Blade Runner is Westwood Studios' attempt to recreate the science fiction film noir classic on the small screen.The story isn't that of the film's, but a 'concurrent' tale concerning a different Runner; McCoy, and his hunt for a gang of killer replicants. The twist here being that there isn't one set solution to the game. Each time you start playing, the computer randomly picks which of the characters are going to be 'skin jobs' and which are just honest-joe, plain vanilla human beings. In total there are thirteen different endings to the game. Which I think is some kind of record. Quick, call Norris McWhirter.

Wake up, time to review

Blade Runner is Westwood Studios' attempt to recreate the science fiction film noir classic on the small screen. The story isn't that of the film's, but a 'concurrent' tale concerning a different Runner; McCoy, and his hunt for a gang of killer replicants. The twist here being that there isn't one set solution to the game. Begin a heroic journey to confront dark forces and seek vengeance as a master of the martial arts in Blade & Soul, the free-to-play MMORPG. In 1997 Westwood Studios released a title that won universal praise from gamers and critics all around the world, along with accolades like AIAS’s Adventure Game of the Year award. Set in the same time and universe as the 1982 classic science fiction film by Ridley Scott, Blade Runner video game is now making a big comeback on modern computers.

Before we go anywhere, let me acknowledge one particular fact straight away. Yes, the lighting is excellent. Absolutely excellent. No finer lighting have I ever seen in an adventure game. If there were such a thing as an awards ceremony for Best Lighting In A Computer Game Adaptation, Blade Runner would certainly be the front-runner in a very small list of nominees (I won't say it would win because these things are always so political that you just can't tell).

With that out of the way I should also say that the graphics on the whole are also first-rate. I say on the whole, because despite the scenery and FMV being beyond reproach (as a matter of fact, the FMV is some of the finest I've ever seen in an adventure), the actual game characters are somewhat less than pleasing. Very blocky, especially close-up. The reason given for this is that the sprites need to be scalable as they walk around the locations. They need to be able to get larger as they come fore and smaller as they go aft. All well and good and a very noble thought, trouble is, it doesn't make them look all that good. Technological advancement is a wondrous thing for sure, but that doesn't mean it always works. The Sinclair C5 anyone?

Apart from this one area, Blade Runner is quite an atmospheric marvel. All of the film's essential ingredients are there - the flying cars, the oppressive rain, the neon-drenched locales, etc. However, despite this, I would draw attention to the music. I'm not convinced it's been used as well as it could. Certainly there are a lot of the familiar Vangelis tracks in there, but they don't occur with enough frequency or in the right places to really help induce that classic Blade Bunner feel. Consequently the atmosphereloses some of the dramatic punch it needs to keep you hooked. In reality this means the difference between enjoying the almost poetic mood of the film and the sanitised feel of a Blade Runner TV series. The elements are there but the 'magic' is missing.

'If I want atmosphere, I'll rent the movie...'

But the game. What's that like? Well once again the player is annoyingly limited to just the one form of input. Ever since someone in the Office Of Fair Adventuring Design issued the decree that player interfaces should be as simplistic as possible, adventure games have never recovered. Part of the sheer enjoyment of the old LucasArts and textinput games was that the player could try all sorts of different actions to get a result. He really felt as though he was working things out for himself. These days all you can do is click on something and the game works it all out for you. The only challenge comes in being patient enough to click on all the hotspots available. There isn't even a look/Examine option - a staple ingredient for all adventure games since the beginning of time.

In its defence, Blade Runner does provide some challenge in the area of working out what's going on in the story. The ESPER photo-enhancement machine is a nice touch and is a good way of hiding clues for the player to discover (and I'm not going to criticise it for being unrealistic. The film was too, so Westwood are just being faithful). The clue database is also a helpful feature and let's the designers hide clues in plain sight, as it were.

The reviewer's cut

So do I like it or not? Yes, I'd say that on the whole, I do. The story is strong and intelligent enough to compensate for the problems I have with the technical side of the game and while I'd argue that the challenge could have been a lot higher, it's by no means an easy game and the urge to keep playing is there. The multiple ending factor also helps.

The Blade Runner licence certainly has the potential to be something very special indeed and there are times during the game when you feel that Westwood are getting close. But at times they seem to fall back into the traditional limitations of modern adventure games rather than trying to break new barriers. Having said that, I still like the game enough to want to play it to completion, which is why I'm highly recommending it. The option to work on several cases at a time is a nice touch and makes Blade Runnerless linear than other games of this type and the scenery graphics are stunning in places.

If you're looking for an interactive Blade Runner story, here it is. It's not quite a classic but there's enough here to keep even hardened adventurers happy for a couple of weeks.

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Blade Runner is a 1997 point-and-click adventure game developed by Westwood Studios and published by Virgin Interactive for Microsoft Windows. The game is not a direct adaptation of the 1982 Ridley Scott film Blade Runner, but is instead a 'sidequel', telling an original story, which runs parallel to the film's plot, occasionally intersecting with it.

Set in 2019 Los Angeles, the game tells the story of Ray McCoy, an elite detective charged with hunting down a group of dangerous replicants (bioengineered androids designed to look and act like humans). Although several of the film's characters appear in the game, with the original actors returning to voice them, the film's protagonist, Rick Deckard, does not appear in a speaking role. Instead, he is referred to on multiple occasions, is seen several times, and his activities as depicted in the film are mentioned. Other parallels with the film include the reproduction of several prominent locations, as well as scenes and dialogue closely modelled on the original. The game also features extracts from the film's soundtrack.

Blade Runner was advertised as a 'real-time 3D adventure game,' since it was one of the first adventure games to use both 3D character rendering and a game world which progressed in real-time (as opposed to waiting for the player's actions). Unlike many games of its time, which used polygon-based renderers exploiting 3D accelerators, Westwood opted for their own software-based renderer using voxel technology.

The game received generally positive reviews, and was a commercial success, selling over one million units worldwide. It went on to win the Interactive Achievement Award for 'Computer Adventure Game of the Year,' and was nominated for 'Best Adventure Game' by PC Gamer. Virgin Interactive wanted Westwood to make a sequel, but it was thought the cost of production would make the game commercially unviable, and the idea was scrapped.

Gameplay

Video Review and Screenshots

• Operating System: Microsoft WindowsXP
• Processor: Pentium 90 MHz
• RAM: 16 MB
• Video Card: 16 bit SVGA
• Hard disk space: 175 MB

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