It sure seems like Panasonic is releasing a lot of Full Motion Video games lately. Strahl was released earlier in the year, now D and The Daedalus Encounter, and it seems as if there are more on the way from both Panasonic and other manufacturers as well. The Daedalus Encounter is about as radically different from D as two FMV games could be, though. Daedalus uses live action characters (notable star power in the game: Tia Carrere) and the actual game part of Daedalus is almost completely delegated to little mindbending puzzles on the many door locks that you run into during the course of The Daedalus Encounter's 4 CDs.
Now, I like puzzle games well enough and Daedalus contains some interesting mind teasers, but overall I like games despite the Full Motion Video and almost never because of it (notable exceptions being D and a nostalgic soft spot for the Dragon's Lair games). Wing Commander 3 is a perfect example--a fantastic game that kept me consistently on the edge of my seat, and, oh yea, wasn't there some live action video in the game, too? Daedalus has plenty of entertaining video sequences, and the acting, writing and direction are all very competent. The computer generated sets aboard the vast, very beautiful alien space ship are terrific and the sound quality of the game (both the music, actual atmospherics, and sound effects) is absolutely first rate.
Indeed, everything about the presentation of the game is great. It's the actual game that I have a problem with. Given the high tech look, feel and effort put into the game's presentation, the interactive parts of Daedalus seem downright primitive.
The none-puzzle scenes especially seemed lame (generally either Dragon's Lair style control, or primitive shooting sequences) and the puzzles, while sometimes fun and involving, tended to get old after a while as well. So, once again, the game's worth is almost completely delegated to the strength of its full motion video and how involving a storyline it contains.
Fortunately, Daedalus' plot is pretty good. At the beginning of the story, you see the last battle of an intergalactic war and the destruction of your fighter ship. Your two crewmates (Tia and the other principle, an actor named Christian Bocher) managed to eject unharmed. You on the other hand get badly hurt and wake up to find that only your brain is still around and is confined to a life support chamber. Soon after, your crewmates find themselves crashed into a vast alien spacecraft that is heading directly for the systems' sun. So, you, controlling a versatile mobile probe, must solve the mysteries of the ship and find a way to change the ship's course in order to save your companions' lives.
Throughout the game, you'll find that the developers added plenty of little jokes, references, and homages (both visually and in the dialogue) to past science fiction movies (notably the Alien films) and the personality of the two characters is straight out the sci-fi marine archetype. There's nothing original at all about the plot or the execution of the story through the video, but, on the whole, Daedalus is entertaining to watch.
Aside from the simplistic nature of the interactivity, The Daedalus Encounter lacks the option to skip through video sequences that you have already sat through which was an annoying oversight. The game automatically saves your game and, very conveniently, lets you go back to any previous scene at any time. The game also allows for multiple save slots and has varying difficulty levels that you can change at any time by simply going back to the main menu screen.
The Daedalus Encounter is an extremely good looking game, with great sound and excellent full motion video. And while a game should have a strong emphasis on interesting plots and character, it needs to be innovative and strong in other respects--namely interactivity and play value. The puzzles that Daedalus throws at the gamer are fun and challenging overall, but on the whole the game lacks diversity and any real innovation in regards to the game play. Overall, The Daedalus Encounter is recommendable for its visual and audio entertainment and to a lesser extent for its thought inducing door lock puzzles, but only mildly so.
