Game Review

Anchorhead

Anchorhead revolves around an ancient cult that worships a nameless god. Somehow, you and your husband (yes, this is one of the few games where the player is female) wind up in the center of it. You must learn more about this cult and discover their evil plan before they destroy. You must be careful with every move you make. The game is not forgiving if you make a mistake, adding to the realism and difficulty of the game.

Anchorhead is based on the works of H.P. Lovecraft, whose writings have been the basis for some other classic games as the "Alone in the Dark" series. His works have an unusual flavor of terror that is reflected in this game. In case you've never read any of Lovecraft's works, every act contains a quote from Lovecraft.

Even if you have played the game through and beaten it before, you still haven't experienced everything you can. Michael Gentry, the author of the game, has updated Release 5 to include new puzzles and a better storyline than previous releases as well as bug fixes. The amount of programming as well as story telling that went into this game is uncanny.

The only bad thing about the game is that the numerous dead ends you can get yourself into make it difficult to beat the game on your first try. Anchorhead is probably one of the most difficult games to play and definitely should not be used as a training game. Of course, this should not take away from the artistic value of the game, which will forever be an IF classic.

Highs: Great story, characters, puzzles, and scenery.
Lows: Difficult to solve.
Overall: Absolutely the best game to come along in years.

-- Joe Merical

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