Monday, May 17, 2004
Gilbert Goodmate v1.06 reviewed
Posted by Philip Colmer in "SOFTWARE" @ 09:00 AM
Just for a laugh, and more for the sake of completeness than anything else, let's try talking to the biscuits. :D
Figure 6: So I'm mad for wanting to talk to the biscuits.
As you can see, the game is littered with humour (you might want to try saying 'Hi Biscuits' out loud if you don't get this one) and there is almost a challenge to see what silly things you can ask Gilbert to do in order to find the humour. If you enjoy Douglas Adams or Terry Pratchett, I think you'll like the humour in Gilbert Goodmate. I still haven't forgiven the game designers for introducing the sock ... you'll know what I'm talking about if you've played the game. :wink:
There are some wonderful characters to meet in the game - Elton the inventor, Madam Zyx, the Vikings and, of course, Arver the hypochrondriac. :lol:
Playing With Objects
When you pick an object up, it gets added to your inventory. Gilbert keeps all of the things you pick up within his trousers, which makes for interesting animation when some of the objects are large and you've asked him to do something with an object. The inventory is accessed by pressing down on the D-pad and an example of the inventory is shown in Figure 7.
Figure 7: Gilbert's inventory.
Objects in the inventory can be combined with other objects or can be used on objects in the game. The act of achieving either of these goals can be a bit tricky to begin with but, once you've got the hang of it, it works well considering the device's limits. For example, to use the crank handle on the crankcase, you tap and hold on the handle then drag the handle until it is outside the inventory box. If you don't start dragging quickly enough, the mushroom interface appears – which may be what you want if, for example, you want to look at the object.
Once you've dragged the object out of the inventory box, you then drag the object over something else until, as you can see in Figure 8, the game gives you an action. Lifting the stylus off the screen completes the action.
Figure 8: Using a carried object on something else.
Game Design
It is probably worth mentioning at this point that just because the game offers you an action, it doesn't necessarily mean that Gilbert will carry it out. There are two design points that I really appreciated with this game:[list=1]
This is important because it means that you are free to wander through the game in any order, interacting with any objects that you see. Most puzzles require you to have completed certain actions, or picked up certain objects, in order to move on to the next stage. The freedom of being able to complete those actions or get those objects in any order you like makes the game easier to play (because you aren't entirely constrained by the designer's thinking) and more enjoyable to play.
This is important because it gives you the reassurance that, should you get stuck, you can start to try really outrageous wacky ideas, safe in the knowledge that if it wasn't what you needed to do to move on, the game either won't let you do it or it won't harm your progress if you do it.[/list]Talking The Talk
Once you've completed the initial puzzles, you will find yourself in the town centre, talking to the princess. It is here that you are given your objectives for the next act of the game, namely to solve the task she gives you in order to avoid the execution of your grandfather. Dialogue between Gilbert and a character is either established by using the mushroom to "talk" to that character or it can be the result of the game having started a conversation as is the case here between the princess and Gilbert.
Figure 9: Gilbert's first dialogue choices.
When it is Gilbert's turn to speak, you will be given some phrases to pick from. Remember rule #2 above – the game won't let you do anything that will prevent you from being able to complete the game later on, so you can really enjoy yourself and pick whichever phrase you think might elicit (a) the right answer; (b) some valuable information or; (c) a good laugh.
It should be noted, though, that sometimes Gilbert won't actually say what you ask him to, as you can see in Figure 10 and Figure 11. :oops:
Figure 10: Asking Gilbert to say "I think you're cute".
Figure 11: Not quite what he was asked to say.
If you've got the storage space to spare, I would strongly advise installing the additional speech files. It adds an extra depth to the game that is missing if you have to read the words for yourself. Hearing the characters speak helps to bring them to life. It does slow the pace down slightly if you can read faster than they talk so, if you want to move the pace on, tapping on the screen ends the current sentence being spoken.
Once you've got to this stage in the game, you can break loose of the village and finally get an idea of the scope and size of the game by interacting with the map, as shown in Figure 12. You can't tell from this static screenshot but there are some lovely detail touches such as the waves in the water – a quality touch.
Figure 12: The map of the game.
There are roughly eight places that you can visit throughout the game but the map won't let you visit some until you've achieved the required milestones.
