"A New Beginning" Rant

As promised, here's a bit of a rant about things that bothered me in "A New Beginning."  Don't read on unless you've played it and/or don't mind spoilers and complaining about nitpicky game details.

So the big twist in the game is that Fay and her future time travelers are actually planning to perpetuate the nuclear meltdown that Fay told Bent was the cause of the future's environmental destruction.  That itself is a fine swerve and well enough foreshadowed, but there's some issues in the structure of it all.

Mostly, what does this mean for Fay's character?  We first get to know her through the first couple chapters of the game, which she narrates to Bent.  So how much of that really happened?  (And why did it include so many annoying puzzles?)  If she's trying to play up Bent's technology and downplay nuclear power, why is the time travel transport clearly nuclear-powered in the flashback?  It's clear at the end of the game that Fay disagrees with her fellow time traveler's plan, but when did she change her mind?  Did she always go into this preferring to promote Bent, or was she swayed over the course of the game?  It's frustrating to me not to know, especially when all this learned just at the end of the game.

I'm also a bit disappointed at nuclear power as the "evil" technology.  It's a tiresome cliche.  And I'm a bit baffled by the game being set in the eighties.  I don't have anything against the eighties, but the fact that Bent is working on his technology back then and we don't have it today doesn't exactly bode well.  I'm not sure that was really thought through.

Spoilers Within

All that said, it was still a fun and intriguing game and these are in the end minor quibbles.

My Gaming History

I remember friends with Nintendo and Genesis.  Hanging out after school with Brittney I'd explore the Mushroom Kingdom or fail to shoot that mocking dog in Duck Hunt.  I'd always play Tails to Chris's Sonic.  Even my orthodontist's office had a game of Aladdin to play while I waited.

But at home was the computer, with DOS and Windows 3.1.  This was the game setup of my childhood and so games have always been entwined with computers in my mind.  There was Duke Nukem (sidescrolling, not 3D), Wolfenstein 3D, Pinball...

Then there was the day my father and I went to get a rotisserie chicken at Costco.  I wandered over to look at the games as usual, and the was a compilation of all four (at that time) Quest for Glory games for sixteen dollars.  Somewhat to my surprise, my father agreed to buy it.

Thus I was simultaneously inducted into the worlds of roleplaying and adventure games.  Over the next years I ended up exploring much of the Sierra "quest" oeuvre.  These, and the occasional other adventure game, are my childhood gaming memories.

As for roleplaying games, my next step there came with Bioware and Baldur's Gate, and I haven't left Bioware yet.  Despite the changes over the years, I've yet always found in Bioware games that allow me to play multiple characters and tell their stories to a degree I can't find anywhere else.

My explorations of Baldur's Gate didn't truly expand until college (I think I got stuck at the top of the Iron Throne tower until after high school graduation) but I've loved almost every Bioware game since then (Neverwinter Nights being the sole exception.  I've never played it.)  I've explored Obsidian and the vast landscapes of Bethsaida and enjoyed them, but not to the same level.

Another big impact game came with a spur-of-the-moment purchase on a trip to Target with my friends in college.  I happened to browse the computer games and spot The Longest Journey for ten dollars.  Having read good reviews of it, I decided what the hey.  It's been a long (and still continuing) journey indeed exploring the mysteries of those worlds.

So the adventures and exploration continue.  My preferences keep me from being too swamped, but thankfully I like to replay.  And there are old games yet to discover, and new ones made every day.

"A New Beginning" Review

Publisher:  Daedalic Entertainment

Genre:  Adventure

Summary:  Bent is a burnt-out scientist.  Fay is a time traveler from the future who insists his research could prevent the polluted, hopeless world she comes from.  Together can they figure their way through evil schemes and possible paradoxes to save the world?

Gameplay:  As is admittedly usual for me, I was mostly lost when it came to the puzzles.  Fortunately, there is a uhs-hints.com file, so I could look up solutions as needed.

Mechanically, most interaction is accomplished via left-clicking, with holding the button down bringing up multiple options.  I mention this because several times I would forget and right-click (which opens the inventory.)

Also, this is not a game originally in English (as you might infer from the fact that there is a protagonist named "Bent"), but I still thought the voice acting was good.  There were a couple times the subtitles didn't match (including even a few times they didn't match the actual dialogue balloons during cutscene panels) and some bugged moments when the interaction wheel descriptions popped up in Cyrillic for some reason.

Style:  I absolutely adored the comic book style animation, which includes cutscenes as paneled pages.  The colors are vibrant and the designs stand out.  It really gives the game a memorable look and feel.  Between the animation and the environmental theme, I was fondly reminded of Captain Planet.  It helps that the past portion of the game is set in the eighties', although it took some time before that was clear to me (leaving me very confused at the use of video tapes at certain points.)  

Story:  Overall, I liked the characters and story, especially the time travel and dystopian polluted future bits.  There's a twist near the end, however, that confused me and somewhat weakened the game overall for me.  (I'll discuss it further in a spoiler post.)  Still, it was an interesting journey with memorable moments and characters that was worth taking.