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7th Guest | List Price: $39.95
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Platform: Windows NT, Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows 95
Brand: Atari
Binding: CD-ROM
ESRB Age Rating: Teen
A Classic [Posted on 2005-06-24]
We've finally reached the time where computer games have been around long enough that some of them are "classics." This game, independent of its entertainment value, horror value or anything else, was so new and revolutionary that it belongs on the "classics" shelf for innovation alone. Its use of real actors in ghostly situations was an innovation. Its CD-ROM platform was an innovation, its use of video driver technology was innovative, etc...If nothing else, buy it and play it for its "historical value."
Besides, though, I think it's quite fun and entertaining. The horror still spooks me out: it doesn't have me shaking or fearing the dark, but its still creepy. (and, by the way, you can bet it was tremendously frightening when it first came out: it was the first time people were actually IMMERSED--personally involved--in the stuff of even the lightest horror flicks). I think the music is an excellent compliment to the game (although it makes some of the dialogue hard to hear). As a musician, I also find it fascinating on its own and the listen-only track on Disc 2 is worth a look-see. It highlights the game's atmosphere of being a horror of awkward weirdnesses rather than a horror of monsters etc.
The story is unveiled in an extremely non-sequential way, quite confusing. But if you accept the reality that these are "hauntings"--ghostly replays of the events of a previous night--then even that fits in nicely. And the final plot, once you piece it all together, is entertaining enough (not enough to make a movie out of on its own, but it serves its purpose of holding together the game.)
The puzzles are the clincher--brilliant. Varying levels of difficulty, mostly moderate, though. The game of exchanging four white bishops with four blacks is beyond me to this day--EXTREME difficulty--but the piano "simon says" game was easy enough that I conquered it on my first try. There is also an excellent mix of puzzle styles: chess puzzles, mazes, word games, image/slider puzzles, and even one puzzle that's not a puzzle at all, but rather a match-off battle against an adversary!
I highly recommend it to anyone from the hardcore computer-gamer to those who just play from time to time for a little entertainment. You can save your game, so you can pick up wherever you left off.
Enjoy!
A Creepy Classic!!! [Posted on 2005-10-05]
It all started in 1993 when this game came out and my sister bought it. She was in college at the time and her friend told her about the game and she thought it was cool when she was shown it. My sister, who isn't scared of much and loves things that have to do with horror bought this game for her computer in her room (she still lived at the house). I used to watch her play this game and it scared the crap out of me. Well a couple years ago I got a hold of this game and the patch for it and well it's still the same....Creepy and Fun!!! (I was about 5 when she bought it and now im 16)
Story: Well it all happens like this: A maniac named Henry Stauf is going around and killing people for their money. Well one day he gets a deal to make dolls and sell them for shelter and food. Well he does but then the dolls become infested with virus's and all the kids that recieved the dolls started dying off one by one. After a while no one has seen him and then suddenly he invites 6 guests over for a night of dinner and puzzle. They went in that night and never came out. Except there is one more guest...the 7th one, can you figure out the mystery and horror of that night. (10/10 = Props for good storyline)
Gameplay: You go around solving puzzles in each room and figuring out what happened that night. The puzzles are ranged from really easy (cake puzzle) to EXTREMELY HARD (Knight puzzle). (150/10)
Sound: The voices were kinda lame since the actors werent really top-notch but they werent that bad either. The music is set really good. To cool up beat music to really freaky music.
(10/10)
Graphics: Where the game shines. The graphics are REALLY good which makes the game creepy. Everything looks real and is in full real 3D time movement so when u move, its not like Myst where u go from scene to scene, in this you actually move. Now this is where you give big props to The 7th Guest, it was the first game to use real actors in the game. That was the part that scared the crap out of me when i was little and still kinda gives me the creeps like the girl seen down the hall.(100000/10)
Replayability: This is where the game kinda goes downhill. When you beat the game, you're kinda just done. You wont want to play it for maybe a year so you can kind of forget things in the game. Trust me though, it's kind of fun to beat it again.(5/10)
Outtro: Im not into PC games, Im a system playing guy. The 7th Guest is my favorite PC game of all time and I love playing it from time to time. This game, IMO, is worth about $20 now so if you find it for around $20 new or used...get it. Make sure you get the patch so you can play it. (you can find it on the internet). Have fun with this game and don't play it in the dark.
- Also check out my Review for the sequel "11th Hour"
Wish I could play it again! [Posted on 2006-01-23]
This was one of the first computer games I played. My whole family ended up playing it, and we all loved it.
All these years later, it remains the standard by which all other games we buy are measured, and usually fail.
I will skip the storyline and puzzle specifics as they have been pretty much covered in other reviews.
Puzzles are plentiful and the ability to roam around the mansion is alot of fun, especially when you find the secret passageways!
There is a hint book you can access twice for each puzzle if you really hate one of them or get stuck.
The rooms are fun, and the voices are creepilicios!!
I wish I could play it today.
My review, ya! [Posted on 2006-05-13]
I am writing a book called "The Future Best Games (you'll understand when you read it) Founder's Guide to the Best 1,001 Computer and Video Games Ever Made." Of "The 7th Guest," here's what I will say in my book:
Developer: Virgin Games
Platform: PC
Year: 1993
ESERB: T
Surely one of the most frightening games ever made, The 7th Guest was the subject of a lot of press upon its release for its 3D rendered graphics, its use of live action movies in parts of the game, and for its horror content.n Despite the fact that it was released in the early 1990s, the amazing graphics hold up really well today.
Although the game has many plot points in its basic premise, it comes across pretty simply. Once there was a toymaker named Henry Stauf (an anagram for "Faust") who made unique toys, each one different from the last, and children everywhere loved them. But then, circa 1903, he moved to the town of Harley-on-the-Hudson, and became a notorious mass killer. More tragedy still: a terrible virus began, killing the children of Harley. Then, one night, Stauf invited 7 people up to his mansion (which is on an otherwise deserted island not far from Harley), and 6 of them perished.
Once you are in Stauf's mansion (which you are after the beginning movie), it's pretty simple: you play the 7th guest, an alive but disembodied young man named Ego, and try to beat 20 or so puzzles, all of them ones that Stauf himself has laid out. He watches you as you do them, but once you complete them all, you get to find out what happened to the other 6 that fateful night. There is even a place you can go to in the house that completes puzzles that you are having difficulty completing. This is a mixed blessing, however, as it then permanently locks the room in which it is in, thereby making it impossible to do any unfinished puzzles in those rooms.
But in the end, the real reason why The 7th Guest is a success is not because of its wonderful (if that's the right way to put it, considering that this is a very dark game) premise, or its elaborate puzzles. As I said before, this is "surely one of the most frightening games ever made." I had never heard of it until I saw it at a computer store and bought it one day, and I was expecting just another game. But like Sweet Tarts Shockers, they give you something you don't expect. In Stauf's house, nearly everywhere you turn, you see at least one ghost, each more frightening than the last. The two scariest, in my opinion, are the two period piece women walking beside the staircase upstairs, and the wailing baby in Stauf's bathroom. More scary still is the music, which is so classic that it has been borrowed and used in several media.
Although, for the reason I just stated, I wouldn't recommend this game to anyone with a low constitution or under the age of 13, The 7th Guest represents a very good puzzle game that has held up well over time.
Oh my brain! These sounds on my brain! [Posted on 2007-07-03]
The game is intriguing enough. The story doesn't evolve to my tastes, it's a pile of clues, and that can be fun but I found it kind of stagnant. The game has a sense of humor, and it's also kind of wierd. But that dang music! What is most frightening about it for me, is that I could not get those sounds out of my head for a long, LONG, L---O---N---G time.
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