Score
Gameplay:	6
Graphics:	8
Sound:	4
FunFactor:	5
PlasmaFactor:	8
Overall:	6.2

Keepsake Review
April 21, 2006 by Jillian Ryan

by Jillian Ryan - April 21, 2006

After picking up its box, one might ask, "What exactly is Keepsake?" The answer: a third person Myst-style point and click puzzle game. Keepsake is truly entertaining and challenging… if you’re a thirteen year old girl with a lot of time on your hands.

Point and Click

Keepsake places you in the shoes of Lydia, a teenage girl who was recently accepted to the magical Dragonvale Academy. Upon arriving at the academy though, Lydia discovers that everyone has mysteriously disappeared, including her best friend Celeste. After coming across Celeste’s most treasured keepsake, Lydia is sure that something horrible has happened to everyone and it is up her to solve the mystery of Dragonvale Academy.

Keepsake is definitely one of the easiest games to simply pick up and play. As soon as you start the game you’re taken into a conversation between Lydia and a peddler. He explains all of the basic controls and gives you ample time to try out everything to make sure you understand exactly what you’re doing. The controls are incredibly simplistic, simply point with your mouse to the area you want Lydia to move to and click. If she’s unable to go to that area, your curser will become a red "X". At the bottom part of the screen is the menu. From there you can choose to go through Lydia’s book bag which holds all of the items you’ve picked up or go to the menu screen. A small question mark is also part of the menu, and when clicked it opens up the innovative "Active Hint System". The hint system will help you through the more challenging puzzles and also direct you if you don’t know where to go next.

Being a huge Myst fan, I was eager to get my hands on Keepsake. The third-person perspective was actually a nice change, allowing me to see my character and more of my environment. Many people weren’t too taken to Myst due to how slowly the game advanced, and Keepsake is no different. The gameplay is very monotonous and time consuming as you have to run back and fourth throughout a massive castle and its grounds looking for clues. There is very little actual interaction with the game. Many PC games involve actual use of the keyboard, whereas in Keepsake, the mouse is your best friend. Point and click is taken to the highest degree.

If you’re a fan of puzzle games, Keepsake can keep you mildly entertained as you go from one puzzle to the other. Though none of the puzzles will truly have you scratching your head and yelling at the screen they are rather simplistic and fun, making the game enjoyable… if you’re thirteen. Most of the game unfortunately isn’t even puzzles. It is more of a run around until you find the piece to one thing and then run and find another piece of something else. If there had been a handful more puzzles placed in the game, it may have been a bit more enjoyable to play.

Pre-rendered for the Win

Pre-rendered backgrounds usually mean one thing: beauty. Keepsake has simply stunning backgrounds with compelling lighting and shadows that fill out the environment. Every single room or piece of forest is eye candy. Everything is lush and I caught myself stopping and staring at the background more than a few times. The lighting is nothing short of dynamic. It adds a 3-D feel to everything and truly engages the player into their surroundings.

Now as beautiful as the background is, the characters are that simplistic. The characters only have a few basic movements that they demonstrate while talking. The faces never change, therefore never really showing the emotions of the characters. The cut scenes are a flash back to 1990, with disproportionate character designs and very minimal movement. If you’re able to overlook choppy character models and lacking cut scenes then Keepsake is truly not that bad to behold. I caught myself only looking at my curser and the background most of the time in an attempt to ignore Lydia’s lacking movement.

Background Music Please!

Voiceovers usually instill hope that a game will have a bit more dimension to it. Sadly the voiceovers in Keepsake leave the player wanting more. Lydia is quite monotone and sounds more like a record then a lost desperate teenage girl. The other NPC’s you encounter also have voiceovers, some better than others. For instance, the peddler you frequently come across has a goofy Italian accent, which helps round out his character. If there had been more time spent on the voices then Keepsake would have surly drawn me more into the story, yet instead it had me rolling my eyes every time Lydia said anything.

Background noise and soundtracks play a big part in games, helping the player get into the mood and atmosphere of the game. Keepsake had only bits and pieces of background music from time to time. Say you enter the library; there is beautiful calm music in the background, but once you exit that room the music abruptly stops. Usually all you hear is Lydia’s footsteps and whatever is going on in the background, such as a babbling brook. The ambient noises are well done though, I will say. Chirping birds, creaking cabinets and flowing water all are done nicely but getting over the lacking soundtrack is quite a hurdle.

Don't Doze Off

I can admit I honestly fell asleep at the computer playing Keepsake. The game is not terrible and is defiantly not the worst game I’ve ever played. Yet, it lacks in interesting music and any form of action or even suspense. Even the puzzles which were meant to define Keepsake in the genre failed to meet expectation. They were easy and were too far spaced out, making the player simply run around looking for things to do. The repetitive nature of the game only deducts more points from the fun factor, making Keepsake lean more towards the boring end of the scale.

Oh so Pretty

The beauty of the environments stands out above all other factors of the game. Everything is done with an incredible amount of detail and devotion. Simply running around the castle grounds was a sight to behold. The leaves on the trees, flowers around the path, everything jumped out with lush vibrancy. I thoroughly enjoyed the visuals of Keepsake and would recommend it to anybody with an eye for detail and beauty. A game that rivals Myst in sheer beauty is definitely worth a look.

 

Not the Best, Not the Worst

Keepsake may not be a big hit among older or more seasoned players, but for the up and coming young ladies out there, it hits right on the money. With a heroine and a magical academy, female players that are a tad younger should feel right at home. Easy and comprehensive game play accompanied with enjoyable and painless puzzles makes Keepsake worth checking out, so long as you can overlook its small flaws.