| Review: | The Second American Civil War has passed, and you're picking through the rubble for loot, via satellite link to your trusty robot. An interesting spin on the division between PC and protagonist, since the game actually involves a character manipulating a machine (and certain key points indicate that the analogy is no accident). The second half or so of the game takes a sharp turn, one that some have called heavy-handed; whether or not you find it that was, it's the sort of story that needs emotional impact to make it work, and the impact wasn't really there for me. Your mileage may vary, of course, and it's certainly a well-crafted work: the writing is impeccable, the setting thoroughly described, and generally there's plenty of attention to detail. Alternate endings abound, and it's impossible to see even most of the text on a given play through, so there's lots of replayability. In short, it's well put together, even if the message doesn't resonate in quite the way the author intended.
Rating: ****
Reviewed by Duncan Stevens (22 Jul 2000)
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