Last Exam

An interesting game that may have until now passed below many gamers radar, is the curiously entitled Last Exam. Set in an alien rich space-age futuristic, and, dare I say even Star Trek(ish) environment, you are playing the character Cadet Bradley as he prepares for his ‘last exam’ (hence the imaginative title) before joining the Galactic Fleet Military Academy and living out his dream.

This game is speckled with tasks which you get to interact with and undertake. Whether this is to chat with aliens and resolve puzzles (e.g. in the beginning you will speak with an alien who’s wanting a cocktail from the bar, so if you can take the hint, you pick up the empty glass and go to the bar and have a cocktail made which you then give to the alien who’ll tell you that a letter which may be of interest has been left at the bar). This is a little like Curse of Monkey Island with the little tasks and chats with characters you come across. I would say however, that Monkey Island is undoubtedly the champion of this due to the wit and mini-games.

In this sort of roundabout fashion you will undertake seemingly unrelated tasks which culminate in the successful completion of your goal. This indeed takes a bit of exploring combined with some lateral thinking and being able to solve some puzzles by taking note of some invariably subtle hints.

With this sort of puzzle solving manner this game is indeed flawless in its delivery and actually quite enjoyable. Once you’ve got your bearings you will be able to understand what needs to be done in order to get to the next stage. The only couple of things that lets this game down a little is the rather poor graphics (think back to classic Amiga games and you’ll have a rather close idea) and the slow fashion your character moves in (yes it may be set in space, but we don’t all have ages to watch him walk from one place to another).

It’s fairly safe to say that the tasks are pretty routine, which does have the overall appeal of the game for me. True there are plenty of activities and quite a few puzzles to resolve but I do have to say that it will probably wear quite thin after all and no doubt will only prevent people seeing this game through to its conclusion. Ironically rather than it be about the Last Exam, it seems more about everything but the exam itself.

Seldom does an exam and the words ‘fun’ or ‘exciting’ become linked and sadly this game is no exception. It is enjoyable and does have some perks but it does feel like swimming in toffee at times to get from point A to point B.

Rating 76%

Positives

Nice interaction between characters

Some good puzzle solving

Not bad music

Negatives

A little confused – like the developers had a good idea but it got lost somehow along the way

Graphics is a bit of a letdown

There’s no way of speeding up your movements

Controls are a little fiddly