Another GameSpot's underrated pearl
Scratches takes players into the old Victorian mansion in October '76 where our horror writer protagonist, Michael Arthate, arrives one cloudy Saturday morning to finish his new book, alone and with no one to bother him. From the point where you leave your stuff in your bedroom, the whole house is at your disposal (buildings like the garage, greenhouse, chapel and others are available later in the game). Not so long after you settle in, you realize that there is no power in the house, and you can't fix the fuses in the basement (creepy music makes you turn around while you're in there). After exploring the house all day, it's finally the time to sleep. You won't sleep for long though, because of some weird sounds echoing through the house in the night...
The game utilizes first person point&click scheme, with 360 degree turns that make you think you're really there. Inventory is located at the bottom of the screen, so highlighting it with the cursor displays the items. There isn't much item combining (can't remember though, played it a long time ago).
Graphics are gorgeous, detailed and very realistic, which is great for 800x600 resolution the game is locked at.
As for the puzzles, they are generally easy and it won't take long 'till you figure them out, but some still require more braining 'till you get them done.
And the atmosphere? Don't play Scratches at daytime, you'll ruin the real feeling this game has to offer. There are moments that'll make your bones chill. As you progress through the game, piecing together the mystery, you'll end up wanting more and more, reading everything you can find (there is also a lot of reading, and each and every one of the texts you find are very interesting and tell a lot about the background) until the very end (I was speechless).
The developers have also released a Director's Cut version which shows what happened after. There is also a 500MB graphics enhancement patch that can be downloaded from the Nucleosys website, free of charge, for the full experience.
Adventure and horror fans - buy this game, ASAP! The story is great, and if you read all the documents you can find, you'll understand it easily.
And GameSpot, don't underrate a game if there isn't any weapon in it.