By: Sierra
Copyright (c) 1994 Lee Perkins
True vengeance ignores the restraints of time or distance. From the aftermath of a bloody witch hunt at Charleston, South Carolina in 1693 to a demi-monde of Voodoo ritual in present-day New Orleans, supernatural forces are being summoned from three centuries of resentful slumber. An unwitting pawn, writer Gabriel Knight works on his next project: A factual book on Voodoo activities around New Orleans. During his research, Gabriel stumbles upon far more than staged gris-gris and headless chicken acts played out for the tourists. Voodoo is very much alive and deadly in New Orleans. A number of grisly murders have been committed in the city, and Gabriel develops a keen interest in the case. As the last in a dynasty of Shattenjagers (Shadow hunters), he will come to realize that his fascination with supernatural events is not coincidence, but destiny.
Hmmm... This is an interesting one. As one might gather, Gabriel Knight is not intended for the small and impressionable. In the style of the Police Quest series and indeed many other Sierra games, GK:SOTF requires the player to snoop around for clues while interacting with various non-player characters. This should be approached with care, as the wrong questions will have more serious repercussions than a mere fist swung at Gabe's hooter. As for the what the wrong question might be, try asking Dr. John about the topic "Cabrit sans cor'"... But don't forget to save first!
Of the two versions available, I would have to recommend the CD-ROM. The hard disk version worked fine after I had made a boot disk; the game gobbles 4 Megs of RAM and around 25 Megs on the HD without a twinge of remorse. If you want extra hiccups, run it under Windows by all means. The worst tragedy of the hard disk game is its lack of speech. GK:SOTF has a stellar cast of voice artists: Tim Curry (Gabriel), Michael Dorn (Dr. John), Mark Hamill (Det. Mosely), Efrem Zimbalist Jr. (Wolfgang). A real pity, especially when one has a working CD-ROM player. I have no real complaints, since the game has good visuals and audio, an intuitive player interface, topped off with a well-plotted storyline.
Verdict: A sure-nuff gumbo of Mambo mumbo-jumbo!
Reviewed on: PC 386 SX-33, Sound Blaster Pro audio
Recommended retail price: $99.95 Suggested audience rating: M (Mature: 15 and over) Challenge: 75% Entertainment: 80% Sound: 90% Graphics: 85%Software supplied by: Sega-Ozisoft Pty. Ltd.