This is just a quick, nostalgic sendup of a fantastic adventure game of a bygone era: Loom. It's blowing my mind that this game is over 20 years old; when I got my hands on it for the first time it was already a classic.
Loom is not a particularly challenging game; this was right about when the industry was overcorrecting a bit for the mind-punishingly difficulty of the early adventure games. That's alright, though, even if the puzzles are not particularly stumping they're fun to play with and solve, and though the graphics and sound are definitely dated, they have aged well. Loom would probably be right at home next to some well-polished "retro" indie titles of today's gaming world.
One of the major game mechanics of loom centers around "weaving" spells via musical notes, and so the game holds music close to its heart. Perhaps wisely, then, the game's creators opted to use Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake as the soundtrack, and there are certainly some inspirations taken from the movements of that score.
I have a lot of fond memories of this game, and one of the sadnesses of the tech of that era was that upgrading systems often made your old software incompatible - and that was especially true for games. LucasArts as well as the game's fanbase wrote patches and workarounds to keep the game running on newer systems, with mixed success. Now, though, the game is available on Steam for both Mac and PC, and by all accounts it's a solid, stable build.
If you're in the mood for a fun, low-stress, cleverly-presented stroll through a classic story, I can definitely recommend Loom. Last I looked, it was going for $4.99 on Steam, and that's a small price to play for a classic from a studio famed for its titles in the genre.
Loom is not a particularly challenging game; this was right about when the industry was overcorrecting a bit for the mind-punishingly difficulty of the early adventure games. That's alright, though, even if the puzzles are not particularly stumping they're fun to play with and solve, and though the graphics and sound are definitely dated, they have aged well. Loom would probably be right at home next to some well-polished "retro" indie titles of today's gaming world.
One of the major game mechanics of loom centers around "weaving" spells via musical notes, and so the game holds music close to its heart. Perhaps wisely, then, the game's creators opted to use Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake as the soundtrack, and there are certainly some inspirations taken from the movements of that score.
I have a lot of fond memories of this game, and one of the sadnesses of the tech of that era was that upgrading systems often made your old software incompatible - and that was especially true for games. LucasArts as well as the game's fanbase wrote patches and workarounds to keep the game running on newer systems, with mixed success. Now, though, the game is available on Steam for both Mac and PC, and by all accounts it's a solid, stable build.
If you're in the mood for a fun, low-stress, cleverly-presented stroll through a classic story, I can definitely recommend Loom. Last I looked, it was going for $4.99 on Steam, and that's a small price to play for a classic from a studio famed for its titles in the genre.
