The interactive movie has inspired a strange phenomenon: videogame designers are becoming film producers and vice versa. More often than not, this creates a worst-of-both-worlds scenario: bad games sporadically interrupted by bad movies. But new hope shines on The Beast Within.
The game follows Gabriel Knight, a carrot-topped Cajun "shadow hunter" investigating an outbreak of werewolf-related killings in Munich. Our hero uncovers a mystery concerning King Ludwig II, an enigmatic figure known as Black Wolf, and a lost Wagner opera with a lycanthropic theme.
The enthralling story is propelled by full-motion videoclips that, though occasionally melodramatic, feature surprisingly good acting. The mature themes rating usually no more than a red flag for scantily clad babes and swearing is valid here, given the game's homoerotic subtext and occult philosophy.
Designer Jane Jensen proves the interactive movie may yet hold some life.
The Beast Within: US$64.95. Sierra On-Line Inc.: (800) 757 7707, fax +1 (206) 642 7617, on the Web at www.sierra.com/.
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