Certain LOOM

No prizes for guessing what today's post is about, but first, some housekeeping. Or possibly blog-keeping. Whichever.

I am home now for an month or so, which means I'm back on the 360 for a bit. I've hooked it up to the big 1080p screen in the living room which makes all the difference. SMI:SE looks amazing in full high def on a big screen, but the best thing is definately Just Cause 2. Although admittedly it's just the demo. I've been really psyching myself up for it, and I have to say that it does fufill my exceedingly high expectations. To list the awesome things I have done would take far too long, but safe to say, military attack choppers are awesome.


But enough of that. Onto the point. LOOM. Because it's looming over me. Ugh. I apologise.


So released in 1990 as the fourth SCUMM game, LOOM puts you in the shoes (or possibly sandals, it's never really established what Bobbin has under his cloak. Could be stiletto heels for all I know) of Bobbin Threadbare. Old Threadbare is a weaver, which apparently in the world of Loom means he's some kind of magical reality-manipulating wizard. Within the first ten minutes, a magic sparkle had spoken to me, my stepmother was turned into a duck and a swan turned a bunch of people into swans. It was clear from the outset this was going to be a far cry from Monkey Island.


Loom doesn't feature your typical adventure game interface, lacking an inventory or verb list. Instead, you are in possession of a magic distaff which allows you to manipulate the environment via playing the notes of a musical scale on it. The game features a wide range of "weaves" which have a variety of magical effects on the environment around you. One of the first weaves you learn is "open" which can be used on a variety of objects (such as the sky, for some reason), but what is really clever about it is that reversing this weave by playing the notes in reverse order causes objects to close. It's quite a clever touch when you can reverse a weave designed to turn straw into gold in reverse and make a temperamental dragon's horde become worthless.

Unfortunately, Loom fails in some crucial areas. First of all, it's rather short. I think I must have played through it in an hour, two hours tops. I was all set up for a big epic story to unfold, there with my pen and paper (actually Notes on my iPod) to note down all the weaves, and then before I knew it, it was over. The plot seems to rush along, as if it had a lot to do in a short space of time. Backgrounds are left unexplored and characters half-developed, although this leads on to the next point; The ending. Without giving too much away, Loom ends on an epic, if somewhat confusing note, which is apparently a set up for a sequel that never was. Reading a description of the planned sequels from the lead developer Brian Moriarty, Forge and The Fold would be perfect for a revival right about now. Perhaps a surprise announcement at E3.

Well, it's late, and I have more Fallout 3 to play tomorrow. Gotta reach Level 30.

See y'all next time!