Review RHEM 3 Developer: Knut Miller Publisher: Got Game Entertainment Genre: Adventure Release Date: February 2008 Platform: Review by Robert Washburne February 11, 2008		Buy this game at Trade for this game at:

One of the first commercial RPG's to come out for the personal computer was “Tales of the Unknown, Episode One: The Bard's Tale.”  I traveled a lot on business in those days and had a “portable” Commodore 64 (SX64) which I took with me.  The nights weren't as lonely as I was able to lose myself in the land of Scara Brae.  But I quickly learned that if I drew maps of my surroundings I wouldn't get lost so easily.

So I would spend most of the game carefully drawing out maps on quadrille paper.  Once the pencilings were finalized, I would draw over them with different colors of felt tip pens.  They were a thing of beauty and not only prevented me from getting lost, but also showed where the hidden rooms were likely to be found.

Some people would wonder why I would do such a tedious thing just for fun.  But I took great satisfaction from it.  It was almost like scientific research to document those things you knew and pull out the mysteries from them.  Some of you adventure gamers know exactly what I mean.

So here it is, almost twenty years later, and I am playing the latest game from Knut Mueller, Rhem 3.  I fire it up and what is the second thing I do after looking around?  I reach for the good old quadrille paper and pencil.

Rhem 3 is the third in the line of games developed by Knut.  The first two were called, surprisingly, Rhem and Rhem 2.  If this sounds rather utilitarian, it is. Rhem is about puzzles and everything else about the game is only there to support the puzzles.

Story Line:

The story of Rhem 3 can best be described as “paper thin.”  In a nutshell, the story so far has been:

Rhem – You are riding along in your little Cooper Mini Train and you get trapped in a strange place called Rhem.  It is called a city, but looks more like a refinery.  You solve a lot of puzzles and learn about two brothers, Kales and Zatias, who were here before you.  You find a missing object for them and they give you the key to a new train.

Rhem 2 – You continue down the track and end up in the underground portion of Rhem.  The brothers contact you and ask that you take a picture of an “Important Artifact.” You solve a lot of puzzles, take the picture and leave.

Rhem 3 – You continue down the track and enter a third area of Rhem.  The brothers contact you and ask that you find another Important Artifact. You solve many puzzles.

So, you can see that the story is the thinnest excuse for exploring the place and finding the Mysterious Object.  Story is not why you would get this game.

Graphics:

The graphics have improved a little from the first two Rhem's, but not much.  As you can see from the screen shots, they are adequate to support the puzzles, but will not win any rendering contests.  The water effects are nice and Knut has actually added some organics to the scene.  But there is no eye candy here.  You will not buy this game for its graphics.

Sound:

Again, adequate for the job.  There are subtle ambient sounds in the background.  The most disturbing of which is the sound of a moving train.  There is only one track out there and your train is on it.  So what is it you are hearing?

There is some voice acting and some animated clips of the brothers talking on a monitor.  The voices have strong German accents and the English words do not sync with the lips.  English is obviously not their primary language.

You will not buy this game for its sound.

Puzzles:

Ah, now we get down to it.  The whole purpose of the Rhem series is puzzles.  What kinds of puzzles can we expect to find?  Mostly, you need keys and combinations to open doors and unlock machinery.  But you may have to solve a series of word, number and logical puzzles to get those keys.

The city as a whole is one giant maze.  Now, don't panic.  It isn't one of those nasty computer mazes where everything looks the same and you get lost two minutes into it.  The environment is constantly changing.  You shouldn't get lost.  But it is so big and complex that you will want to map it so that you can remember where all the stuff is that you have seen.  Because you will have to return time and again to areas you have been through.

Ah, mapping.

Mapping will show you where you have been and yield clues to where you still need to go or how to get there.  Because the maze isn't open.  It is a huge 3D tangle with some doors opening in only one direction and other doors which block further paths when you open them.  Then there are the hatches, ladders, elevators, catwalks, ductwork, and so on.

It is very complex, but the puzzles are all logical.  The clues for each of them are somewhere, maybe not near the puzzle itself, but they are somewhere.  And they will make sense.  Wondering what a certain switch does?  Just follow the conduit coming from the box and it will lead you to what it controls.  See a window in the wall?  There must be a way in there.  If you can see a room or pathway, then there is a way to get there.

Most of the puzzles are quite simple, but the complexity of them taken together creates an advanced challenge.

Playability:

Game play is quite simple – move from scene to scene and click on the hot spots.  But be careful.  It is easy to miss that one scene where you must look up or down to see the hatch or entrance to the next area.

Resist the urge to find a walkthrough for as long as possible.  There is absolutely nothing to this game one you have the puzzles solved.  It's all about the puzzles.  Make sure you have explored everywhere and looked at both sides of every door.  Look up and down.

If you do find yourself truely stuck, then look through a walkthough to see what you may have missed, then close it immediately! The only satisfaction you will get from this game is to solve it yourself.

Should You Buy This Game?

Rhem 3 is a perfect sequel to Rhem and Rhem 2. The quality and gameplay from game to game is seamless. If you liked the previous games, then you will like this one.

Do you like puzzles?  Do you like mapping?  Do you find most puzzles either too easy or gratuitously difficult?  Do you find yourself wishing that someone would develop puzzles which were more sophisticated, complex, and yet logical?  Do you enjoy spending time, maybe days, working through a puzzle?

If you were answering “yes” to most of those questions, then Rhem 3 is for you.

Cnut was the King of Ancient Britain.  Knut is the Prince of Modern Puzzles.

System Requirements:

Macintosh

• 400 MHz or faster (G3, G4, G5, Intel Mac)
• RHEM 3 runs NOT with installed BootCamp!!!
• Mac OS X 10.2.8 or newer
• 64 MB free RAM
• 700 MB free harddisk space
• CD-ROM, 800 x 600 display, 32-Bit-color
• QuickTime 7.2 or newer

Windows

• Win 98/2000/ME/XP/Vista
• 600 MHz Pentium or faster
• 128 MB free RAM
• 700 MB free harddisk space
• CD-ROM, 800 x 600 display, 32-Bit-color
• QuickTime 7.2 or newer
• soundcard, videocard