Actual Game

The Games

Shivers 1
Shivers was Sierra On-Line's second attempt to develop an adventure game in the horror genre, the first being Phantasmagoria. Inspired by a personal interest in archaeology, game designer Marcia Bales also elicited the help of Roberta Williams (who was the writer of Phantasmagoria) as a consultant to the script writing. To enhance the replay value of Shivers, a new game concept based on "random play" is introduced. This nonlinear design has raised much mixed praise and criticism. Its eventual cult status made Shivers one of the sleeper hits in 1995.

Your teenage friends have dared you to spend the night behind the locked gate of the now deserted Museum of the Strange and Unusual where two teenagers have mysteriously disappeared fifteen years ago. The museum is originally owned by an enigmatic archeologist named Professor Windlenot. Rumors have circulated that the professor has gone insane and never since opened the museum to the public. As you search around the museum, you discover that this place is haunted by many evil entities known as Ixupi. To capture the Ixupi, you must match the correct pots with the correct talisman whose symbols match the element that the Ixupi has taken over. To your dismay, puzzles are laid everywhere by the professor to obstruct your course. Flashbacks and items left behind by the deceased eventually give way to the truths behind the tragic deaths of the professors and the teenagers. Only with wit and courage will you survive the night to see the light of day.

All the artworks in Shivers are original paintings except for a few wire frame models. Most are painted traditionally with watercolors or gouache. Over 2,500 background shots were created and scanned. The rooms were built in 3D Studio, allowing for the use of dynamic lighting effects and camera angles. Animation is frame based and is done in a first person perspective. Full Motion Videos were used sparsely as flashbacks to convey the story. Blue screen film sequences are shot with Ultimatte. Ultimatte allows the marriage of the background plate to the live action sequence in real time.

The design of Shivers is unique and different from other traditional adventure titles. The largest depart is the use of "random play" in the game. Usually, a game is linear in that the player must solve one puzzle before going on to another. Although there is some linearity in the design of puzzles that lie outside the museum in Shivers, once inside, all the puzzles are open and can be solved in any order. The game offers two levels of play. The first involves a treasure hunt matching the correct pots with the talisman and trapping the Ixupi. The second involves solving various logic puzzles scattered throughout and around the museum to gain entrance to other areas of the museum. All the puzzles have clues dispersed around the site. Adding to the complexity of this game is that all the pots and talisman are randomly redistributed if the player dies. The player can die if the life essence is drained off by the Ixupi. The Ixupi can disguise as various items around the museum and can attack if the player clicks on nearby objects. This makes the traditional tactic of random clicking onscreen for hotspots a possible hazard. There are a total of 10 Ixupi and 27 logic puzzles. A life essence bar monitors the player's health status.

The superb production value in Shivers is testimonial to the talent of the artists involved. The clever blend of gloomy colors gives the museum a biblical appearance. The rooms in the museum are divided into different sections, each bearing a completely different look. Each section is based a historical legend such as Atlantis and the Subterranean World. Both music and sound effects are well orchestrated, adding to the already eerie atmosphere created by the graphics. The nonlinear design in gameplay prevents any premature frustration from the player due to the failure to solve a puzzle earlier on in the game. After the game is won, the player can freely explore the museum without being attack by the Ixupi. Although the puzzles remain identical each time the game is restarted, the locations of the Ixupi, pots, and talisman change in a random fashion. The manual is well written. It contains a brief description of all the logic puzzles found in the game as well as a prologue and a brief walkthrough to assist the novice player.

The design team claimed that the Ixupi culture is based on Egyptian legends and beliefs in the distinction of the various different aspects of a person—the soul, the intelligence, the life essence, and the body. The museum in this game is based on actual footage taken during a trip to Belize by Bales. Bales claimed that 90% of the facts one finds in the museum are factual. While the unique nonlinear design of Shivers may not appeal to all adventure gamers, the authentic look of the game and original logic puzzles will win many fans over.

Shivers Two
The seedy town of Cyclone resides somewhere in the southwest deserts of the United States. You arrive—to catch up with your fellow band-mates—only to find that almost everyone has mysteriously disappeared. As your adventure continues, you’ll soon learn that the fate of your friends, the Cyclone residents, and the world, rests in your hands. No pressure.

If you'’ve played the original Shivers, game play will be familiar. You have a band of life essence along the bottom of the screen that represents your current state of health. There's the usual eyeball, inventory and toolbar along the bottom of the screen. A flashback button lets you review things you've found, and there is a map to help you get around town. Though Cyclone may be small, it can be a real pain to navigate. Clicking on various buildings on the map will quickly transport you to the appropriate location, assuming you’ve already been there before. This is very handy as it helps you avoid the tedium of backtracking through Cyclone, which you will have to do frequently.

A great feature that was not included in the original Shivers is 360 degree environment panning. Sure, this can make navigation a tad cumbersome at times, but it’s worth it. It feels far more natural than other games where it is as if your head is trapped in a vice and only able to turn side to side.

In Shivers, you spent your time collecting artefacts in a creepy old museum in order to capture those artefacts' respective evil spirits. The same goes for Harvest of Souls, sort of. Instead of a haunted museum, we have a haunted canyon; instead of clay pots we have Native American prayer sticks, called Bahos. Collect them all, solve the puzzles, and win the game. But don’t get me wrong—it’s not as easy as it sounds.

The evil spirits are worse than before, or at least more aggressive. In the original you had certain places within their museum that, if avoided, ensured your safety. In Harvest of Souls, all the evil spirits hang out in a narrow passage that you have to pass through with each bathos you find. They attack ruthlessly. And to top it all off, you’re constantly stalked, “Friday the 13th” style, by a creepy masked antagonist.

There's a colourful cast of characters in Shivers 2, including the worthless Sheriff Andy; George Bellairs, the mandatory priest; and Pearl Larson, the ex-hippie who gave up the bustle of city life for that of a small town. You'll never meet most of these folks outside the game’s manual, but you'll hear them via answering machine messages throughout the game. In Cyclone, everyone has a motive, which makes finding the killer fairly tricky. There are lots of clues to sift through so you’ll have to make note of almost everything you see, from the music videos on television to a postcard in a suitcase.

Puzzle-wise, the game ranges from fairly easy to insanely impossible. There's a handy "Solve The Current Puzzle" button. Only the die-hard adventure gamer will avoid clicking that magical button from time to time. I must admit I fell victim to it myself. There are a great many puzzles in this game, but most are based on the old standby slide-the-tiles and Chinese checkers varieties.

When not racking your brain on puzzles, you’ll have to search for and collect inventory items, just like a traditional adventure game. Fortunately, Harvest of Souls has afforded you plenty of space for items, unlike the previous game where you could only carry one! Some of the inventory items are hard to spot, as they are scattered all over town, so keep an eye out. The logic involved in using items, however, is not too difficult to follow, but you may have trouble completing the game without help.

All in all, game play consists of some enjoyable adventure elements and challenging puzzles that will surely call you back for seconds—or more, considering there are three different endings you'll want to check out.

Note: My compatibility CD does not alter the retail game or bypass copy protection. It allows the original media to install and run correctly on any modern version of Windows.