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Stephen King's F-13
Click title graphic above
to purchase.
 This
product is Mac-compatible!!!
Put Stephen King's name on a
box, and people are bound to take notice. Not only because of
his novels, movies, and mini-series hits; the text adventure
The Mist, based on one of his short stories, was
a fantastic experience in my Apple //e years. Now, around a decade
and a half later, another King-inspired software product is released!
However, there's a nagging feeling this is only half of
the product possible...
In
case you're asking what type of program this is --even
when reading the box-- don't worry; F-13 is a pretty
cryptic title, isn't it? Does this refer to a flight sim, Friday
the 13th, or a secret military project? Nope; it's a mythical
key on your keyboard, right after "F12". A video clip
intro shows a monster hand pressing F-13...and
the fun begins.
How much fun are we talking about?
Well, that depends on how much of a Stephen King fan you are.
A novella titled "Everything's Eventual" is included
on the disc. This is an intriguing read, if only because it's
never been published before. Enhancing the reading experience
is a creepy background music option, and occasional pictures.
Even so, it is around 85 screens long; perhaps if printed, a
mere 30 pages at best. Is such a short novella worth the price
paid, even if it is an unprinted work? Perhaps,
I guess...
The big question at this product's
design dept. must have been how to warrant selling this novella
on store shelves, alongside game CDs with more bang-for-your-buck.
Answer : Drag in three gruesome mini-games, kicking and screaming
(which, I suppose, is how Stephen King would have wanted it).
These "games" are little more than point-and click,
one-screen, reflex testers : whether your preference is to whack
bugs, smack zombies, or feed piranha in a giant fish tank, these
games get old pretty quick.
Additions to the disc include
King-inspired screen savers, desktop backgrounds, and event sounds.
While each is a nice salute to Mr. King, it's still a pretty
rag-tag bunch of files. One thing I didn't like is the lack of
any real Desktop Theme for my Windows98 PC; if interested in
any of the sound effects or backgrounds, you'll have to go into
the control panel and set each sound event, one-by-one. Even
if you do, there's not too many of them to choose from as it
is. Sorry; thumbs-down on the desktop utilities.
Screen savers are slightly better.
King fans will love "Evil Genius at Work," where an
animated Stephen King is busy typing on his computer as you watch,
complete with sound effects whenever he types a scary scene.
"Murder and Mayhem" -- a salute to Salem's Lot--
shows a house being sold by day, the people move in, and by nightfall
get stalked by a shadowy villain, (as seen through the windows
of the house). By the next day, the house is for sale again.
Added intrigue of this screen saver is how the house actually
changes through the four seasons of weather, as well as actions
shown through the windows. At one point, the shadowed villain
is shown attacking the wrong female...and gets his butt
kicked...Classic Stephen King surprises!
The final word on this game is;
if you don't mind that it's not Halloween, and that it
isn't a game per se, maybe F13's the product
for you. Maybe. It's also Macintosh compatible all the
way; even my dated Powerbook 1400 runs it perfectly. However,
when compared to recent 3D thrillers like Nocturne
and ShadowMan, this
seems like only half of what a Stephen King program could
have been (hence, only half a game...not enough for a thumbs-up).
| All text, Title
graphics, and pix not of reviewed product, are created by Techtite,
copyright 2000; all rights reserved. Screen captures of program
reviewed are discrete thumbnails, used only for the purpose of
review, and by no means represent any affiliation with Techtite and the distributors of that product. For further "legalese"
& disclaimers, click here... |
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