| Dreamweb | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Creative Reality |
| Publisher(s) | Empire |
| Platform(s) | DOS, Amiga 500/600/1200 |
| Release date(s) | 1994 |
| Genre(s) | Adventure |
| Rating(s) | ELSPA: 15+ RSAC: V4: Wanton and Gratuitous Violence NS3: Frontal Nudity, Non Explicit Sexual Activity L2: Profanity OFLC: RC OFLC: M (cut) |
| Media/distribution | Floppy disc/CD |
| System requirements | |
Dreamweb is a DOS and Amiga parser-free cyberpunk top-down adventure game first released in 1992, then later released on CD in 1994, and developed by Creative Reality and published by Empire Interactive Entertainment.
The game feature mature themes and plot, with violence and a sex scene, rare for an adventure game of that time, which were heavily influenced by the cartoonish style of Lucasarts adventures.
Contents |
The game opening credits scene is reminiscent of Ridley Scott's Blade Runner. In addition of a similar looking typeface, credits are displayed in white on black, with a loud metallic noise followed by a fade out and finally the game title appears in red on black. Much of the look and feel of the game is reminiscent of Blade Runner.
The music in Dreamweb (by Matthew Seldon) is highly regarded, helping to bring about the atmosphere which made the game admired by many at the time, which even included a bonus audio track in the Dos only CD version. The dark story is also praised, and the characters are well developed. The original game came packed with a booklet named Diary of a (Mad?) man, written by Stephen Marley which has a far more layered and atmospheric 'prequel' story than the one in the game itself. The diary also supplies more background info on the main character (and served as a copy-protection method). The game was criticized for its poor top-down view and overlooking many "rules" commonly observed in adventure games; for instance, while the player can examine and pick up most objects on-screen, the large part of them don't have any other purpose than to take inventory space, and there aren't any options on how Ryan speaks with other characters.
Some puzzles, although logical, are very simplistic - while in many adventure games (even on more adult adventures) the solution to pass by a NPC is working around him (by distracting or giving some object), in Dreamweb the use of a gun is quite common and the assassination of other characters frequent, sometimes with gory results. It was also one the first mainstream games that featured an uncensored sex scene, which was quite controversial at the time of release, despite merely being a few top-down viewed pixels.
Dreamweb had two releases on the Amiga - the AGA version has 256 color graphics and an extra song over the standard version. It was also released on the PC, first on disk format. It's mostly the same, although the soundtracks are different. The Amiga version features extraordinarily moody electronic music, which is something the MOD format pulls off perfectly. The PC version is similar in style, although some of the compositions are different. They're all short, looping, streaming sound files, more advanced than the Amiga songs, although they suffer from low-fi encoding. There's also more songs total in the PC version. A CD version was also released for the PC, which is mostly the same except for some scattered voice acting.
The player is Ryan (who can be described as an anti-hero), a bartender in a futuristic dystopian city whose nights are plagued with strange dreams. In the last dream before the game starts, Ryan is asked by the master monk of the keepers to be the deliverer and kill the seven evils who are united to break the Dreamweb (In Diary of a (Mad?)man, however, which precedes the start of the game, it is strongly implied that Ryan is descending into psychosis and has fabricated the whole Dreamweb scenario in his mind.)
After Ryan leaves Eden's (his girlfriend) house, he learns that due to frequently arriving late to work, his boss has decided to fire him, although after hearing his explanation, he decides to give him a two week, fully paid, vacation to recover. On the TV, he learns about the name and location of the first evil: David Crane, a rock star, who is housed in a hotel for a gig later that night. He visits his friend Louis, where he learns where a gun can be purchased. After doing so, he registers himself at the same hotel, and after managing to get himself up to the penthouse, killing two guards in the process, he finds Crane in bed with a woman. His partner hides under the bed and after begging for mercy, Ryan kills him and is teleported to the Dreamweb where he learns the second evil, a general. He returns home, and while checking the news (where he finds the report of Cranes' death), he learns General Sterling is the guest of a talk show in a TV station.
He leaves for the heavily guarded building, and finds a weak spot in the security. He shoots the guard, enters the building and gets access to the rafters of the studio. After replacing a burned-out fuse, he controls a huge box over Sterlings' head, and drops it, thereby crushing the general to death, but also a ratings peak for the channel. Then, Ryan is transported again to the Dreamweb, where he learns the third target is very close to one of his friends, none other than Eden's boss, Sartain. He collects information from Eden's work gear while she is bathing, and leaves for the company headquarters.
Ryan destroys a security console to get access to the upper floors, but as soon as he enters, he is greeted by two guards and a fleeing Sartain. He kills both guards with the help of a gem obtained in the Dreamweb, and while reading the contents of a briefcase grasped by the charred remains of an arm belonging to one of the guards, Ryan learns the identity of the remaining four members. Then, he chases Sartain to the rooftop where he tries to flee using a hover car, but Ryan opens fire on the vehicle, destroying it. Ryan enters the Dreamweb, and upon returning to the real world, he arrives at Julliet Chappels' destroyed house, another of the evils. Believing she died, Ryan picks up a half-burnt cartridge and returns home, where from reading its contents discovers the location of the church.
However as he can't get inside the church, he visits Diane Underwood, who is in a heavily guarded beach house. Upon inspecting the surroundings of the house, Ryan finds the control box of the security system, and drops a bottle of water, resulting in the explosion of the turret which releases heavy bolts of energy inside the house. Entering by the huge hole in the wall, Ryan finds Underwood chopped in half, but still alive. After learning more about the "Project 7", Ryan executes the suffering woman, where he arrives at the Dreamweb, where he learns the remaining two are growing more powerful with the death of the members.
Arriving at the church and making his way into the secret underground passages, he finds the deceased, deformed body of Father O' Rourke, which leaves only one living member: Dr. Beckett. Ryan finds his whereabouts in the subway, linked to the church' undergrounds. As Beckett chases to kill Ryan, he is run over by a train. Ryan returns to the Dreamweb, where he is thanked by the Master monk, but also learns his fate. He returns to the real world for the last time, where he is shot by the police for his numerous crimes. In the last images, his soul is entering the Dreamweb.
The game was reviewed in 1995 in Dragon #215 by Jay & Dee in the "Eye of the Monitor" column. Both reviewers gave the game 1½ out of 5 stars.[1]