| The Feeble Files | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Adventure Soft |
| Publisher(s) | Adventure Soft, Bomico, Idigicon, Infogrames |
| Designer(s) | Simon Woodroffe |
| Engine | AGOS |
| Platform(s) | Amiga Mac PC (Windows) |
| Release date(s) | 1997 |
| Genre(s) | Adventure |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
| Rating(s) | |
| Media/distribution | 4 × CD / 2 × CD |
The Feeble Files is an adventure game about the adventures of a rather ‘feeble’ alien called Feeble. The game is a science fiction comedy, with a similar style of British humour to that of Adventure Soft’s previous games, the Simon the Sorcerer series.
It was created and released in the UK in 1997 by Adventure Soft. e.p.i.c. interactive (now RuneSoft) created a Mac version in 2001 and an Amiga version in 2002 that were released in Europe. In 2002 the Mac version was released in the U.S..
The game was made available for DRM-free digital distribution from GOG.com on December 30, 2008.
Contents |
Graphics: The game is presented in pre-rendered 2D graphics at much a higher resolution than the Simon the Sorcerer games series. However, given the five year gap between its original UK release and the US release there have been several claims that it looks dated.
Voice Acting: To bring Feeble’s world to life several famous actors were recruited to provide the voices. Feeble was voiced by Robert Llewellyn from the BBC comedy Red Dwarf (after previously having co-star Chris Barrie as Simon the Sorcerer), and Blake's 7’s Peter Tuddenham provides the voice for the Oracle.
Interaction: For interaction the game uses a point-and-click navigation system synonymous with adventure games. The player is in control of the main character, Feeble, and must solve various puzzles to advance through the game and complete his quest. However, the player eventually gets the opportunity to use SAM, a robot with a penchant for genocide, to solve certain puzzles in the game. When using SAM the players cursor changes and different options are available to interact with objects in the environment, adding more depth to the gameplay.
At one point during the game the player must win several arcade games in order to advance, however these games use completely different gameplay methods and often proved to be very difficult for players. In the end Adventure Soft released a saved game just after the arcade section to allow people to carry on playing.
The story and puzzles within the game are all of a linear nature.
Music: Unusually for this type of game, there is no background music during gameplay segments, only ambient sound. Cutscenes, however, have full music soundtracks.
The world of The Feeble Files is very detailed and contains large amounts of information and dialogue that is superfluous to the plot. It's loosely based on elements of George Orwell's book 1984 which describes a government and society similar to Feeble's and features a protagonist with similar ambitions as Feeble's.
OmniBrain: The OmniBrain is the governing power of the galaxy, controlling and seeing everything via the all-powerful OmniCorporation and its tortuous bureaucracy, and the sinister Enforcers. The game states “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!" This fine line between a god and a dictatorship is explored at many points throughout the game. One example of this is the Happy Bots who patrol the city to ensure that everyone is happy. However, they achieve this in a rather unorthodox way, by killing anyone who is sad.
Ministry of Galactic Uncertainty: Feeble works for the Ministry of Galactic Uncertainty (Crop Circle Division). It is his job to fly to undeveloped planets, such as Earth, and create crop circles in order to increase the indigenous population's paranoia and uncertainty about the universe. This is to stimulate greater scientific investigation and technological development, until the planet is sufficiently advanced that it is ready to be absorbed by the OmniCorporation.
Directives: Directives are rules created by the OmniBrain to make the world better; there are over a million of them. As the game progresses a record is kept of all the rules that Feeble has broken.
All versions of the game are fully compatible with ScummVM since version 0.9.1. In order to play the Windows version, older ScummVM versions required the Smacker cutscenes to be reencoded using RAD Game Tools and the ScummVM Tools package. However, since ScummVM 0.13.0 this is not necessary anymore.
The Windows versions and later Mac versions are stored within an installer. The Windows Installshield setup can be extracted with i5comp/i6comp. The Mac installer must be run under Mac OS X or SheepShaver as nothing can currently extract the contents of VISE. Orange of the SynCE linux suite may one day be able to do it.
Windows 4CD:
Windows 2CD:
Amiga and Mac:
Audio quality and video resolution of cutscenes:
Windows 4CD: 22050 Hz PCM audio; 640x480 video (Smacker).
Mac: 11025 Hz ADPCM audio; 640x480 video (dxa).
Amiga: 11025 Hz PCM audio; 384x280 video (dxa).