DARK SIDE OF THE MOON

                 Reviewed by Stefan Herber

There's a new computer magazine out called PC Gameplay, which may
be the unthinkable - a popular style games magazine written by
adults for adults. That means it will go bust within 6 months, I
suppose. At the end of its review section there is a pros and cons
list for each game, which I shall imitate for "Dark Side of the
Moon".

PROS:
1) An interactive movie with decent acting.
2) Big - even playing the walkthrough should take a few weeks.
3) Well-integrated and filmed video sequences.
4) Puzzles logical and just the right difficulty for me.

CONS:
1) Not fun.
2) Not engaging.
3) Comes on 6 CDs with vast amounts of swapping back and forth.
4) One is often never sure where to go or what to do next which
exaggerates the annoyance caused by (3).

In a bit more detail - DSOM is set in the unspecified future. Your
character has inherited a mineral bequest from his uncle who died
in suspicious circumstances on a far off moon, which happens to be
mineral rich, and is being exploited by a mining organisation.
The native population known as Cepheids are a commercial dream -
peaceful, huge stamina and prepared to mine until they drop.
Naturally all is not as it seems and it doesn't take long before
you suspect some very nasty goings-on. And you're right...

But - after an initial period of mystery - the game quickly loses
its interest. I think the reason is that too much of the plot is
revealed too soon with the resultant game merely being a question
of finding the right place to be. This means a heck of a lot of
to-ing and fro-ing until a chance remark or a cut sequence allows
things to continue. As every area seems to have its own dedicated
CD this also means a lot of changing discs. Contrary to popular
belief CDs are fragile creatures and the more handling they get
the more likely they are to get damaged - as happened to me the
first time I tried this game. This invariably means playing with a
number of commercial restoratives and praying .

The plot is strong but although I hate to say it I think it would
have been a much more compelling movie than it is a game. I wonder
how many interactive movies started life as film scripts?

The control method is simple and any available objects are easy to
see - none of this searching for the hot spot. All told however a
disappointing game - I suppose one of the last nails in the coffin
for what is now probably an extinct genre.






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