Universe
| Developer: Core | Graphics: |
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| Publisher: Core | Sound: |
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| Year: 1994 | Difficulty: |
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| Genre: Adventure | Lastability: |
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| Number of players: 1 | Rating: |
7/10 | |
During a visit to his eccentric uncle George, an inventor, young Boris had a bit of fun with a machine full of buttons and, as you might expect, found himself flung into another dimension (a phenomenon well-known since Another World). Naturally, now he wants to get back home, and it’s up to you to help him…
Graphically, the style is unmistakably that of the creators of Curse of Enchantia, though they’ve traded fairy tales for a sci-fi world filled with robots, flying cars, aliens … and humour that will remind you of H2G2. The scenery is stunning, and together with the soundtrack, they create a harmonious atmosphere, despite a storyline that’s not exactly groundbreaking.
Aside from the presentation, alas, the game stumbles over all the usual pitfalls: redundant commands (insert, push, throw, combine…) when a simple “use” button would have sufficed, imprecise character movement, logic-defying puzzles, tiny, easily-missed objects, situations where quick reactions are required, questionable mini-games, and, of course, frequent and practically unavoidable deaths the first time around. All of this turns the awe of the opening minutes into frustration.
Universe fits on five floppy disks, and the second drive is not recognised. In such cases, I usually opt for the CD32 version when available, but since it doesn’t support the mouse (which poses a bit of an issue for a point and click game), I’d recommend sticking with your floppies. The frequency of disk swaps isn’t too excessive.
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