The Mystery of the Nautilus
2002 T-bot Interactive
Designed by Benoit Attinost, Manuel Ruiz Dupont; Laurent Le Besnerais
Relevance:
*) steering wheel -- A jigsaw-like puzzle. Not a bad abstract representation
of "repairing" the wheel.
*) organ -- A "Simon Says" sound puzzle, unoriginal, and it doesn't fit the
environment.
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Real-time:
All are deadly, with no auto-restore. Generally, there's enough time when you
know what to do, but death is likely the first time through.
*) kitchen gas
*) stepping into electrified hall -- usually almost-instant death, but you
shouldn't be there anyway
*) steering ship
*) dropping oxygen levels
*) zap robot -- the most arcady, but it's only a couple of clicks
*) diving vs squid -- lots of time to beat squid, but you have to know where
to go next to find the oxygen
*) flooded ship
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Reasonability:
*) diving room electrical box: How does a metal ball fit into that? The
graphics aren't clear enough to show it, and it's not a normal match.
*) pressure cooker: Why would I want to blow it up? There's no reason to want
to get into the cabinet, since you don't know what's in it. And if you did,
smashing it with the pot or other heavy object would be more natural and
sensible -- the explosion could destroy anything inside.
*) engine room steam switches: 64 possibilities and no clues -> mindless
tedium
*) fuses: 6 possibilities and no clues -> make work; one fuse would suffice
*) liquor cabinet: Why is there such a ridiculous mechanism *there*? Hiding
nothing? And even if it's there, any weight should do the trick if I know
about the mechanism. If I don't, why would I want to return the bottle?
*) bedroom pressure plate: Why would Nemo have set that up? How does he get
out of his bedroom normally?
*) lab laser: A dark coat wouldn't provide protection from something that could
blast apart the robot. The mirror or shiny plate, however, might do.
*) acid on door portal: Why would the acid affect the glass?
*) setting rope: You have to click on the *chart*? Not the laser itself. Also,
the rope seems to come out at the wrong spot -- how did it get to the hall?
*) defeating the robot: To know there's a robot to beat, you have to go into
the technical room. But the robot doesn't follow you when you leave. So
the laser setup shouldn't work, unless you could find a way to get the
robot to come out of the room. Fortunately, the robot has ESP and a
death wish.
*) electromagnet to get key: There's no indication that the blob is metallic,
although the character would be able to see that. There should be a comment
about what the object it.
*) cutting electrical box wires to free doors: Trial and error with no clues
except decreasing life.
*) fix leaking pipes: The interface gets in the way -- what kind of rubber
thingmes are those? It's not clear that they have a shape (or size) that
would be useful to the task.
*) flooded gear room: Why do I know that replacing this gear will open the
hatch?
*) climbing to cartography room: Why do I want to go there? There was no
obvious weapons console, and it's a dangerous trip.
*) periscope activate defense: How did I know that would happen?
*) killing computer: How did I know it was down there?
*) cut glass with diamond: Just smash it with the pole! Or chair.
*) alcohol on bomb wick: Soon as the flame hit it, the whole thing would blow!
minor problems:
*) pressure chamber: Why do you *have* to wipe the portal before you can go
through?
*) kitchen gas: Once the gas is outside the kitchen, closing the door
wouldn't make it go away.
*) get cable in corridor: The claw should work as well.
*) using PDA to reprogram door lock: The technological mismatch is absurd.
Voltages, protocols, etc., would be completely different. But 19th century
lasers, holograms, and AI I can accept. :-)
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Comments:
While replaying the game, I found a triggering bug in stage 2. Despite doing
everything, the periscope would never activate, so I never got to the
navigation timed sequence.