Story:

The story is really a simple one: an ancient race of peaceful people who once lived on and worshiped the moon were forced to escape under its surface, where they built wondrous machines to help them survive. And so they did for hundreds of years. But the secrets of these machines were lost over time and so when they started to fail, nobody could fix them. That’s where you come in. You are on the moons surface and find a letter asking for your help. But who are you and why are you strolling on the surface of the moon? You’ll never get these answers in the game and that is my only problem with the story.

Graphics:

Taking in account that the graphics were designed by a single man, they are simply amazing. Colors dance across the screen providing amazing feedback to the player. The cloud effects are memorable and generally the only thing I found a bit lacking were the character models, which look a bit “plastic-dolly”.

Sound:

There are very few music themes in Lunar Deep and this was a good choice as Myst-like games are supposed to use only ambient and natural sounds. Without the sound effect being state of the art, they do a commendable job of creating an atmosphere for the game. Ambient sounds can be heard all around and can be very convincing. The speech on the other hand is disasterous. There is no lip synching and the voices sound as though someone is boringly reading a script. A bit more passion from the voice actors would have been welcome.

Gameplay:

Lunar Deep uses a standard point-n-click interface familiar to most 1st person adventures. At the top left of the screen is your backpack where you can not only access your inventory, but can also - by right clicking - enter the menu to save, exit, load or start a new game. The great part of the save system is that it offers you unlimited save slots and also allows you to name them as you wish.

Puzzles:

The puzzles on the other hand are of beginner adventurer level and somewhat of a disappointment. They offer no real challenge and this, in addition to the fact that the game is quite small, leads to a very short gaming experience. It took me less than 2 hours to finish the game and on a 2nd playthrough less than 20 minutes.

Overall:

I admit I am a bit dissapointed. From independent developers I usually expect great story and new, clever puzzles. If the story was a bit more in synch with the character and the puzzles more inventive and difficult, we could be looking at an amazing indie. Still, as it is, Lunar Deep can offer some quality time to a new adventurer or to a Myst-clone hardcore fan.

Story: B-
Graphics: B+
Sound: B-
Gameplay: A
Puzzles: D

Final Grade: C+
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System Requirements:

• 600 Mhz Pentium III or Better
• 128 Meg. Available Ram
• True Color Video Card
• Windows Compatible Sound Card
• Mouse , keyboard and speakers
• Operating System: Windows98/Me/2000/XP