tiny island of LOOM , lives the weavers' guild, which avoids the political issues to pursue with devotion to the study of his art. Over the centuries the art of weaving beyond the limits of the canvas, thanks to a magical frame that allows guild members to influence and alter the reality of the future. Lady Cygna Threadbare a young woman in the congregation, asking the elderly to use the magical powers of the frame to ease the suffering of his people who, because of isolation, is slowly disappearing. Faced with rejection, she decides to secretly use the loom to weave the fate of the newborn child and save dall'infausto future of its people. Discovered the crime, the council of elders transforms the woman into a swan, was condemned to exile, and entrusting the little lady to Hetchel .
Bobbin, this is the name chosen by Hetchel grows isolated from the rest of the community, marginalized out of fear of the dark omen launched by the mother with his act recklessly. Hetchel , despite the prohibition of the elderly, the young man secretly teaches the art of weaving and magic.
On his seventeenth birthday, Bobbin is summoned by the council of elders who want to decide his fate (which is far from rosy.) Arriving at the palace of the council, the young man hears the voices of older people intent on trial for having taught Hetchel despite their prohibition. Hidden in the shadows, Bobbin sees his nurse became, for punishment, in an egg. Who makes the issues here ... and break into the room a swan that turns the elderly, and all the people weavers, into swans who leave the earth plane through an interdimensional gateway. Bobbin is so alone ... in the company of an egg! After I got the magic stick (the distaff ) of the head of the council, cast his first spell on the egg from which emerges a black duckling ( Hetchel ) who, before leaving our size, it informs the boy that it's up to him to save the world by the arrival of the Third Shadow. His fate, magically woven by his mother years before, is to leave the island of Loom, get in touch with other guilds and retrieve the objects necessary to complete its task. Here begins your adventure that you do not provide further details so as not to spoil the taste of the good life step by step story of the title.
Bobbin convened by the council of elders - The city of the guild of blacksmiths
When, in 1990 the LucasFilm published Loom, had already to his credit three excellent adventure games ( Maniac Mansion "," Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders "and" Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade ") who had deservedly projected Olympus producers of this genre. The major innovation in the software house, founded in 1982 by George Lucas multifaceted, was the abandonment of the text parser (which had characterized the era of text adventures) and replace it with a fully managed via the mouse (from which the definition of "point and click adventure"). Clicking on the scenario moves the character, the commands you impart selecting an action from the list of verbs and objects from the inventory or the elements of the background (well, a step forward not just !!!). Well ... if you had the opportunity to play one of the previous games in the Lucas, the approach to Loom may seem a bit 'unsettling: the list of verbs, as well as inventory disappeared, giving way to only distaff with which you can weave spells (called wefts) are necessary to interact with the elements of the scenario. The stick is engraved with the eight musical notes ranging from C to high C (indicated by the letters cac ', the corresponding notation in English), a spell is formed by the sequence of four notes played in a certain order. At this point you'll wonder how you learn spells: nothing more simple, just examine objects by double-clicking of mouse (click the single serving to select the object on which to launch a plot) and "interesting" as if by magic (it's appropriate to say it) is literally put to play, teach a new plot. With a double click the pot full of dye for fabrics, for example, the spell will be unveiled to color objects. The plots can also be played by reversing the sequence, thus giving rise to reverse the spell: For example, run through Colors on the contrary, you get the bleaching effect. That's it, your task is limited to exploring the scenarios, discovering new textures and use them to solve puzzles that gradually the game offers. It is therefore all the more simpler than the previous adventures of Lucas , but equally rewarding.
Initially you can only use three of the eight notes available, while the remaining will be released gradually with continued adventure, giving you access to more powerful spells.
Bobbin magic in front of the frame. The lower part of the distaff with which to weave your plots
Scripted by Brian Moriarty, author of the excellent text adventure Infocom, the game was created with the goal of becoming the first interactive movie history sacrificing in part, the gameplay to enjoy ample narrative. Unfortunately time was not ripe and the limits of the medium on which the title was released (3 floppy disk), prevented the game to fully express its potential. To work around this obstacle in part (and to increase the quality of the narrative) is included in the package a cassette that, in the form of "audio drama" tells, in detail, the extensive preamble that serves as introduction to the Adventures of Bobbin. The same control system was designed specifically not to "distract" from over the player to experience the adventure. From these considerations follows a major defects Loom : Lack of longevity. Not having more resources available graphic-sound, compared to the previous adventures, and given the simplicity of the interface and the limited interaction, the game can be completed comfortably in a couple of days of intense play. Little are the three levels of difficulty which only increase the complexity of using the magic wand: the highest level there are no incisions with the notes and when you discover a new plot "to go by ear to see what shades used to play it. Far too little from this point of view to achieve sufficiency.
different for Speech As for the graphics and sound. The graphics, although only 16 colors, is very pleasant both for the sprites that the waters (some designed in a masterly way). The new version of the SCUMM allows you to manage large range shots, with characters that diminish with distance from the observer, and close ups that emphasize the intensity of the dialogues. Very good sound with support for cards AdLib and Sound Blaster . Excellent adaptation of George Alistair Sanger "Fat Man" piece by Tchaikovsky that form the soundtrack to our deeds, but unfortunately, once again, the limits of the support prevents you from having a constant accompaniment throughout the game, but when the music is, is valuable and always adapted to the situations experienced by the protagonist.
In Loom you can fly even if the location is not convenient! - The city of emeralds guild of glassmakers
Loom adventure is strange and somewhat unconventional, and some will love to hate the other madness, and my advice is to try to understand the most creative and innovative spirit that makes the title of LucasFilm the best adventures ever made.
Other versions
The game is released at once, plus, PC Amiga, Atari ST and Macintosh. All versions are essentially identical except that for the 'Amiga that, as usual, shows off a better sound. In 1992 he released the PC version CD-ROM with 256 color VGA graphics, digital audio and speech.
The lair of the dragon in the splendor of the 256 color VGA
SCUMM
The Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion is the application made by Aric Wilmunder and R on Gilbert, back in 1987, to simplify the development of Maniac Mansion. The use of a scripting language allowed developers to use images, sprites, music and dialogue sequences without putting hand to complex programming languages. Originally developed on the C64 and later ported to many platforms, from the 3DO Sega Mega CD, allowed us all to enjoy the wonderful adventure games produced over the years by the group of wizards of LucasFilm (later LucasArts ). Although no longer officially used the SCUMM is alive and well thanks to the open source project ScummVM (SCUMM Virtual Machine ) that allows us all to play fluently in securities of Lucas (and others) on modern operating systems ... a great job!
I leave you with a demo movie of non-interactive Loom I hope you can make you want to try this amazing adventure ...
PS The review you have just read is taken from the third issue of Re.BIT that I recommend reading the following this link ... Do not miss this hymn to retrogaming .
0 comments:
Post a Comment