Beneath a Steel Sky is a point and click adventure game. That means it almost entirely hinges on the storyline, scripting, characterisation and puzzles for its success. It's a relief, then, that Beneath... emphatically bullseyes every item on that checklist. The admittedly grubby visuals (even for 1994) are more than compensated for by the pitch perfection of everything else. The writing is intelligent and funny, the storyline is genuinely involving, the small selection of personalities are beautifully crafted and reek individuality (aided immensely by superb dialogue recordings) and the puzzles are at the ideal juncture of fiendish difficulty and plausible resolvability.
The simple interface and control scheme are loath to the depth of the problems the protagonist Foster can face. Some are despicable, but there's always a practical answer waiting in the dusty corners of one's brain. Those "Eureka!" moments are what make adventure games, and BASS has a few that honestly couldn't be more satisfying. The Blade Runner influences are pretty evident in the Sci-Fi inspired explorable area of Union City, the studio's vision of a Dystopian Australia's Sydney, but this is a markedly British game. Contrasts in the voiceovers and subtitles can be unintentionally funny at times, in particular the moment some machines are described as "frazzed" by the actor whilst the subtitles say "SHAGGED" with capital letters in its place. The majority of references remain funny and obvious, and there's even a little self-depreciation in there, but the light hearted nature of the script can be all too stark against the serious backdrop of the oppressed and hierarchical society. It is, however, a significant reprieve from modern videogames such as Gears of War, which regards its largely insignificant and poorly structured plot with such a serious reverence as to be cringeworthy at times. Even Mirror's Edge, a game we'd happily award a perfect score, is guilty of this.
The simple fact stands that Beneath a Steel Sky is an incredible adventure that stands out as one of the greatest PC games of the nineties, is easily the equal of Tim Schafer's efforts, and demands to be experienced. It's free, nobody has a good excuse. There are some minor niggles with lack of clarity at times, both literally on screen and in terms of objective, but none of these truly undermine the focused attention to detail delivered. It's a little short, but the world is so brilliantly framed it's not an issue. Few games since have been so concentrated and well crafted, the vast majority diluted with self-important fluff and padding. BASS is a true classic that stands up to any game on the market today (we would know, we hadn't played it until it appeared on GOG.com and proceeded to finish it less than twenty four hours after the download was complete).
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