Uninvited Review by: endings - 4.9/10
Just check the box that says "I will not be attending"I've been reviewing some spooky games for October - and this is another one, or would be. I tend to write long-winded reivews, but this will be short, as honestly there is not much nice things to say about Uninvited - a sort-of puzzle game about a creepy house you go into to find your missing sister.
This is a point and click game where you use a cursor to interact with things. The NES had a few of these, Shadowgate works with its fantasy setting. The Uninvited however, its set in a modern time, and its a horror game to boot. This actually works against the game both ways. In a fantasy setting, things are more mysterious, the technology so old and outdated we might need to click things to get more knowledge, enjoying flavorful text. Thats what these games are all about. But a present setting like Uninvited, well, we already know what a greenhouse is, how to open a car door, and when we run into scary things, clicking on them to investigate often just kills you.
To reiterate, this is a point and click game that wants you to have as little to do with clicking as possible.
Graphics: 4
By the time this game game out, the graphics had gotten far better than when Shadowgate (another game in this genre) was released. This was released in 1991, but the game was made for pc in 1986. This is a weak port with the same boxy graphics. There are a few monsters that look fairly menacing, but on the whole, no, they can't look realistic enough to even give you a shiver. As there is hardly any animation, the stiff frames convey no urgency or fear. What animation there is is short and choppy.
Sound: 2
Whew. Talk about a major misfire. While there are a few tunes, most are grossly out of theme for this game. The title music is horrible, very upbeat for a game about to take you to a haunted house! Much of the music is unfitting for this type of game. Are you scared by the largely unoccupied, boring house? Then just go upstairs, the jaunty tune makes it sound like a party! Only the death music (Defeated) and the danger music (called Danger, of course) have any kind of ambiance for a sinister house.
Addictiveness: 3
This game just isn't that fun. The monsters look bad, and the slow, crawling pace does not build the tension a horro game requires. Unlike other games in this field, there is no timer (although you can get one depending on what you pick up), so you never feel any urgency. Hey I'm going to play checkers with the little dancing monster for awhile. It's probably more fun than this game.
Story: 4
These old school games were very heavy on good narrative and intriguing puzzles. And this game has neither. Yuck. You start off alright, you have awoken in your car, you were driving with your sister when you crashed, and now shes gone. You see an old house and decide to investigate there to see if they have seen her. This is where the game loses focus, as all the action is in the house, and other horror games use to build fear. Silent Hill has its creepy fog and shadowy, otherworlds. Resident Evil has all its jump scares and quiet, eerie rooms. This game is mostly well lit rooms, and the monsters come but don't stay very long. There is never a sense of foreboding in this house. Why don't you just leave as no one seems to live here? Just bust a window out, player dude!
One major issue I have is the lack of a real villain. The house is supposed to be your worst nightmare. But come on, it has a monster that eats cookies and dances in it. This is just silly. There is nothing to this place, other than whoops you got trapped inside. The route to rescue your sister is not done in any satisfying way or conclusion. There is no taunting, master evil at work here you see. And when you do find her.. your sister in ... honestly, here? Seriously? How anti-climatic.
Depth: 7
There are a large host of items, both useful and not, to confuse you and keep you guessing. So the game succeeds in giving you lots of things to try and do. I won't say all things are done logically, as you might expect in a puzzle game, but some elements of the occult and fantasy do appear to give you a reason why these work.
Difficulty: 7
Not a lot is clear about the game. You just have to find your sister, but the game doesn't dole out clues like you might expect, a game of cat n mouse with whoever took her. No, its just you, fumbling around, solving odd puzzles (some good, some bad) and wondering where to go next. You might meet a ghost butler, you might meet a ghost Scarlet O'Hara. Nothing too much in this game really. The bad part is there is an item that is a ticking time bomb in arcane form. If you pick it up, you have to put it down soon or else it will drive you insane and you lose. The game doesn't tell you what the item is, but if you read the many notes and scrawled diary entries, I think you'll get an idea. Starts with an R, there, I'll help you.
Any old-school game with a 3D maze earns my hate. I hated them in all NES games, and honestly I just hate them in general. Uninited has one, and one would expect it to be filled with horrible monsters, but nah, theres not much in it really. So its just boring, you get lost, and to stay awake you look up a walkthrough.
Final Score: 4.9
This game is just not a lot of fun to play at all. Its old-fashioned gameplay, and outdated before it even game to the NES just don't do anything interesting here. The horror theme wasn't really well worked, as the art is just not up to scaring you, nor is the languid pace compelling enough to want to see the end. The lack of a real driving nemesis is just icing on the bad cake. I would not play this.
Graphics
4 Sound
2 Addictive
3 Depth
7 Story
4 Difficulty
7
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