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The Neverhood Developer: The Neverhood Based on: Wallace and Gromit have an orgy with Myst, SCUMM and The Bible. Sexy. |
Games | PC Gaming | The Neverhood
Article by Stephen | September Something
The Neverhood rests in the pantheon of games that were almost great. Like many of the best point'n'click adventure games it takes place in an interesting world with a rich history. Toss in a unique graphical style and an unforgettably bizzare soundtrack, and The Neverhood seemed destined for greatness. Unfortunately, a clunky interface and some nonsensical puzzles hamstring what could have been a transcendent adventure experience.
Could you not stare at me like that?
All of the characters and environments in The Neverhood were crafted lovingly out of clay and brought to life with stop motion animation. Claymation had been tried in earlier video games, such as Interplay's 16-bit game ClayFighter?, but the limited memory of the SNES made for digitized lines and choppy animation. The Neverhood was the first game to do claymation well, using the extra power of the PC to keep lines crisp and animation smooth. Cut scenes are compressed to the point of graininess, but they retain the personality of classic claymation series such as Wallace and Gromit?, so it's all good.
As the brainchild of Earthworm Jim? creator Douglas TenNaple?, The Neverhood is weird place. Claymation and slap-stick go hand-in-hand and humor thrives here. Klaymen, the elegantly designed protagonist, always uses gravity to his advantage when descending stairs... by falling uncontrollably down them. He also unleashes the longest belch in video game history, something I'm sure TenNaple includes on his resume.
Willy Trombone shows his love for Klaymen by dropping a flower pot on him. Thanks Willy.
The entire cast is memorable. Willy Trombone's air-headed nature is represented by a hole in his yellow noggin and Klog, Klaymen's vile foil, is appropriately spiny and distorted. Oh, and just for the record, if you see an sign in The Neverhood that reads, "Danger! Don't go down the drain! You will die!" you had best pay heed.
Charming as the game's appearance is, the soundtrack trumps it. Terry Scott Taylor wrote and performed all the songs, and they are as wonderfully warped as the world they inhabit. Scott blends folk, pop and plain old weirdness to create music that merges perfectly with the game's visual style. The bouncy percussion, playful sax and jangly acoustic guitars get lodged squarely inside the brain of anyone fortunate enough to hear them. Taylor also uses scat and onomatopoeia in place of true lyrics, giving the songs life without making them human. All of the music from The Neverhood and it's sequel Skullmonkeys is compiled on a 2 disc set called Imaginarium: Songs from the Neverhood?.
The article is half over--why not take a break with Klaymen?.
The story told in The Neverhood does the carefully crafted world justice. There is no plot exposition to begin the game. A sleeping Klaymen is woken with a mouse-click and the adventure begins after a good stretch. The player can only discover Klaymen's goal through exploration. Tiny video discs litter the landscape and contained on each is small snippet of video narrated by a strange being named Willy Trombone. Willy knows what's going on and as more discs are found, the truth slowly unravels. The game climaxes when Klaymen finds the final disc and discovers the reason for his creation. It's an ingeniously subtle way to tell a story and far more interesting than being beaten about the face and neck with 10 minute cut-scenes.
Klaymen is undaunted, even when confronted with the infinite knowledge of the Chronicles.
One of the game's most impressive narrative features exists outside of Klaymen's main journey. Near the beginning of the game players come across a building called the Hall of Records. The Hall contains The Chronicles of the Neverhood?, a room that is 38 screens long and has the entire history of the universe scrawled on its wall. This detailed, 25,000 word text was written by Doug TenNaple and Mark Lorenzen. Some of it is nonsensical Bible-style genealogies (though it nice to know that Bertbert begat Bredbad). The rest is a series of myths that explain how the Neverhood came into existence and why the world works the way it does. Reading the Chronicles in-game is excruciating, but it has been transcribed by a kind web dweller for easy perusal.
The greatest venting of gas in game history and some scenery that was obviously inspired by a bag of Cheeto's.
Unfortunately, The Neverhood is a game of style over substance. The inside areas are traditional 2D point and click adventure fare, and they look swell. When Klaymen heads outside though, the camera shifts to a first person perspective and things are decidedly less pretty. All of these segments are frustrating to navigate and ass-ugly due to crappy video compression. Hitting the space bar skips through the walking animation, but it doesn't help with navigation. Klaymen's indoor walking pace is leisurely at best, which makes back tracking a nightmare. And you will have to back track, because the puzzles in The Neverhood make no damn sense. For example, in one puzzle Klaymen is shrunk and you have to make a potion that will return him to his normal size. The correct formula appears in an area far off the beaten path and even if it is stumbled upon, there's no indication that what you're looking at is important.
Don't worry, Klaymen always uses science correctly.
Ultimately, The Neverhood's world is compelling enough to overcome all the game's flaws. Such an abundant feast for the eyes is not to be taken lightly, especially when in the company of sheer orgasmic ear candy. The story and its telling are also more than worth a little frustration.
The Neverhood spawned a platformer sequel for the Playstation called Skullmonkeys?, as well as a Japan only mini-game collection titled Klaymen Gun-Hockey?. One final note, Douglas TenNaple is apparently working on a deal to produce a movie based on the Neverhood. That would be great since watching the Neverhood is way more fun than playing it.