Minimum system requirement 486DX/50mhz MB extended DOS Double speed DROM drive VGA. £49.99
JACK The Ripper has been given a new lease on life and instead of returning to his old haunt London in the late 19th century he is terrorising New Workers early in the 21st century. There is still a strange, Victorian aura about this game but Jack himself has taken to cyberspace with alacrity.
With a cast full of stars including Christopher Walken (Pulp Fiction, Batman Returns and The Deer Hunter, amongst others), Karen Allen (Raiders of the Lost Ark, Animal House) and Burgess Meredith (Grumpy Old Men, Rocky IIII) and a brilliant soundtrack from Blue Oyster Cult, including their biggest hit Don't Fear The Reaper, you cannot fail to be impressed.
If comparisons are to be made the game itself is not unlike 11th Hour 7th Guest or Myst.
In Ripper you play Jake Quinlan, a veteran crime reporter with the Virtual Herald to whom the Ripper exclusively corresponds. And basically your task is to get to him before he gets to you.
The game starts shortly after the Ripper's third murder and, after gathering some particulars, you head back to the office where the Ripper makes contact, informing you your girlfriend will be his next victim. As you would expect, it's all puzzle solving and evidence gathering from there on in.
While Ripper is your standard sort of point and click adventure, it does have some arcade like features. This is evident when you don your cyberhelmet and, try to break into some of the sites in cyberspace. These are protected by ICE (Intrusion Countermaseure Electronic) and you will often have to engage in combat against them before gaining access. ICE has many different guises and you could he faced with anything from electronic security guards to giant rats. Other ICE mechanisms prefer to deter you with cryptic puzzles. This adds a nice touch of variety and is a break away from the norm.
Ripper cost over 84 million to make and this shows in its slickness. Even if you manage to solve the mystery and catch the Ripper, you can still replay it three more times as there are four different endings. One gripe is the way the game directs you rather than you directing it, but if this does not perturb you, Ripper should enthral you for a long time.