The Neverhood
If you haven't yet heard of Dreamworks Interactive, you are in for a big surprise. When Bill Gates and Steven Speilberg get together to form a campany you just know that it's going to do well. If The Neverhood is anything to go by, they're well on their way. Get ready to embark on a clay adventure that leaves Morph wondering why his agent Tony Hart kept him out of this one. Your job is to navigate the wonderfully animated Klaymen through the strange clay-based world of the Neverhood, exploring the extraordinary machines and mysterious artifacts. Although the puzzles are little more than point-and-click tasks, they increase in difficulty to a stage where you really have to be on your toes. So they should be after the three tons of clay and 50,000 frames of animation needed to create this project.
When playing the game, you'll find that most of the time you're expected to sit back and watch the animations you set off by clicking on a certain button. However humorous and impressive these may be, if you are after a fully immersive game where you control every move your character makes, then you may become tired of this game fairly quickly. As for me, I loved it. I found it highly captivating as the character you control gets himself into trouble time after time. At a time where Doom clones are being churned out left, right and centre, it is nice to see a game that offers something new.
For more info, see Dreamwork's Neverhood page.
Reviewed by Joel Newman