Gabriel Knight 2: The Beast Within (review)

[Ferran]

Gabriel Knight 2: The Beast Within



Michael B. Dixon
Published by Sierra


Demo: Yes.

System Requirements
68040 33 MHz, PowerPC Mac
12 MB RAM
2X CD ROM drive
OS 7.1+ Machine Tested On:
PowerMac 6100/66 MHz
40 MB RAM
4X CD ROM drive ESRB Advisory:
Mature


Overview:
Werewolves. Murder. Destiny. King Ludwig II of Bavaria...The Beast Within, the newest Gabriel Knight mystery from Sierra, comes from the dark, prolific mind of Jane Jensen. This extremely mature interactive mystery fills 6 CD-ROMs and offers a third-person perspective into 2 (count 'em) separate storylines involving a cast of 40 actors and loads of old German gothic atmosphere. Do you dare investigate the possibility of the beast within?....



Hardware Demands:
Those of you who have experienced games like Phantasmogoria and Angel Devoid will know what type of hardware is needed for a game like The Beast Within. This game pushes your CD-ROM drive and sound drivers to the limit, pumping constant background music, actor voices, ambient sound, and motion picture all at once.

If you plan on playing The Beast Within on a 68040 Mac, I suggest having plenty of RAM (12 MB available), reduce the screen size (within the game) to "half screen", and make sure you have at least a double-speed CD-ROM drive (quad-speed recommended).

For PowerPC Mac users, you should have no problem running this game (full screen, full sound, etc.) as long as you have enough physical RAM (no virtual memory or RAM Doubler) and a quad-speed CD-ROM drive.


Background:
Sierra brought Mac gamers a first taste of the Gabriel Knight mysteries in 1993 with Sins of the Fathers, also written by Jane Jensen. That mystery was fully animated but the Mac port suffered from a bad case of "the jaggies". The Beast Within takes full advantage of the newest CD-ROM technology and cinematic techniques by incorporating full, live action motion picture sequences and a rich soundtrack.

Set almost entirely in Germany, this game was shot by Hollywood director Will Binder in the same blue-screen studio used for Sierra\'s Phantasmogoria. There are over 1,000 photorealistic backgrounds (taken at 80 locations in Germany) blended with film performances by a cast of 40 actors. The outcome is quite believable. The PC version of The Beast Within was released in December 1995 and has won several awards as Game of the Year. The Mac version was released in July 1996 (much closer to the PC release date than the first Gabriel Knight CD-ROM game release in 1993).

Game Background:
If you've played the previous Gabriel Knight mystery, Sins of the Father, you will recognize at least two of the characters: Gabriel (writer, New Orleans bookstore owner, researcher) and Grace (Gabriel's assistant, researcher, store manager). In Sins of the Father, Gabriel was in New Orleans doing research for a book on the occult. He learned more than he wanted to know about voodoo and his own destiny. He has spent the last year at his family's castle in Germany, writing a fictionalized account of his experiences with the supernatural. He soon discovers that his future as a Schattenjager (shadow hunter) will not wait. If he doesn't seek out his destiny, his destiny will find him.

Grace Nakimura has spent the last year running Gabriel's bookstore. She's an experienced researcher who has helped Gabriel solve the voodoo murders (in Sins of the Father). She considered the fact that Gabriel left her behind to write "trashy novels" with no intellectual value as an insult. However, we will find that Grace's destiny is intertwined with the destiny of Gabriel Knight. Soon, she becomes swept up in Gabriel's latest investigation and will have to stand her ground against an extremely powerful supernatural force capable of bringing even a Schattenjager to the brink of eternal damnation.



The game is divided into 6 chapters (1 per CD-ROM). Each chapter alternates from Grace's adventures to Gabriel's investigation. You are essentially playing two characters with two different storylines. Are you up to the challenge?

The Game:
First off, there is a world of difference between the previous Gabriel Knight mystery (Sins...Father) and The Beast Within. The most notable difference is in size and scope. The Beast Within is 6 times the size of Sins...Father (due to filmed acting instead of animation). Also, the character Grace has her own storyline so you are dealing with a lot of information for two separate stories. The "MATURE - ages 17+" rating label is definitely accurate, as even I felt a bit uneasy with some of the material. This sequel is quite definitely the way sequels should be...original storylines, more character development, and better CD-ROM technology enhancement.

The game takes very little hard disk space (3 MB). Therefore, most of the game is run off of the 6 CD-ROMs. With full motion video, you can expect glitches in sound and frame rates if you use a RAM-manipulation program such as RAM Doubler or the use of virtual memory. My recommendation would be to buy RAM (visit the RAM TRACKER site for current RAM pricing) and use a quad-speed CD-ROM drive. I noticed no delay in data retrieval from the CD-ROMs with plenty of RAM and a fast CD-ROM drive.

Regarding the quality of the sound and video, I had mixed feelings. In full screen mode (which is what I used throughout), the game screen is interlaced (draws every other line). In some instances, the frame rates for certain filmed sequences were terribly sluggish and slow. I tried a variety of things to improve performance but I determined the video sequence was to blame...not my PowerMac 9500! However, the mix of background art and blue-screen footage was practically seamless.

The sound in The Beast Within varies in quality. I used headphones and speakers when playing this game. It was definitely noticeable when certain audio clips had been recorded in a different room or at a different quality. Some voice samples were almost distorted, even at low volume settings. The background music looped often, but it was quite seamless in regards to the other audio tracks (which at times stuck out like a sore thumb).

With 40 actors, many will ask: How's the acting talent? Well, I must say that this game sports some of the best, most believable acting I've ever seen in a game such as this one. The actress playing Grace (Joanne Takahashi) was outstanding. One note about this game: there is a lot of spoken German (much of it is not translated) but you are able to figure out most of what they are trying to say. There is also a lot of poor German pronunciation from lead characters Gabriel (who knows no German) and Grace (who is learning German but doesn't know enough yet) as well as a few other Americans in Germany (the poor pronunciation was due to these characters not knowing how to speak German). I found this to be a big "hole" in the storyline: a researcher (Gabriel) living in Germany for 1 year and still can't communicate in basic German? I don't buy it. What about Grace? She's an intellectual and experienced researcher with almost no German language knowledge...come on now!

Gameplay was fast-paced at times, and dreadfully slow at times. There are several instances where you have to click on everything in a particular room and read (aloud) everything...or else the story won't advance. Some rooms are loaded with info and reading all of it aloud takes a while at times. Manipulating inventory items with other inventory items is one of several things you do with what you carry (which is a load of stuff at times). I found it extremely unlikely to find the character, Gabriel, carrying a wealth of items including a coo-coo clock and not seeing him carry a bag or backpack. You can't tell me all of that stuff is under his trenchcoat can you?

The storyline for Gabriel goes...he's been asked to research the latest mutilation killings of several people in areas surrounding the German city of Munich. These killings look to be the handiwork of a werewolf (although two wolves had escaped from a local zoo recently). Gabriel's family tree shows generations of Shattenjagers (shadow hunters, hunters of evil) and the locals believe Gabriel to be the next Shattenjager. They want him to solve the mystery surrounding these killings...and he accepts the awesome responsibility as a Shattenjager (not knowing what that title entails).

The storyline for Grace goes...she's fed up with Gabriel leaving her to manage a bookstore (and she's a bit jealous of a female researcher in German who helps Gabriel there) so she goes to Germany and handles the research herself. She begins to trace a historical mystery on the demise of Mad King Ludwig II and a lost Wagner Opera. Although Grace and Gabriel reside in different locations, their individual research will be combined to confront what awaits them both.



The Interface:
As with the previous Gabriel Knight game, GK2 is also a point-and-click type game. You've got a huge inventory (as indicated above) but it's relatively easy to access most items. You are able to save a unlimited number of games (improvement over the 20 max. saves for PC version) and the save function is located within the game. There are a ton of hot spots on each screen, so you should click everywhere.

The manual (booklet) was written for 3 versions of the game (Mac, DOS, Windows) and therefore you should expect some portions not relevant to the Mac version. Several screenshots shown in the manual are not found in the Mac version (which would have been okay if there was mention of such).

Bug Report:
There seems to be a conflict with the Apple CD-ROM driver (extension) and The Beast Within. This type of conflict is a first in my experience. How did I found the CD-ROM extension to be the problem? I installed FWB\'s CD-ROM ToolKit, which installs their own CD-ROM driver. I played The Beast Within in the same areas the game usually crashed and everything ran just fine. I currently run System 7.5.3 revision 2.0.

Sierra's technical support also recommended the use 1 MB of virtual memory in addition to increased RAM to the application as well as getting FWB\'s CD-ROM ToolKit (a $50 utility). You should note that I played this game on a few other non-PCI Macs and did not have the CD-ROM extension problem.

Conclusion:
This unique game with 2 main characters with different storylines is a nice change of pace. The scenery is beautiful and the actors are quite believable. It's unfortunate that such a game has relatively poor voice sound clips. Also, an apparent conflict with some CD-ROM drivers is a definite concern for stability. However, if you liked Phantasmogoria, are a big mystery buff, and have a lot of time on your hands, GK2 is for you.

Overall: 83%

Rating Percentage
Playability: 90%
Inferface: 90%
Longevity: 100%
Stabilty: 50%
Hardware Demands: 80%
Value: 90%

Pros:
Unknown actors put on a great show.
Seamless blue-screen and graphics mix.
Two storylines offer a change.
Unusually long-playing game for this genre.

Cons:
Certain systems might experience conflicts with the Apple CD-ROM extension.
Inconsistency in some sound clips; some much louder/softer than most. Some characters carry unrealistic number of items in their inventory.


Source: http://www.macgamer.com/features/?id=403

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