

Having said that, they are often extremely hard – The Feeble Files is one of the most difficult games around. The puzzles are always well-thought-out and logical – the player never feels cheated after solving them. Indeed, humour underpins the entire game, adding comic relief where the alien world reflects our own. The Feeble Files is built on sarcasm and the irony of Catch-22 situations. The voice acting is superb and the British accents perfectly complement the drily humorous tone of the game. These are often rather long, but are always interesting enough to keep the player’s attention, and usually very funny. Frequent cutscenes reward the player for a job well done. They’re bright, colourful and somewhat cartoony, and while this contrasts with the rather dark undertones in the game, it never jars. The graphics, while obviously dated by modern standards, have a disctinctive flair. This attention to detail can be seen in most aspects of The Feeble Files – it’s evident that a lot of love has gone into the making of the game.

There are references galore to AdventureSoft’s previous games – apart from a working arcade machine where you can play ‘Sordid’s Puzzle Castle’, there are Simon the Sorcerer posters stuck up around Metro Prime, not to mention graffiti mocking Simon. Other nice touches include the announcements over the intercom in Metro Prime and the working television in Cygnus Alpha, where watching the programs is as enjoyable and funny as playing the game. This serves to make the game world far richer, and to give the impression that it exists independent of the player. One of the largest resources is the encyclopaedia, which has numerous entries fleshing out details of laws, customs and habits – the writers have created an entire culture for the player to immerse himself in.

#THE FEEBLE FILES ON WINDOWS XP FULL#
Feeble’s universe is full of little touches that are largely unnecessary to complete the game, but that bring the world to life. Here he meets Delores, who belongs to the Freedom Fighters, a group that has woken up to the oppression people are subjected to and are committed to overthrowing the OmniBrain.ĪdventureSoft have made a significant effort to create a living, breathing world – and it shows. As punishment for damaging Company property, he is sent to the dreaded prison Cygnus Alpha. At the beginning of his game, Feeble crashes his spaceship during a routine visit to Earth. The slightest infringement of the laws, or directives – such as being unhappy – are punished by ‘personality restructuring’. Disobedience is not an option, as citizens are required to take ‘nourishing’ pills daily that, in reality, cause them to become placid and apathetic. Relationships, for example, are strictly monitored and controlled – to make any kind of romantic advance, a citizen must possess a Hot Love Permit. The OmniBrain controls every minute aspect of people’s lives. Feeble lives in a highly oppressive society, where the entire galaxy is controlled by a totalitarian entity known as the OmniBrain. Set in a far-future alien comedy version of George Orwell’s 1984, the game follows the adventures of Feeble, an initially rather pathetic specimen of alienhood, who inadvertently becomes the most unlikely rebel ever. The Feeble Files, from the people who brought us the Simon the Sorcerer games, is an absolute treat for the thirsty adventure gamer: vast and sprawling, hugely ambitious, wide in scope, original, funny, poignant and touching.
