ELROY AND THE ALIENS

It's always a pleasure to see point 'n' click adventures appear, almost out of nowhere, that pay full tribute to the "fathers" of the genre. Elroy and the Aliens by Slovenian developer Motiviti appeared "quietly" about seven months ago on Steam, in a demo version, and I was quite impressed with how solid it was, both in terms of graphics and sound, as well as in terms of writing and characters. There were many indications, then, that, on the one hand, there was a bit of love and care for classic adventures from the development team, and on the other hand, that the full release could develop into something worthwhile. And thankfully, my intuition did not disappoint.

Elroy and the Aliens takes us back to the year 1993 and the fictional town of Slope City. The protagonist of the adventure is Elroy Deluna, a young engineer obsessed with building improvised rockets, but who faces serious economic difficulties in financing his projects. In order to get the attention of investors, he arranges an interview/demonstration of his latest rocket with the local newspaper, the Slope City News, in which Peggie Wolfe works, a dynamic journalist with a special interest in language learning and the work of Elroy's father, Diego.

Unlike the... "motorized" Elroy, his father was a famous archaeologist, with a rich literature, who disappeared from the face of the earth when he was five years old. Being practically an orphan, having never met his mother, Elroy, in the process of growing up, developed an aversion to archaeology, something he might have to re-evaluate after the rocket demonstration proved disastrous. Unfortunately, the homemade rocket, after being launched, ceased to obey the commands of the controller and crashed into the roof of his house. No harm is done, however, as this accident opened, literally and figuratively, a "gateway" to communicate with his father. So, at the point of impact, it was revealed that there was a strange device hidden where, when activated, it emitted a holographic message, which more or less confirmed that his father was not dead, but trapped in an unknown location near the mysterious Haani Pentagon.

Therefore, there is a strong possibility that Diego's last book, related to the Haani Pentagon, has a basis in fact and is not just a product of fiction. Elroy, having practically no choice, as his world suddenly changed from one moment to the next, and with the strong urgings of the enthusiastic Peggie, sets out with her on the difficult task of tracking down the trail of Diego Deluna. A journey that will take them even beyond the boundaries of our star system...

The premise of Elroy and the Aliens is largely judged as decent. It's nothing earth-shattering, although it does feature a fair amount of mystery until about halfway through the game, though its conclusion quickly becomes predictable. Nevertheless, we would undoubtedly describe it as well-written and complete. It has a coherent, clear structure and meaning, while its relatively light, "optimistic" atmosphere is accompanied by well-developed characters and tasteful humour, without resorting to slapstick escapades and cheap sensationalism. It's not at all easy not to overstep the boundaries you've set for yourself, and it's a great success that the people at Motiviti managed to keep the balance right up to the end of the roughly eight-hour adventure.

Duration which, of course, depends on the player's experience in adventure games. For someone who has played many adventures in his life, Elroy and the Aliens is not a high challenge, especially in the first three chapters of the game (out of ten), where accessible locations are relative few. Once we leave Slope City, the game begins to become more open-ended, with more points of interest, puzzles, and characters with whom we can interact and solve the problem they face. To our benefit of course.

So depending on the situation, we'll handle both Elroy and Peggie, but we'll never have to play with them in combination to solve a puzzle, like in Day of the Tentacle. Most of the time, the other character just follows the main one, giving us hints if we wish or just talking to him to learn more about him (mostly, of an encyclopedic nature). However, the game's puzzles fall within the expected range, ticking all the boxes of the genre: objects combining with the environment or with each other, choosing the right response to dialogue, and even solving small mind-puzzles. However, we have some objections to the latter, not because they're difficult (two or three of them tricked me though), but because they're too repetitive. For example, when we find ourselves in the desert, we will have to complete a similar puzzle five times, and later, when we reach the alien world, the frequency of repetition of identical puzzles becomes tedious.

The lack of a skip button might annoy some players who are not particularly fond of these puzzles, but with a little patience and perseverance, everything can be done (thank god there was no slide-puzzle). Besides, the controls of the game are not a problem, since everything is achieved by using the two mouse buttons (use, talk, examine, drag & drop to the inventory for items and so on). Remarkably, the hotspot indicator is optional as a mechanism, being disabled by default. However, in order to earn the related achievement, I didn't activate it and admittedly I didn't need it anywhere. There is no pixel-hunting at all, as all hotspots on each of the game's dozens of screens are prominent and clear, which may have contributed to the "ease" with which I overcame most obstacles/riddles.

However, despite all the patency of the difficulty level, which, I repeat, is not necessarily something that all players will come up with, playing Elroy and the Aliens was a very enjoyable experience. At no point in the game did I feel like I was doing a chore, as the game actually "flows" very nicely, it's easy to like the two main characters (Elroy and Peggie), and it's quite interesting that there are three different endings.

Which ending we watch depends on a (mostly moral) decision during the last act of the game. The differences between the endings are very significant, to the point of highlighting how influential even the most (seemingly) simple decisions can be for our lives in general. One of the endings even leaves promises for a sequel, which I hope wholeheartedly that they will be realized at some point in the future, as it is obvious that the creators of the game have thoroughly studied the "manual" of developing a good adventure.

Study that has been extended to the visual aspect, with its cartoonish graphics being very beautiful to the eye, with vibrant colours, well-drawn characters and decent kinematics. Kudos for the voice-overs, which are excellent in every way, but also for the soundtrack, which is placed in such a way that it doesn't distract the player, but smoothly accompanies his efforts for the next challenge.

In short, Elroy and the Aliens does not redefine the genre, but it's a very well-made, charming and complete adventure. It's a safe entertainment choice for the fans, while it would be a good suggestion for someone interested in getting involved with the enchanting world of point and click adventures for the first time.

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