The Neverhood

PC CD-ROM minimum system requirements:

PC CD-ROM minimum system requirements:

Pentium 75mhz; 8MB RAM; 10MB hard disk space; Windows 95; Quad-speed CD-ROM drive; SVGA. Price not available

KLAYMEN has his hands full. In a world of terrifying creatures, extraordinary machines and weird artifacts, he has to save The Neverhood from the clutches of the dethroned King's former assistant. The Everhood, you see, was a neighbourhood that was supposed to last forever, as long as nothing went wrong. But something did.

Although The Neverhood is a point- and-click adventure, it looks nothing like any other PC game. As his name suggests, Klaymen is made of clay - so, for that matter, is the world he inhabits. This can have its benefits for instance, if our hero manages to sever his head he can replace it instantly.

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These incredible effects were created using more than three tons of clay and over 50,000 frames of animation. They just have to be seen to be believed. The game doesn't match the dizzy heights of its graphics but it is, nonetheless, a reasonably accomplished affair. The animation is so good that you will continue the quest to the end just to see it all.

There are plenty of puzzles to solve and the humour is a little off-beat. One section of the game requires you to retrieve an item that - although you won't know this - lies at the end of a very, very, very, long corridor. The corridor's wall is engraved with thousands of words and you can read them all if you want but it is unadvisable. Because just to make your way from the start of the corridor to the end and back will take what seems like an eternity. One hopes this was an isolated case of some very off-beat humour, because it wasn't very funny.

Although The Neverhood is not for the serious point-and-click adventurer, it has tremendous novelty value and might enamour itself most to the rookie gameplayer.

Graphics: 94%, Sound: 90%, Gameplay: 79%