LGR - The 7th Guest - DOS PC Game Review
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Date: 2022-04-14
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Comments and reviews: 10
Rich
This game was a huge task for everyone involved. My QA company, Top Star, was heavily involved in its development, though clearly nowhere near as much as Trilobyte and Graeme of course. Remember that this was developed in the years before the Internet when modems were extremely slow. It was often faster to just overnight updates to us than to wait for fixes to download. Every little detail was something everyone sweat over. It went on longer than many other of our projects. Not a surprise given its vast scope. I remember having a major meeting over the way the skeletal finger pointed at the center of the dining table and seeing several versions of this over several days. I also had a huge laugh when it came time for the credits. Graeme and Lyle Hall (the producer at Virgin) wanted credits that were entirely multimedia-based and not just text. They called us up to see what sort of images we could send of our facilities and that was a problem. Top Star had tons of equipment, but it was spread over several facilities and we were a small company operating out of rented houses and such. The last thing we wanted was for potential clients to really see behind the curtain. Lyle understood and tracked down an image from Bell Labs, if memory serves, of guys in white lab coats surrounded by loads of daunting equipment and ran it with our credit. For years after we'd get companies calling saying that they had to experience what that sort of analysis would do for their products. Awesome.
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This game was a huge task for everyone involved. My QA company, Top Star, was heavily involved in its development, though clearly nowhere near as much as Trilobyte and Graeme of course. Remember that this was developed in the years before the Internet when modems were extremely slow. It was often faster to just overnight updates to us than to wait for fixes to download. Every little detail was something everyone sweat over. It went on longer than many other of our projects. Not a surprise given its vast scope. I remember having a major meeting over the way the skeletal finger pointed at the center of the dining table and seeing several versions of this over several days. I also had a huge laugh when it came time for the credits. Graeme and Lyle Hall (the producer at Virgin) wanted credits that were entirely multimedia-based and not just text. They called us up to see what sort of images we could send of our facilities and that was a problem. Top Star had tons of equipment, but it was spread over several facilities and we were a small company operating out of rented houses and such. The last thing we wanted was for potential clients to really see behind the curtain. Lyle understood and tracked down an image from Bell Labs, if memory serves, of guys in white lab coats surrounded by loads of daunting equipment and ran it with our credit. For years after we'd get companies calling saying that they had to experience what that sort of analysis would do for their products. Awesome.
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Data
I still have my copy of -The 7th Guest- and its sequel -The 11th Hour-. Trilobyte also came out with another game, -Clandestiny- but that didn't seem to do too well. It also didn't help that there were compatibility issues with various sound cards and video card systems. If you had a Gateway 486 DX2 50 with a SoundBlaster Pro, that worked fine. But that was a very expensive system. Some people had the Adlib soundcard, or the Thunderboard and I believe there were some problems there. Oh well.
It was still a great game, I solved all the puzzles except for the Statego puzzle, in which there was only one solution. But after finishing all the puzzles, the end of the game was hardly rewarding. The game play was good though.
-The 11th Hour- wasn't as good, more of the same really. And the compressed video they used didn't look too good.
Still, these were fun to play.
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I still have my copy of -The 7th Guest- and its sequel -The 11th Hour-. Trilobyte also came out with another game, -Clandestiny- but that didn't seem to do too well. It also didn't help that there were compatibility issues with various sound cards and video card systems. If you had a Gateway 486 DX2 50 with a SoundBlaster Pro, that worked fine. But that was a very expensive system. Some people had the Adlib soundcard, or the Thunderboard and I believe there were some problems there. Oh well.
It was still a great game, I solved all the puzzles except for the Statego puzzle, in which there was only one solution. But after finishing all the puzzles, the end of the game was hardly rewarding. The game play was good though.
-The 11th Hour- wasn't as good, more of the same really. And the compressed video they used didn't look too good.
Still, these were fun to play.
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FLmanity
I remember playing this game and being totally engulfed by it. I still love it, most of all the atmosphere. Walking through the house, the weird disjointed characters and interior, and the music, god the music is SO GOOD. I think as a gameplay experience you are right the game falls short, but as an immersive experience it totally blew me away and still does. Suddenly walking around in a maze of a basement cellar? Having a puzzle out of skeleton caskets? Clicking at the telescope and suddenly seeing this otherwordly planet with letter scribbled on them in some strange pattern? Clicking on the rug and finding yourself with some unearthly blood-vein schema you have to figure out? It's that weird, otherwordly quality this game has that will always make me appreciate it in a special light.
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I remember playing this game and being totally engulfed by it. I still love it, most of all the atmosphere. Walking through the house, the weird disjointed characters and interior, and the music, god the music is SO GOOD. I think as a gameplay experience you are right the game falls short, but as an immersive experience it totally blew me away and still does. Suddenly walking around in a maze of a basement cellar? Having a puzzle out of skeleton caskets? Clicking at the telescope and suddenly seeing this otherwordly planet with letter scribbled on them in some strange pattern? Clicking on the rug and finding yourself with some unearthly blood-vein schema you have to figure out? It's that weird, otherwordly quality this game has that will always make me appreciate it in a special light.
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Sans
Oh god, I remember when my mom and older sister bought this game. Our PC was actually kept in my parents bedroom so I sat on the bed and watched them both play the game together. I remember holding my Barbie doll close, and becoming completely FREAKED OUT by this damn game! I remember they had to take me out of the room because I started crying. It's a hilarious memory considering how cheesy the game feels as an adult.
This game and the game -D- by Kenji Eno are probably what started my fascination for -horror- media. Neither of these titles have aged that well, but I sort of have a fondness for them.
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Oh god, I remember when my mom and older sister bought this game. Our PC was actually kept in my parents bedroom so I sat on the bed and watched them both play the game together. I remember holding my Barbie doll close, and becoming completely FREAKED OUT by this damn game! I remember they had to take me out of the room because I started crying. It's a hilarious memory considering how cheesy the game feels as an adult.
This game and the game -D- by Kenji Eno are probably what started my fascination for -horror- media. Neither of these titles have aged that well, but I sort of have a fondness for them.
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Christos
Sorry but i disagree. Other than a couple of exceptions, all the puzzles are fairly obvious and not all that hard to fugure out. You make it sound as if you have to hunt for tiny obscure clues to figure out the game, but most puzzles can be solved with a tiny bit of effort as soon as you find them. And for the ones that are a bit too annoting theres the book in the library. You get 2 clues and then the puzzle is solves for you. Anyways i loved this game as a kid and for the most part its just a quirky collection of puzzles with a silly overarching plot to tie it all together.
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Sorry but i disagree. Other than a couple of exceptions, all the puzzles are fairly obvious and not all that hard to fugure out. You make it sound as if you have to hunt for tiny obscure clues to figure out the game, but most puzzles can be solved with a tiny bit of effort as soon as you find them. And for the ones that are a bit too annoting theres the book in the library. You get 2 clues and then the puzzle is solves for you. Anyways i loved this game as a kid and for the most part its just a quirky collection of puzzles with a silly overarching plot to tie it all together.
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Marije
I have this one in a jewelcase and I used to play it allll the time. My version has ages 15+ on it. Really loved how the second CD plays the absolutely stunning sound track on an actual CD player. I also have the novel. Yes. There's a novel! If you read it the game makes MUCH more sense but it's about as bad as the in-game story. Can you imagine my dad once paid 60 bucks for this?
Try typing Zaphod Beeblebrox on the Ouija screen to explore the game freely.
Well not as bad as when he paid 120 for Kyrandia 2: Hand of Fate
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I have this one in a jewelcase and I used to play it allll the time. My version has ages 15+ on it. Really loved how the second CD plays the absolutely stunning sound track on an actual CD player. I also have the novel. Yes. There's a novel! If you read it the game makes MUCH more sense but it's about as bad as the in-game story. Can you imagine my dad once paid 60 bucks for this?
Try typing Zaphod Beeblebrox on the Ouija screen to explore the game freely.
Well not as bad as when he paid 120 for Kyrandia 2: Hand of Fate
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Simulated
I had goosebumps all over my body watching this. It may not be scary now, but I played this as a kid and my brain remembers! It took a long time to complete. I remember the day I did as well, my Mum was calling for me to go to dinner, but I had to finish that last puzzle. I was addicted to FMV games back then, this, its sequel The 11th Hour, Phantasmagoria and Shivers. I've tried to play all of them as an adult, but they really were of their time - although the music still sends chills down my spine!
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I had goosebumps all over my body watching this. It may not be scary now, but I played this as a kid and my brain remembers! It took a long time to complete. I remember the day I did as well, my Mum was calling for me to go to dinner, but I had to finish that last puzzle. I was addicted to FMV games back then, this, its sequel The 11th Hour, Phantasmagoria and Shivers. I've tried to play all of them as an adult, but they really were of their time - although the music still sends chills down my spine!
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Mog
What about 11th Hour? You should review that disappointing snooze-fest. I never personally played 7th Guest, but I remember it and the heyday it shared with the other games within it's odd genre. I was never a fan of the way in which FMV games had to present puzzles. At any rate, the primary draw for these games was usually how amazing they looked to us in the early 90's. You know you're getting old when you remember being blown away by Myst.
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What about 11th Hour? You should review that disappointing snooze-fest. I never personally played 7th Guest, but I remember it and the heyday it shared with the other games within it's odd genre. I was never a fan of the way in which FMV games had to present puzzles. At any rate, the primary draw for these games was usually how amazing they looked to us in the early 90's. You know you're getting old when you remember being blown away by Myst.
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George
My mom and I played this. We solved the puzzles as we encountered them, without clues from the characters, not realizing that was a thing. We liked the difficulty. I accidentally played Myst the same way (these types of games weren't established, yet.
I hated the video graphics, as that wasn't what a video game -looked like- to me, back then. I thought my mom would get a kick out of it though, and she did. I had it for Sega Saturn.
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My mom and I played this. We solved the puzzles as we encountered them, without clues from the characters, not realizing that was a thing. We liked the difficulty. I accidentally played Myst the same way (these types of games weren't established, yet.
I hated the video graphics, as that wasn't what a video game -looked like- to me, back then. I thought my mom would get a kick out of it though, and she did. I had it for Sega Saturn.
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Rex
(Late to the party again. Thanks YT algorithms. XD) Kinda reminds me of some other 90s favs (one from Virgin Games also. Floor 13, Simon the Sorcerer, et al. Also Mission Critical, Gahan Wilson's Haunted House. One of the characters from Mission Critical, Henry Strozier, who played Admiral Charles Decker, later went on to an illustrious career touting cranberry juice. Maybe you could find one or more of interest for a future vid.
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(Late to the party again. Thanks YT algorithms. XD) Kinda reminds me of some other 90s favs (one from Virgin Games also. Floor 13, Simon the Sorcerer, et al. Also Mission Critical, Gahan Wilson's Haunted House. One of the characters from Mission Critical, Henry Strozier, who played Admiral Charles Decker, later went on to an illustrious career touting cranberry juice. Maybe you could find one or more of interest for a future vid.
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