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By Al Giovetti, 05/07/97
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Genre:adventure
Release:, 05/01/97
Developer: Psygnosis
Lead Artist: Lloyd Sutton
Programmer:Russell Kay
Music:Rik Ede
Producer:Richard Biltcliffe
Publisher: Psygnosis
Phone: 415-655-8060
Website: www.psygnosis.com
Requirements:Pentium, 90 MHz, (133 MHz Recommended), Windows 95, DOS 6.2, 16 MB RAM, keyboard/mouse, 2X CD ROM drive, 100% SoundBlaster compatible, 1 MB SVGA video card (2 MB recommended)
Sentient
History
This game was released for the playstation prior to its PC release and was well received on that platform.
Company Line
You're an intergalactic detective... MYSTERIES are like the sun -- dazzling, yet plain to all eyes. - John Donne
A sun, a space station, a plague, a photograph, a crash-landing, a case of mistaken identity, a murder, a resurrection, a haunting dream, another murder, a mask, a race against time, and a handful of terrible truths.
Sentient -- an interactive adventure unlike any you've ever experienc
Game Play
Like most good graphic animated adventures, this one has over 200 three dimensional locations to explore, puzzles to solve, and over 60 non-player characters (other computer controlled people within the game) to interact with in conversations where you get clues about how to solve puzzles in the game.
The randomized sub-plots make the game play different each time you play. Characters show emotions in response to event or persons in the environment. Tasks and responsibilities can be deligated to members of a team of non-player characters who will carry out the tasks in different ways depending on their attributes and "personality."
The game mixes characteristics of role-playing, adventure, and a three dimensional shooter. The interface is a menu driven, dialogue type interface that is a throwback to the early days of gaming, which many may find nostalgic, but not old fashioned.
Plot
You play Garrit, an Earth medical technian who is sent to investigate a radiation sickness epidemic on the space station ICARUS. Your shuttle crashes in the space station docking bay, but this is only the beginning of the strange events that happen to you. Sentient uses six major plotlines and a multitude of minor, randomized, sub-plots which will result in ten different possible endings. Your goal is to cure the radiation plague, put down the crew mutiny, and keep ICARUS from falling from its stabile orbit into the sun.
One sub-plot involves the assasination of the captain, whom you must catch, another relates to an identity crisis, and yet another involves around an ecological contamination threat.
Graphics
The graphics in DOS is limited to 320x240 pixels, but Windows 95 goes all the way up to 1280x960 pixels of resolution.