DAY 14 / GAME 14 Bladerunner

DAY 14 / GAME 14

Bladerunner


             I guess with Broken Age so close to release, I've had adventure games on the brain.  Now usually, when it comes to adventure games I almost always go straight to LucasArts.  But in 1998, timed perfectly after I had just really gotten into Bladerunner, Westwood Studios released a point and click adventure by the same title.  

            Bladerunner could not have been released at a better time.  Any later and it may not have been released at all; what with Adventure Games dropping off the map about a year or so later.  Any earlier, and it just wouldn't have been the same game.  The pre-rendered environments really did the world justice, a lot of it spot on with the movie's sets.  They even got a number of the same actors from before for voice and model reference.  They just really nailed the atmosphere of the movie.  There were a number of areas where I would just leave the game open and enjoy the sounds of the rain and the traffic going by.  It was perfect.

No Harrison Ford.  But you could eat where he ate!

           Instead of just translating the existing story, or making a whole new one.  They kinda played off the existing movie.  Although it felt a bit contrived at times, it still sat well with me.  You play another Bladerunner, and the story takes place alongside the events of the movie.  The best part of this game though, was just how open-ended it really was.  There was a ton of different endings determined by in-game choices.  I never saw them all and even when talking to friends who have played it, we all recounted different experiences.

          All in all this game really hit it on the head for me at a time when the movie was fresh in my mind.  It was the perfect addition for me to experience more of the world and Westwood did it right.  They got the mood and atmosphere and pacing right where it had to be.  I'm a little surprised they did it so well almost 20 years after the movie's release, but if anything maybe it gives a bit of hope to the idea of another game down the road.

         Which I'd buy on the spot.

         Because, Bladerunner.