'If it's not broken, don't fix it' sums up the continue success of LucasArts fourth 'fractals' title.
Gameplay: 8
Graphics: 9
Sounds: 6
Value: 8
Tilt: 7
LucasArts continued to produce some wonderfully and innovative games since its debut with Rescue on Fractalus back in 1985. With now three games under its belt (Rescue on Fractalus, Koronis Rift and Ballblazer), it is hard not to get excited about their forth title ‘The Eidolon’. The Eidolon still continues LucasArts innovative fractal technology that was successfully used in all of the other previous three games coupled with a great storyline made The Eidolon another success for George Lucas and his team of revolutionary programmers. However, in saying that and considering the marvels this game has fashioned, the ending has to be one of the lamest I have ever seen and will warrant profanities.
To those who knows the story of ‘The Time Machine’ from H.G. Wells will have a case of déjà vu when reading the manual of The Eidolon. Of course the story slightly changes as this time the Professor, Dr Agon conducted studies of the power of the human mind somehow created a machine for time travel (?) and resulted his disappearance. Even today I don’t comprehend the idea of why was this machine built in the first place nevertheless it was there and you, the player jumped into the seat of this machine (maybe to solve the mystery of the whereabouts of Dr Agon) and voila enter a cavernous world where creatures are drawn to The Eidolon’s power like bees to honey. Death in this game is quite timid as the story explains that once The Eidolon looses all its powers you are teleported back to the laboratory – another words – game over.
The technology that fuelled this game is the same that has been successfully used in the previous three LucasArts (Lucas Films) games. The ‘Fractals Engine’ was still ground-breaking however in The Eidolon the developers went one step further. To those who thought Wolfenstein 3D was the first FPS, try looking at this game. The Fractals Engine produced a cool 6 – 8 frames/second comparing to other ‘3D’ games as for its time was quite a feat (try playing Flight Simulator II – you’ll get the idea). The developer also went one step further and created distances. Of course it’s not perfect however it was a start of things to come.
Graphically, The Eidolon was all eye candy. All the creatures are quite detailed and not some pixilated mess. Colours were abundant and vibrant and those ‘guardians’ are quite a sight to see as they do felt intimating. The sounds were heading towards the bland mark however one cannot forget the theme song!
When I played The Eidolon for the first time I was blown away as for a FPS it ran smoothly. However there was a downside to all this however I’m purely basing on my game playing experience and not as a general flaw of the game. The core purpose of the game relies heavily on colours. Considering The Eidolon sports four different types of ‘fireballs’ (each one doing something different) and the concept of understanding which fireball colour harms to which guardian, I was getting quite frustrated as I was colourblind. There were many times I need my sister’s assistance to what colour harms to what guardian (and quickly jotted this down on a piece of paper). However I cannot look at this ‘flaw’ as a weakness as it’s like saying the car is worthless to all as I am blind hence cannot see. However a point is made that reliance on colours is something that grips me.
Looking back in hindsight, computer games before this ‘Fractals’ era were nothing more than sprites moving around in some insane speed awaiting to be gunned down by the player. The overall market was heading south just as fast as those sprites and like me, starving for something different. We don’t know exactly what we want however something better than what the shelves have to offer. To those who read my ramblings on the PC game Skyroads, I sung praises to the year 1993 as that too produced games that broke the ‘popular’ genres. 1985, like 1993 were great times for gaming as to 1998, 2004 and 2007 (2007 arrived a little early only because of the new generation consoles). If you look back, these years not only produced quality games however the gaming industry was daring to be different and this ‘difference’ was then to set the pace for the next half of the decade. So if you are looking for some nostalgic gaming that set the pace for future gaming, look no further than this game or generally 1985.