

The game allows the user to make decisions for an imaginary person (being therefore the player's alter ego) and shows what possible consequences these decisions could have on that person. Favaro, Ph.D., for the Commodore 64, DOS, Apple II, and the Apple Macintosh. Be patient :-)Īlter Ego is a role-playing video game released by Activision in 1986. Unfortunately, this game is currently available only in this version. If you prefer to use a java applet emulator, follow this link. This game is emulated by javascript emulator em-dosbox. For fullscreen press 'Right Alt' + 'Enter'. It makes for a well paced puzzle adventure, without all the needless mouse clicking usually associated with the genre.Game is controlled by the same keys that are used to playing under MS DOS. It’s clean and simple and has the exceptionally helpful feature of highlighting all interactive objects at the press of a button. You right click to examine, left click to use and moving the cursor to the bottom of the screen pulls up your inventory. The interface you use to solve said puzzles is also commendable for being simple and easy to use. The only downside of this is that the puzzles verge on being too easy. The puzzles themselves are always well signposted, and you don’t have to do the ridiculous guesswork that was often a staple of the classic point and clicks of old. Thankfully this is made a largely painless process. The game plays out from a semi-top down third person perspective, with the player having to clear a variety of different puzzles to forward. Everyone loves playing as the lovable rogue, but I found the blatant flaws and vices of Moor’s character rather refreshing. Most of them are deep or memorable enough to be worth your time and the main character of Tim does a good job of subverting the usual “nice guy protagonist” paradigm. The scripting is generally good, though some of the dialogue can come across as a little bit sub-par. The early parts of the game will keep you playing through, but the larger plot threads often feel a bit on the unsatisfying side. As plot is so key to the enjoyment of the point and click, it is a good thing that Alter Ego weaves in sub-plots effectively, often in spite of a rather rambling story. A grander overarching narrative occurs involving the recent burial of a serial murderer and a plan to sail to America in search of a better life. The story begins with Timothy Moor, an orphan and self professed rogue, narrowly avoiding arrest after attempting to stow away on a ship to Plymouth. The plot tends to ramble a bit, but some strong characters make up for this
