The Invincible

I recommend this for its immersive atmosphere. Unfortunately, everything else is mediocre or worse.

The design is a wonderfully tactile rendition of 1960's futurism. The machinery, robots, tools, and even the story thematics all fit in a memorable sci-fi vision that may have missed its mark but still captured the imagination. It's still evocative. This design courses through the in-game experience as well as a comic book journal of your adventure.

The story is ... OK. It's intriguing enough, but the pacing is glacial, never truly exciting, and there are too many plot shortcuts that defy logic and common sense. I haven't read the novel, so I can only hope that something was lost in the translation to this medium and that, originally at least, it's a well thought out narrative. Choices you make throughout actually do have some effect on what happens, and there are multiple endings, which you can decide on quite clearly in the final scene. They're all ... OK.

However, the gameplay is where the experience really falters. It's just so, so slow to traverse, explore, and especially to interact. The scenery is striking, at times breathtaking, but it's hard to enjoy it when just getting things done can be so frustrating. Exploration is also disappointing, because it's too often unclear where it's possible for you to go. In a few cases I got frustrated because I didn't know where I [I]should[/I] have been going.

These are fatal flaws, which I would normally award with a thumbs down. However, it felt wrong to dismiss this game. I got a lot from being immersed in its world, and was charmed by its tone and the literary era it distilled so well. So, thumbs up, but do bring a lot of patience with you on this journey.