Game details

Name	Dreamweb
Published Year	1994
Companies	Creative Reality
Genre	Adventure
Type	Top-Down Adventure

Game Review

'Unseen... A dwelling of pure thoughts shaping our futures. The Dreamweb. Watched over by servants... Billions of years old... For centuries the Dreamweb has been stable. But now evil is about to take control...'

Sounds dramatic? Sure does! Sounds creepy? Sure does! Sounds strangely hard to understand? SURE DOES! But we'll get to the 'hard to grasp' factor later on in this review. Let's start with the start.

Dreamweb is a cyberpunk top-view adventure game. The Dreamweb is an ancient system which creates dreams and hopes in humans, making sure humanity goes forth and creates instead of just destroying. The Dreamweb manages reincarnations and the energy of every single human is managed through the Dreamweb. But there is evil afoot! 7 of the stronger forces on earth have combined their strengths and wish to escape the system alltogether. The keepers of the Dreamweb have planted a 'seed', which means basically that they've been manipulating someone to be their executioner. That someone is Ryan. He's been having terrible nightmares for weeks on end, and at one point the main Keeper summons Ryan forth and explains to him what he must do - he must kill David Crane, the weakest of the 7 forces. Ryan accepts and wakes up in his bed again. Which is where the game starts off.

The game is a top-view game, meaning that the perspective is an oversight from the top. It's an awkward view, but I got used to it very swiftly. The interface, however, is harder to get used to. There's the main problem; being that you have a limited inventory (always annoying in adventure games), but even more annoying is the fact that you can pick up almost 70% of the things you come across, which is a lot. The fact that you need about 5% of these items is all the more confusing. I carried a lighter along with me until the end of the game because I thought it might come in handy. But it didn't - so leave it lying there. What's also annoying is that the graphics, to be honest, aren't all that good. Sure, it was all made by one guy - and it's far from ugly, but in '94 they should've done a lot better than this. The proportions of some of the scenes are simply awkward, as are some items and people.

Concerning the story, there are some issues I'd like to raise. First off, it's a lot of information you have to process right at the start, and if you don't understand a small piece of it, it's all going to feel weird until you've finished the game. The summary I gave you should give you enough of an understanding to be able to play without going 'uh.. huh?' all the time (just sporadically). What this Dreamweb really is, is also never explained. What I understood of it is in my summary above, and even though it might not be completely correct, it does explain some of the more.. Intricate ways the system might work. Actually, I'm going to see if I can use something like the Dreamweb in stories like mine. That's only because it's so open to interpretation, but still. Just go by my summary and then let the game roll onto you while thinking '... okay' and you'll be fine once you reach half of it, and you'll be perfectly fine once you've finished it.

I couldn't get the sound working on my XP system, so I can't comment on the voice-overs, but I remember them to be good enough to not annoy. That's basically all.. There's a music track on the CD which is supposed to be out of the game - but as the music also didn't work, I can't be sure of it. However, I can assure you that the track on the CD is utterly boring and unimpressive, so you're not missing all that much.

This game has a certain.. Underground feel to it. It certainly doesn't feel or look professional. However, does that mean it's a bad game? HELL NO! The game has an awesome atmosphere, which I really can't put into words. I've tried, but I just wrote 500 words basically saying 'I can't put it into words'. So I won't. I'll tell you to download the game and play it. Don't quit after your first defeat. If need be - use the UHS system (walkthrough system which gives you hints one-by-one, so you don't spoil the rest if you just need to know one little thing) so you can go on playing, since the story IS worth the gametime, as well as the fucked up ending.

Graphics are okay, sound was absent, some writing is really, really good and some writing isn't really good. Puzzles aren't all hard, but some are simply solved by shooting your gun. There is some mild pixel-perfect nudity, and lots, and lots, and lots of blood. Go play. You won't regret it if you enjoy dark, gritty cyberpunk with a bleak outlook on life and its merits.

Screenshots & Backroom

No screenshots available.

Windows XP compatibility

Information not available.

External reviews

There are currently no external reviews for this game.

Availability

Download not available.