Graphics: The highlight of the graphics in Immortals is its backgrounds, which are not merely pretty paintings used to frame the action. They are beautifully conceived and surprisingly dynamic; outdoor scenes can sometimes include streams of vehicle traffic moving here and there, while others feature NPCs taking care of their daily business.

Unfortunately, the rest of the graphical presentation is less successful. Character animations are stiff and don’t interact correctly with the backgrounds; Rhodan would frequently start to use a computer terminal by making typing motions in thin air, far from the device’s actual keyboard location. Lip-synch animations are also poor, but I suspect this is a localization problem that was never fixed. There are some significant clipping issues, with characters running through each other and robots walking through solid objects. And then there’s the old question: Where is he putting all of that stuff he’s picking up? Certainly not in the skin-tight jumpsuit he’s wearing.

Interface: Immortals uses the standard point-and-click setup, but adds a couple of welcome twists. I like having the inventory on the bottom of the screen at all times; pressing a keyboard button to access inventories can take you out of the action. Also, a small icon displays when you find doors to new areas. Once you use each door, every time you encounter it in the future the icon shows the scene on the other side, which makes navigating the sometimes labyrinthine levels easier. There’s also a sort of quest log that shows the objectives for each of the six levels of the game. These often offer cleverly worded hints that can help when you get stuck. Finally, pressing the “S” key scans the current scene for hotspots that should be clicked, making it easier for you to find vital items and locations.

Gameplay: The biggest stumbling block for adventure games is the intuitiveness of its puzzles, and herein lies Immortals’ biggest problem. Solving many of the game’s puzzles is frustratingly difficult without a walkthrough. There are solutions that would have never come to me if I didn’t have a guide handy, mostly because there are few if any clues to point you in the right direction. The program prohibits progress from certain areas until all available items are collected, but there’s no character dialogue to reinforce this, forcing you to helplessly backtrack until everything is retrieved. Also, examining inventory items sometimes adds other items to your stash. There’s no mention of this in the manual; I was hopelessly stuck and ready to start over at the end of the first level until I read Mondra’s notebook, which added the item I needed to start Level 2. Additionally, every level in the game includes considerable retracing of steps, stretching playing time out much longer than it needs to be.

Sound FX: Ambient sounds are effectively creepy in spots, especially in the spooky, deserted, underground mining facility. Voice acting is passable, though I find it odd that, after three millennia, Rhodan still has not lost his Brooklyn accent.

Music: The thin music score in Immortals is mostly used for backgrounds during cut scenes, and it successfully adds to their effectiveness. Adventure games don’t usually lend themselves to complex musical presentations, so the lack of a more interesting score is not a big problem.

Difficulty: Navigating around the Immortals universe is usually effortless, but the puzzles are frustrating, due to their concentration on procedure. There were numerous times throughout the game when I needed the walkthrough to point out important locations and items that I had missed. Successfully completing the game without one requires the patience of a saint and the instincts of a detective, with a little dumb luck thrown in for good measure.

Overall: Perry Rhodan’s fan base will be excited to see their hero on their monitors for the first time, and will no doubt excuse the game’s excessive backtracking and obtuse puzzles. As for the rest of us, good graphics aren’t enough to make a game this flawed attractive enough to spend the time to finish. There’s a rich universe to be explored here, and hopefully there will be a more successful expedition one day down the road.