Retro Review: AMBER, Journeys Beyond
By: Kirk Hiner

At the risk of sounding arrogant, I want you all to know that I don't scare easily. Looking back on my childhood, I can only recall being significantly frightened by one movie...Jaws. After that, I wasn't again startled by media entertainment until Exorcist III, and even then it was only one scene, so that doesn't really count. You see, I've always found that my imagination is scarier than anything I could see on a screen or read in a book. So when I first played AMBER: Journeys Beyond three years ago, I wasn't expecting to be frightened. I was right; I wasn't.

But my heavens is this game creepy.

At the beginning of AMBER, your character receives an e-mail requesting that you drive up to assist Roxy. She's the thinking man's Ghostbuster, as the house she's studying is believed to contain paranormal activity. When you approach the house, a pinkish light-form appears before you, causing you to swerve your car into a pond. To make matters worse, you then find Roxy unconscious in the barn, apparently trapped within the paranormal world. It's up to you to free her.

From this point on, the game sort of plays out like Myst. Your first duty is to put together and figure out how to run the BAR (bulbic activity reader). This device filters out ambient wavelengths from the surrounding area so that you can hone in on psychic activity alone. Once it's running, you're able to properly use PeeK. This souped-up-Newton-type-thing allows you to hear the "residue" of ghosts left behind on doorknobs and such, and--through a network of cameras set up around the house--view any paranormal activity.

And believe me, there be plenty o' paranormal activity.

The PeeK actually provides most of the scares in this game. When paranormal activity is detected, whether it be sounds from haunted pasts or videos of ghostly occurrences happening right now in the house, PeeK flashes an alert at the bottom of the screen. After going through this routine a few times--hearing screams outside a door or watching furniture rearrange itself and blood (or was it tar?) flow from the ceiling--I became a little apprehensive about checking to see what PeeK was about to show me.

Once you've got everything working properly, you can then use AMBER. This device fits over and around your head, and allows you to see other times. There are three worlds (although I don't like using the word worlds; you're in same house, just at a different time) which you must visit, all of which have a puzzle surrounding the death of someone living in the house. There aren't many frights in these stages, but the stories are compelling. One involves a woman awaiting the return of her husband from World War II, another reveals the tragedy of a young child who drowned in the pond (not to worry, that's not giving anything away), and the final tells of a gardener who had a crush on a girl living in the house.

What makes these stories so effective isn't really the characterization (as the box would have you believe), but the detail of the environment. In the World War II scenario, most of your clues are given to you via radio broadcasts. But rather than just hand out the clues, the designers chose to incorporate full songs, and even commercials from the era into these broadcasts. I found it incredibly easy to get lost in that world...I was just waiting for the air raid sirens to go off outside my apartment (and being the responsible citizen I am, I already had my lights out, too!).

Another example: in the room where the gardener hid to spy on the girl, a box of tissues was placed near the peephole. Perverse? Yes, but it's details like this that make a story believable.

Between your visits to these times, you're able to discover more clues about the history of the house, as well as gather information about how to save Roxy. She was kind enough to leave a few video journals for you to peruse, as well as notes documenting everything she'd discovered up to the point of her "accident." Other than that, though, you're on your own.

The graphics in this game were gorgeous when it was originally released, and hold up well by today's standards. The house and it's surrounding landscape are beautifully rendered, and the video clips ran smoothly (even when I originally played the game on a 601/120). The ambient sounds are also done very well--especially the wind in the frozen pond scenario. The music, if not memorable, is at least unobtrusive.

Despite all of this, AMBER is not without it's faults. My first and largest problem is that it's just too short. With only three scenarios to solve and fairly simple puzzles within those scenarios, the game is easily finished within a few days...unless your computer hangs, which leads me to problem two.

When I first made it to the frozen pond scenario, my computer would freeze (hmmm, I see a connection here). A few minutes later it would start up again, and then stop once more. After discussing the problem with a representative at Changeling, I was sent a new disc and the problem went away. My friend Bill had the same problem on his Performa, but found that it only happened when he was running Quicktime 2.5. He had no problem with Quicktime 2.1. I haven't tested it on any later versions of Quicktime.

That aside, AMBER, Journeys Beyond is well worth the money and time spent to find a copy. It's eerie and involving, and the one-liner at the end is almost worth the price by itself. Unfortunately, it may be difficult to obtain. Although Changeling's website is still up (www.changeling.com), it hasn't been updated since December, and there is no longer any mention of AMBER at the site. The Hue Forest Entertainment website (www.hueforest.com) offers a lot of information on the game, but no hints on where to find it. This is too bad. As adventure/horror games go, AMBER is still my favorite.

Anyway, back to Jaws. When that head popped out from under the boat...unh! Now I'll have to sleep with the light on.

 

Genre: Adventure/Horror

Platform: MacOS

Format: CD ROM (seven)

Developer: Hue Forest Entertainment

Publisher: Changeling

Requirements: 68040 processor, System 7.0, 5 MB RAM, CD-ROM, 16 bit color display, 13" montior, 25 MB free hard disk space

Network feature: No

3Dfx Acceleration: No

Year Released: 1996

 

Raised on Intellivision and "Tron," Kirk Hiner has been an avid gamer ever since he was tall enough to look through the viewfinder on the Battlezone upright. Although he makes a living using a PC (not by choice) to design websites for Dynamics Online, Inc., Kirk never strays from his 9600/200 or 3400c for computer gaming. When he's not playing the latest Logicware release, he can either be found working on his next "never to be published" novel, rereading anything by Kurt Vonnegut or watching RAW is WAR.

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October 17, 2013