In 1993, the appropriately-named English developers Adventuresoft and Simon Woodroffe created the wildly successful adventure Simon the Sorcerer. Thanks to Woodroffe and company, Simon became one of the most clever and loved adventures ever. It's hilarious writing and off-beat takes on classic fairy tales won over the adventure gaming public. A sequel was later released and received equal, if not superior, critical acclaim. Adventuresoft found themselves sitting on one of the most popular game series' and announced a third Simon to hit store shelves in 1998. And we all knew how that turned out.
But I digress. Before Simon 3, Woodroffe decided to expand his resume outside the Simon series and venture into uncharted territory. What Woodroffe envisioned was sci-fi story of good vs. evil with the comic writing that made Simon the hit it was. The ending result was a comedy set in the distant future with a story reminisant of the sci-fi novel 1984. An unlikely alien hero finds himself tangled up in a web of conspiracy and a plot to take down an oppressive dictator of the universe. The plot was obviously not trying to break any barriers of originality, but Woodroffe's creative genius, as some might call it, was expected to put a whole new spin on things and add a lot of comedy to the picture. But was he successful?
We find ourselves controlling Feeble, a dumpy green alien who lives on the planet Grenulon somewhere far off from our galaxy. Feeble works for the Ministry of Galactic Uncertainty, an administration whose function it is to see to it that the backward species on Class B planets, such as Earth, continue to develop at an acceptable rate. Feeble's job is to make crop circles on planets such as Earth. Feeble's hobby is studying Earth paraphernalia and culture. He uses Earth slang, wears Earth clothes and has an overall fascination with the blue little spaceship we call home. His home, however, is much different than ours. You see the planet that Feeble lives on is part of an intergalactic dictatorship spanning the entire universe, all run by the godly being, the OmniBrain. No one has ever seen the OmniBrain, but all citizens must obey all of its rules and never oppose him. But, see, the thing that separates the OmniBrain from Stalin or Mussolini is that “he considers all life forms everywhere to be his citizens, and he loves them and cares for them in the way that is best for them, and wants them all to be happy." Praise be to the OmniBrain! Feeble has always been a loyal citizen and has lived by the OmniBrain's rules without question, as have most citizens. There are others who have joined a revolt against the OmniBrain and instill freedom across the universe. After a successful crop circling, Feeble returns home with the satisfaction of a job well done. That is, until he crashes into an asteroid that is considered company property, A crime against the OmniBrain. In due time, he is sentenced to a maximum-security prison for "rehabilitation." But when a member of the Rebellion helps him escape, Feeble has no choice but to join the revolution and take down the OmniBrain.
The story never fails to hold interest and has a fair share of twist and turns that always takes the game in an unexpected direction. Feeble’s adventure is reasonably long with many locations. One of the biggest problems with games that feature a large amount of hours of game play is that certain areas or chapters in the game tend to wind the game’s excitement down and get boring, a la The Longest Journey’s Alatien Tales sequence or even Knights of the Old Republic’s planet Mannan. Such is not the case for the Feeble Files. Though the game isn’t as long as TLJ or KOTOR, you never run into any pacing problems of any kind. And of course, the humor and writing is spot-on. I was never a fan of British comedy, but I feel that Simon Woodroffe’s writing reaches a broad audience that everybody can enjoy. The Feeble Files does this and does it well. Not to mention one of the best payoffs in a game.
This game features some crisp 3D graphics along with hand drawn backgrounds. Very impressive for '97 and, I think, still hold up reasonably well today. But the area where the game really shines is the voice acting. Feeble's voice is done by British TV's Robert Llewellyn, who I hear is a big star, apparently. He does a great job as Feeble and so do all the other cast members with their parts. Sound effects and music are also well-done.
The interface is very similar to any point ‘n click Sierra adventure. You have a few commands represented as icons and cycle through them with the right mouse button. Simple enough, but I found myself still needing to get used to it. But what separates the Feeble Files from every other adventure is a device that Feeble wears on his wrist called “Oracle.” Not only is it your options and inventory menu, but it also gives you a wealth of information such as the back story, your progress and current tasks. This game features some of the most challenging puzzles as well. Whether that’s a good thing or not is up to you, but most puzzles are logical and are very solvable with a little thinking. However, there are a few frustrating, leap-of-logic puzzles that make the game come to a screeching halt, including one absurd disguise puzzle and a tile puzzle. There’s also a little, but not a lot, of pixel hunting.
But at the end of the day, this is just another great adventure from Simon Woodroffe and Adventuresoft. It has its flaws, but its witty writing and voice acting makes it all worth while.
8.3/10