INTRO: This mild game turns San Francisco into a moody, watercolor world. Is it worth the trip?

Golden Gate contains two features that I hadn't yet come across on an adventure game. The first is the graphic style. The game's backgrounds are created with a series of beautiful watercolor paintings. When looking at them for the first time, I had the same reaction I had to The Neverhood's claymation look: "Hey, what a great idea! Why haven't other games tried this?"

IT'S A WATERCOLOR WORLD

Using a medium as visually pleasing as watercolor is a brilliant stroke in a game that takes place in one of the world's most beautiful cities. It makes sense, really -- with its mist-swept hills, San Francisco often appears to be a watercolor painting in real life.

The other extremely interesting element to Golden Gate was that, for the first time ever, I was exploring locations in an adventure game that I had actually explored in real life! As I wandered through Fort Point, Golden Gate Park and Cliff House, I sat at my computer with a stupid grin on my face: "Oh, yeah, go up these stairs here . . . right, oh, and here's where the Sutro Baths used to be . . ." I even ran across the exterior of a movie theater that I had been to! This really added to the intensity and delight of the gaming experience.

THE GAME IS WAFER THIN

Golden Gate has the heftiest backstory for any short game that I've ever played. This is either a good thing or a bad thing, depending on your point of view. My considered opinion is that a game needs to be as self-contained as possible. The perfect game is one that is so well designed that I can simply install and start playing.

The story involves a mysterious box with an ancient curse on it. The game involves you wandering around San Francisco finding clues to the box and the curse. At different points you see video clips from the past that flesh out the story. For whatever reason the city is, with one exception I'll discuss below, completely unpopulated.

THESE PUZZLES PRETTY MUCH SUCK

Golden Gate is easy to play, interface-wise, but there is this weighty backstory, much of which is supported by a "diary" that is included with the game. No, I don't mean a diary you FIND while playing the game, I mean a little booklet that comes with the game. This irritated me a little bit. Reading every word of this messy diary would have taken about as long as playing the entire game. Perhaps if the game were longer, or more complex - but the actual GAME of Golden Gate is paper thin. I mean, it makes Qin and Beyond Time seem exhausting and long.

The game features lovely background music that complements the surroundings nicely.

There aren't very many puzzles, and they aren't particularly inspiring. Again, if I have to read twenty tedious pages of a separate document to figure out the logic of a puzzle in a game, someone isn't designing the game very organically. A few of the puzzles were just bad. For example, one puzzle requires you to set the musical notes of a jack-in-the-box so that it correctly plays the tune "Pop Goes the Weasel." Now, this is a fine idea for a puzzle, and I always do well with music puzzles. However, in this case, the designer had a tin ear - the answer to the puzzle isn't even the correct series of notes!!

COME BACK CHRISTOPHER WALKEN, ALL IS FORGIVEN

Golden Gate also suffers from one really obnoxious performance by the actor who has the largest role in the story. I noticed in the credits that he was also the director of the live action sequences. Big surprise. I can't imagine who else would cast him. This is a shame because he plays a very important character, the one live person you meet in an otherwise completely empty city.

Despite these problems, I enjoyed Golden Gate simply because of its beauty and atmosphere. It is absolutely the shortest game I have ever played. Considering the game's shortcomings, this is probably a good thing. If the game had been longer I would been more irritated with the uninspired or simply bad puzzles, the aforementioned bad acting performance, and the bottom-heavy story.

As it is, Golden Gate is a moody romp through one of the worlds most exquisite cities. I'm not sorry I played it.

PROS: Beautiful, unique watercolor backgrounds; a chance to explore a very explorable city.

CONS: Thin story weighed down by an inappropriately heavy backstory; uninspired and bad puzzles.

CONCLUSION: Not a bad choice if you have any affection for the City By the Bay; just don't expect Riven!

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:

Windows: Windows 95, 486 DX2/66, 16 MB RAM, 2X CD-ROM drive, DirectX compatible SVGA video card, DirectX compatible sound card
Recommended: Pentium 75 or faster, 4X CD-ROM drive

Macintosh: 68040 25/50, 16 MB RAM, System 7.1, 8-bit (256 color) display, 2X CD-ROM drive
Recommended: PowerPC Macintosh, System 7.5 or higher, 4X CD-ROM drive

This review is copyright Ray Ivey and Just Adventure and may not be republished elsewhere without the express written consent of the author. Republication of said review must also contain a link back to Just Adventure.