Dedicated readers of Heavy Metal, the US adult illustrated fantasy magazine, will probably recognize the name Druuna. Created by the Italian artist Paulo Eleuteri Serpieri in the 1980s, her adventures in a futuristic, decaying and plague-stricken City have appeared in that magazine periodically. Compilations of the stories in large format hardback have also been published as graphic novels. Morbus Gravis was the first of these.

I must preface what follows by emphasizing that Serpieri is a genius at depicting the human form, especially the naked female human form. Most of the time, the voluptuous Druuna is either naked or on her way to becoming so. Sexual encounters are not uncommon (although some are uncommonly kinky) and they are depicted with Serpieri's usual keen eye for detail.

This is not to say that the Druuna books are crude pornography. They are in no way equivalent to the 'Tijuana Bibles' of yesteryear. Nor are the graphic elements of the books equivalent to the standard pen outline and flat fill technique used in mainstream comic books. In 15 years, Serpieri has produced a total of 7 Druuna books. It is obvious from the quality of the art that he lavishes time and effort on each frame.

The release of Druuna - Morbus Gravis the game was eagerly awaited by many of her dedicated fans. The depiction of a pouting, curvaceous Druuna - with torn halter-top and unzipped jeans -- on the cover of the game will certainly bring her to the attention of others.

Sadly, both groups are likely to be disappointed.

I will admit now that I have not actually finished the game. Unfortunately, I've come up against a puzzle whose solution is not given in the walkthrough posted on the Microids website. I have asked Microids to revise the instructions so I can at least finish the thing, but they don't seem interested. Possibly because they already have my money? If I come across the solution some time, I may finish the game. If I don't, I won't. It says much about my opinion of the game that I am not too dismayed by this prospect.

I make no excuses for having used the walkthrough. I tried to do it on my own, but this is one of those games where you are dumped in an alien world and expected to work out for yourself what it is you are supposed to do and how you are supposed to accomplish it. After a few hours of bumbling about, getting repeatedly killed and making no obvious progress towards whatever the hell was supposed to be the goal, I was so exasperated that the game very nearly got uninstalled and chucked. But, it would be unfair to say the game is completely lacking in positive features.

First, you get six whole CD-ROMs in the game's DVD box. Hey, some people are
overcome by quantity, right?

Some of the graphics are impressive. For the most part, the video cut scenes work reasonably well -- in visual terms, anyway. However, despite of the fact that my machine well exceeds the recommended specification, I get periodic hesitations during the video scenes and there is also noticeable blurring and pixelation on a large screen. I assume the pauses are something to do with the video clips being split into segments and the poor focus due to the clips being recorded in low resolution (640 x 480 perhaps?). Still, if you ignore those failings and accept the limits of the current technology, the Druuna here does look much like the graphic novel character and it is interesting to see her moving and in the round.

It is also obvious that a lot of work has gone into the settings as it looks very much like the world Serpieri created in the Druuna books.

Some of the dialogue is amusing and most of the acting and music is not bad at all. These aspects of the game aren't too far off the quality of Deus Ex.

Unfortunately, that ends the list of positives.

The game is fundamentally eye-candy. Although the box says the game is set in a "hyper-realistic, interactive real-time 3D world." What this actually means is that you are periodically given brief snatches of video of Druuna doing something or having a conversation with another character. The "interaction" consists of two possibilities: First, an "interference pattern" might appear along one edge of the screen. If you don't hit the arrow key equivalent to that direction very quickly, Druuna will die very soon.

The second (and much less common) form of interaction is a character asking Druuna a question. You are then given a few possible answers. If you hit the wrong key, Druuna will die very soon.

Most of the game is spent moving Druuna through the City, picking up odd bits of rubbish that are lying around in the vain hope they might be useful at some point in the future and stumbling across points that trigger another burst of video.

It is very clear that this game is rigidly linear. You start out in the setting at the beginning of the book and you finish in the situation at the end of the book.

To be frank, the thing I find most attractive about the graphic novels is Serpieri's lush depiction of Druuna's body, her physicality and her sexual encounters. I know I am not unique in this. It may be pretentious, but I see similarities between Serpieri and another great Italian artist. Verdi wrote glorious music, but the plots and librettos of his operas are generally mediocre. Yet most people who have any sort of interest in opera forgive him that because his wonderful tunes are so evocative they really need no words. Similarly, I don't have a collection of Druuna books because Serpieri poses intriguing questions about the future of mankind and makes profound philosophical points about the nature of good and evil and the relationships between women, men and technology. I have the books because I admire Serpieri's talent as a graphic artist, particularly his ability to portray women whose bodies have just the qualities that appeal most to me.

As far as being able to ogle Druuna is concerned, the limits of technology mean that there is never any chance of confusing the game's character with a real woman. Even in the best of the video clips, the Druuna here is always slightly out of focus and very definitely a computer construct. I may be sad, but I'm not so pathetic that I will ever find an obviously computer-generated wire frame character arousing or even beguiling.

During the time when the Druuna character is under the player's control, she looks much less appealing than she does at any point in the books. The player's view of her is often from a great distance, but even close up she is a caricature.

Any of Serpieri's 2D depictions of Druuna and her sexual encounters will always be much more appealing to me than anything done with present-day 3D models, even when they are as sophisticated and as painstakingly done as those in the video sequences here.

For a few brief moments, we are allowed to see as much of Druuna as we would on a European beach during the summer, but she very quickly retrieves her halter-top and 1970s style jeans. There is, of course, no sexual activity whatsoever in the game.

What the game also lacks is any direction or drive. The original graphic novels were not strong on plot, but that didn't matter much when they (and Druuna) looked so good. The extraordinary visual quality of the books allows us to overlook the failings of plot, the sometimes-stilted dialogue, the questionable technology and the dubious philosophy. The visual failings of the game simply emphasize that it lacks any depth or meaning.

Adding further insult is the fact that controlling the Druuna character is not easy. The control system is primitive and awkward to use and there is an extremely annoying delay between keying movements and Druuna actually moving. Usually, this made no real difference except to my general level of irritation, but there are points in the game where quick movements in a very specific direction are required in order to survive.

I also found the fixed point of view exasperating. More than once, a monster that had been lurking just out of sight killed Druuna in the instant she moved out of my view. I was also annoyed that I was not able to look around what seemed to be very complex and interesting world.

The monsters themselves are risible; most look like a novice game designer using some cheap 3D package slapped them together in half an hour. Their motion is silly (or perhaps the poor imitation of a Michael Jackson moonwalk is intentional) and they lack credible AI.

I understand that this game was originally due to be published earlier in 2001, but it was held back until September/October. The story I've heard is that someone (in marketing, perhaps?) realized very late that what was going to be delivered by the designers was really just a film of the Morbus Gravis graphic novel. It was decided that this would not sell and the designers were made to go away and think about how they could turn their film into a game. It appears that the best they could manage in a few weeks was to chop their very sophisticated video into bits and shove in some standard game-y bits

Hacking a DVD release of The Matrix so that periodic manipulation of the remote control is required in order to get through the movie would not make it a game. Meaningless wanderings around Druuna's City and pointless, incongruous tasks have not turned a computer animation of Morbus Gravis into a game.

The game hints at something much more engaging and intriguing, but this never materializes. I was never so intrigued that I was compelled to keep on playing to see what would happen next.

I looked forward to the release of this game. All the previews and PR teases suggested that we were about to get something astonishing: a game with the visual quality of Myst, the excitement and ease of control of Half Life and the intelligent opposition AI and fluid plot of Deus Ex.

Life is full of disappointments.

I am very sorry to say it, but unless you're a hardcore Druuna freak, avoid this game. If you are Druuna-curious, check here (Over 18 Only!!) for some free pictures and background, then get over to Amazon and buy some of Serpieri's books.

Final Grade - D.

System Requirements:

Processor 400 Mhz
64 Mb RAM
3D graphic card 16 Mb
CDROM 40X