Disco Driscoll

Point and click, retro, music, meh...

Monday 3 September 2007

Perils of Poom

Perils of Poom is a decent AGS game wherein our intrepid hero finds himself out of work and out of options. Until that is he comes across a shady character operating out of a shady office in a shady part of town, who wants him to run a simple errand. But unlike other simple errands, this one has great financial rewards… but it’s not at all dangerous… well, not unless you count stealing a space craft, tricking an intergalactic bank and attempting to harvest an illegal drug (the titular Poom) dangerous…

The game is a nice length, and should keep you diverted for several hours. There are 4 main locations: the home planet that we start off on, followed by 2 planets which we must visit to collect the items necessary for the harvesting, and then the final planet where the Poom can be found.

The story is a little weak in parts, but overall it’s coherent enough, and the dialogue is quite funny in places. Graphics are basic, to say the least but this doesn’t get in the way of the action. The puzzles are not too taxing, but satisfying enough and there is some nice variation and added touches throughout the game, such as the puzzle where we have to avoid the dreaded sandworm, and the bonus section that can be unlocked at the end of the game if you complete 3 additional tasks, which I can’t go into here for fear of giving them away.

As usual in sci-fi games, there is the odd Star Wars reference, and a couple of AGS in-jokes, but these are bearable. The locations are varied and well thought out, from the squalid grey city streets to the obligatory desert moon (man, could we ever have a sci-fi AGS game without one of those!?).

Overall, for a beginner to the joys of AGS and point and clickery, this is a good way to get acquainted with the kinds of puzzles that crop up routinely. The more advanced AGS’ers amongst us may find the game a little too straight-forward and linear, but the story is long enough to be able to immerse yourself in, and in spite of a slightly soft ending it can still be recommended.

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