The Neverhood is an
amazing game, created by one of
the bastard off-spring of Steven Spielberg.
Playing it is like living in a Claymation world. The entire game is done completely with clay. Several tons of it, in fact. And the occasional wire.
The game world is simple and varied. I think what struck me most about it was that there was no sky. Just black going off into infinity. It contrasts wonderfully with the vibrant colors of The Neverhood, which is done in a marvelously simple and innocent style.
The plot of the Neverhood is revealed in two ways. The deep backstory is revealed by a parody of the bible, written on the walls of a very long hall which you must walk down to get something. I wish I had the text of that wall, because it's a pain to read it off the wall - although it is well worth it. The backstory is revealed by a series of, if memory serves, 20 videos narrated by a guy named Willy.
The plot is nifty. It's similar to many things, and because it is never explicitly stated, you are free to form your own conclusions. All you get is a backstory and events in the game.
I think the plot of The Neverhood is the same as the Bible's - man's fall and redemption. But who knows?
Characters:
About The Neverhood
The Neverhood was created by a number of talented developers. You could learn more at www.neverhood.com , which is now mostly dead; I'll save you some time lurking through dead links and put some info up here.
The Neverhood was made for Windows 95 - it was "A Microsoft/Dreamworks SKG joint venture", according to the box. Quotes from the box:
- Point and click your way through more than 60 hilarious and twisted puzzles.
- Effectes created with more than 3 tons of clay and over 50,000 frames of animation.
- Total immersion. No need to keep track of maps, scores, or inventory. (This is true - The Neverhood is one of those rarer types of adventure games that succesfully does away with _all_ status indicators. Either you have something, or you don't. There aren't a lot of inventory items, and the puzzles and doors are simple enough to solve from memory. This is impressive.)
- For ages 17 and up
- "Embark on a clay adventure that breaks the mold."
- Immerse yourself in the strange clay-animated world of the Neverhood, a challenging adventure chock-full of mind-wrenching mysteries and an onslaught of odd-ball humor.
- Born into a Neverhood that may never exist, Klaymen explores a land of terrifying creatures, extraordinary machines and mysterious artifacts. Long ago the king of this world was betrayed by his trusted assistant. You must save the Neverhood by navigating Klaymen through a twisted plot of ancient secrets, witty inventions and monstrous puzzles to defeat your nasty foe.
- System Requirements: Pentium 75 MHZ, 8 MB RAM (16 MB recommended). Quad speed CD-ROM, SVGA monitor. 8 bit Windows-compatible sound card and speakers (16-bit recommended). 10 MB hard disk space, requires Windows 95
There is a marvellous Making Of video on The Neverhood CD - I'd advise you to watch it. Very nifty animation on some parts. Love those spiders. And watching the junior programmer smash the senior programmer's computer.
In addition, The Neverhood has a crazy sound track. It's hard to describe, but it's very whimsical, much like the game itself. Terry S. Taylor is responsible for it - I recommend you locate it and listen to it. It's excellent.
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