11 Somerset

Not So Enigmatic

Reviewed by Maus

It seems all spooky with its talk of the 'Society of Enigmas', what could be more fun? After playing an episode, I was curious as to what the game was really all about. Based on a short lived Canadian television program aimed at teens to teach science and biology, it becomes a lot less interesting. Broken into 13 'episodes', the game can be broken up into several sittings with ease.

Each episode opens with a message, telling you where to go first. The layout is pretty basic and easy to navigate. Use the mouse to hover over items and watch for the visual indicator that you are hovering over a clue, which is actually really easy to see. At first the cursor just turns orange; later in the episode, you're given a camera that is used almost always in the rest of the game. Collect clues to open different areas with even more clues. Each clue is worth a set amount of points. When you have enough points, you unlock the answer choice menu. Choose an answer and the three clues which best support your theory. Repeat 13 times.

The graphics are pretty WOW, I give them that. As you move the cursor around an area, the 'camera' follows. The environments have been rendered on two layers, foreground and background usually, and animated according to the camera movement. It's pretty impressive at first but after a time, you don't notice it. The last few episodes had much better artwork than the previous ones, but I noticed that the cursor moved entirely too quickly around the rooms to be able to hover over much of anything with any control.

The sound is very professionally done. Much of it was taken from the television show, I imagine. My only sound complaint would be that the noise the camera makes when you hover over a clue gets a bit tiresome. There is one episode where instead of the camera, you're given a microphone to find clues with. It's a nice change of pace, but the camera is welcomed back after the clues are found.

The storylines are pretty disappointing if you're looking for a truly spooky or scary game. It's more like a quickie science lesson than anything. The presentation is fantastic and really makes you want to see what this is all about, however the ingame play becomes repetitive if more than one or two episodes are played at one time. Unfortunately, 11 Somerset is one of those games that is made very well and is also very boring.

Click here to play 11 Somerset






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