The Final Word game review

Fahrenheit -- Sega

R.I.P.
Yow! For as interesting as this game might appear, and for as good as the graphics are when compared to the others in it's class, when it comes to actually controlling the game... well it's a bust. The biggest problem I had with this game was figuring out which direction to pick when moving through a building. Directions at times seemed almost arbitrary and much of the game boiled down to mindless guess and check on what to select. Especially during critical hazard interactions. For instance, in the first level, the is a stove burning, and you are supposed to find the master gas line and turn it off. After figuring out it is in the closet, you are confronted with three knobs to turn to turn off the gas. If you pick the wrong knob, BOOM! You're dead. Start over.

So, you have to guess and repeat the level until you get it right. This may be fine on level one where the level is overall pretty short, but in later levels which quickly become pretty large, having to restart because of a stupid guess and check failure is a real piss off. Period.

As far as the rest of the game goes, the FMV acting was decent. Sound and graphics were some of the best I've ever seen on the SegaCD and almost comparable to similar games on the 3DO, although I'm sure that the 32X requirement helped. The story wasn't all that bad either and I would have tried to solve the game if it hadn't been for the terrible play control.

All in all, if you can find this game cheap (like a couple of bucks), and you can dig up a walk-through, then this game might not be to bad to play through to see the whole thing. But, if you don't have a couple of hours to throw away on something like this, then I would say pass it up.

...oh yeah, and what's up with the separate boot CD to play the game?!?!

>>>>> 15.0/25 <<<<<		R.I.P.
Graphics		5.0
Sound		4.0
Gameplay/Control		1.0
Longevity/Playability		2.0
Overall		3.0
Total		15.0

(09/2000)