George Lucas Weaves ‘Loom’

This summer’s release of Lucasfilm Games’ fantasy-adventure “Loom” was a much-anticipated event in computer gaming circles. It turns out to be only partially worth the wait.

Besides carrying the name of one of the most innovative entertainment companies in the world, “Loom’s” hype promised a radical rethinking of the traditional, and trite, adventure formula: Nebbish hero turns reluctant warrior and does battle with a progressively nastier array of supernatural beasties until the final confrontation with the Most Evil Being in the Universe. Unfortunately, that pretty much sums up what “Loom” is about.

As adventure games evolve toward truly interactive entertainments where the viewer-player and the director-programmer are one and the same, they are more and more becoming dependent on story and character to make them stand out in their genre. And it’s at that level where the writers of “Loom” most disappoint.

Like too many George Lucas movies, the technical fireworks of “Loom” mask a story that just doesn’t rise above the pyrotechnics. The result is a beautiful but soulless movie set.

The fantasy begins with an elaborately produced pre-story told on a 30-minute audiotape. It describes the mystical island of Loom, home to the ancient and powerful Guild of Weavers. The sect’s craft has evolved beyond the mere making of cloth. They have mastered the Pattern of the Universe, which is starting to come apart at its seams.

The game begins as the Guild Elders disappear, leaving only young Bobbin Threadbare, illegitimate son of the banished Lady Cygna, to find the source of the disturbance to the Pattern and to try to set things right. Bobbin’s quest takes him from Loom to the mainland and the homes of the other great guilds of the age. Along the way Bobbin meets the requisite challenges--a saucy dragon, an evil Bishop and, ultimately, Chaos itself. Bobbin dispatches adversaries with the Guild’s magical “drafts,” spells woven out of musical notes.

Technically “Loom” is a breakthrough. It pushes the envelope of adventure-game design and introduces some very clever playing innovations. Taking advantage of the rapidly improving computer sound systems, the designers of “Loom” have built a game that is far less dependent on words and a keyboard for play than just about anything else on the computer-game market. Spells are evoked through a combination of sound and pictures--and on the game’s highest playing level, by sound alone. Conventional “take,” “lift” and “look” typed commands are replaced with a simple mouse-pointing system. The mouse-controlled movement of Bobbin through the game’s terrain is wonderfully easy, even seamless.

“Loom” is obviously not just a sophisticated jump-and-shoot arcade game, nor is it a highly challenging adventure. But the innovations in sound and movement, combined with the beautiful graphics, the simple story and the refreshingly low body count, make “Loom” an attractive game for parents to play with young children. It’s a kind of electronic storybook composed in a metalanguage of attractive moving, and moveable, images that point the craft of storytelling toward a new Universe of its own.

“Loom” is published by Lucasfilm Games and distributed by Electronic Arts Distribution, San Mateo, Calif. It requires 512K RAM VGA, EGA, CGA, MCGA, or TANDY 16-Color. Joystick or mouse optional. Supports optional Ad Lib (TM) and CMS sound cards. Available in both 5 1/4- and 3 1/2-inch disks. Upgrades available for Roland MT-32 Sound Module or LAPC-11 Sound Card. Off-disk copy protection. $59.95.

MICROBIT: Accolade has recently acquired publishing and distribution rights to a new game featuring Elvira. The developers, Horror Soft, is a British software developer of horror specific games. Already released in Britain, “Elvira, Mistress of the Dark” is scheduled for release in early 1991.

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