Sanitarium (help! I'm Losing My Mind!) - PC Games (Sanitarium (PC))

Member Name: zusy

Product:	Sanitarium (PC)
Date:	17/06/00 (183 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Brilliant twisting plot, superb graphics, interesting puzzles

Disadvantages: May be a bit hard to find?

Surrounded by babbling lunatics in some run-down asylum, your head swathed in bandages following a car crash that’s erased your memory, you struggle with your inner demons as you fight to keep a grip on reality and find out who you are and why you’ve been institutionalised. It doesn’t exactly sound like the recipe for ‘My Best Day Ever’, now does it? Prepare to be amazed, then, by Sanitarium’s hugely original (despite the rather wheezy sounding plot) and gripping adventure game.

One of the reasons this game is so good, and deserves far better recognition than it has so far received, is the way you zip back and forth from fantasy to reality. The story is broken up into eight chapters, each one revealing a little more about the mysterious car crash and who you are. Conversations with other characters are (gasp!) interesting and (double gasp!) very amusing. Each chapter has a unique feel to it, from the disturbing asylum to a ‘Children of the Corn’ style rural community where all the adults have disappeared; a giant beehive (yes, I said beehive) and an island inhabited by the remaining dregs of a freak show/circus. One of the most effective locations is the chapter in which you wander ‘round your childhood home, watching the sepia-toned spectres of your family struggle with their grief.

This is how all adventure games should strive to be – hilarious, spooky, fascinating and would you believe it – actually playable. The puzzles you come across are linked to the information you have discovered and, in turn, help further your struggle to find out the truth. What’s more, the puzzles have logical answers that won’t have you beating your head repeatedly on desk. I only had to resort to a sneaky peak at a hints guide once during this game, which in my mind is an excellent thing. Where many adventure games fall down is in making the puzzles you encounter so mind-bogglingly ridiculo
us that you practically have to have a walkthrough in one hand and follow the instructions step by step. This is a pointless exercise, ruins what might have been a good game and is more or less playing by numbers.

The graphics in Sanitarium are in keeping with the overall excellence of the game – atmospheric, innovative, and wonderfully realised; this game manages to make the horrific and terrifying look beautiful. The simple mouse-driven interface makes it a delight to play, allowing you to control every aspect of the game.

One (rather major) word of warning, though – earlier shipments of Sanitarium came complete with an almighty bug that meant some players found themselves totally locked out of buildings in Chapter Two, thus preventing them from progressing any further. To make matters worse, if you have a version with this bug, you may not notice it for some time, thinking the game is telling you you’ve finished exploring all there is to see. ASC’s website has a patch, though, but you should maybe install this before you play the game, just in case. Otherwise, if you find you have an earlier version and are stuck, you will have to go back to the beginning and start again.

I’m really not sure why this game isn’t a staple of every adventure game player’s experience – every review I have read since finding the game in a knock-down budget section of a shop, has absolutely raved about how wonderful it is. They rave with good cause – you should be able to find this game at a bargain price, and what a bargain it will be, too. I can’t remember many games where I have been so enthralled, surprised and ultimately satisfied. Even the credits are brilliant! A song ties in snatches of dialogue from the game and all becomes clear in the very final nerve-wracking seconds of the game. Sheer genius.

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