I remember getting The Neverhood at a local Software Etc. in the mall. I think Topanga mall in California, actually- probably 1997 or so.

The most intriguing thing about the game was that they made it completely in claymation, which is still still pretty unheard of (even the spiritual successor, Armikrog, is going to have some CG from the sound of it). I mentioned this before in another thread, but I have a love for claymation. There's always been something intriguing about it to me. It has a look, that is defined by it's meticulous shot by shot style of animation, and everything about it tends to be exaggerated- often (I would imagine) to save frames and therefore time.

The Neverhood is no exception to this, really. In fact it maybe does it more so than most claymation, and I would guess that was due to time constraints. It is not uncommon in The Neverhood for a frame of animation to hold longer than normal, or a movement to transition to another in a way that is uniquely claymation but also a tad off. It's not done in a bad way, mind you. It's just weird, and I like weird, so that's ok with me. It reminds me a lot of older Anime. Often, in older anime, they would hold a still frame for longer than necessary, and even just animate some form of color and line movement in the background to express something but for an exaggerated amount of time (it's possible this is still done). This is sort of what The Neverhood animation trades in, and does so mostly successfully.

I still enjoy the jokes, the tree that makes you burp and Willie (who you really don't know much about at the particular point in the game) dropping a flower in a pot on your head for some reason when you look up as he calls to you. It's very clever, and sometimes cute (the robot that loves his teddie bear comes to mind).

The story is done in an environmental way. You find video cartridges in various rooms and insert them into a viewer to get pieces of the back story. It is required you find all of these to even finish the game. This is another thing I would guess was done due to possibly time and money constraints. It's not bad, and helps to further give a sense of mystery to the world. Since it's a fairly linear game for the most part I don't feel lost. The interesting thing, to me, that I never noticed before was the games strong lenience on Christian philosophy. It's essentially the story of creation (as done in a way to suit a world made of Klay, and the game has a sense of this element which creates it, and mentions it in passing in things you can read or see within the game). It's probably for the best the game is self aware in this way, as the scenery (as claymation back drops go) seems very rushed. Again, I do suspect it was due to time and money, but one fairly obviously thing they rushed was the back grounds. The scenery often has a very muddy consistency- as if they slathered on the clay onto the back drop in a hurry. It does fit the story, as you come to find this world was created not long before you awoke, so you could also presume this was mildly intentional.

I really like the way the game looks, nonetheless (again, I have a softspot for claymation), and more often than not I found myself again enjoying looking at the world of The Neverhood.

The sound design in this game is mostly fantastic. Minus a few technical irks (such as Klaymans walking- which I mention later) it's a lot of fun. Very cartoon sounding effects for the most part, which are done well and fit the comedy the game goes for.

The music is incredible. I think it's probably one of my favorite soundtracks in an adventure game, ever... still. Terry S. Taylor did a brilliant job at making a crazy, twisted, sometimes somber, often spastic soundtrack. I think there's a total of like... 40 songs or something in this game. Maybe not, but there's a ton and everyone one of them is so much fun to listen to (with the crown jewel probably being The Neverhood theme itself). As a kid I loved the sound track so much I copied it to a cassette tape so I could listen to it more. Such a great sound track.

I do remember in the demo (I still have somewhere) the music is actually different and the music in that is also really good- I don't remember if it featured any of the songs in the actual game I only remember that they are different. The music was another big reason I got the game, though, as when I played the demo (now that I recall) the music really stood out; it's just so incredibly well done. I can't gush over the music enough.

I do have to mention the puzzles now, though. I think there are some really frustrating things about this game (I have always felt this way). For instance, the games INCESSANT need to back track. Now I played this game a lot when I got it, so playing it again over a decade later I did find the answers to things just by memory sometimes, and I knew how grueling certain things were (such as you have to find all the video cartridges just for example, I knew that was a requirement to finish so I made sure not to forget- although I did still manage to forget one and had to backtrack for it) but it still weighs on you when you have to do it. I know it was/is an adventure game trope, and the most unpopular one at that. I feel a lot of good classic adventure games found smart ways to back track but still instill a sense of discovery while doing so. The worst thing is always forgetting something or not knowing you needed something you didn't get so you have to find it which means walking all the way back to somewhere on the other side of the game world. It's compounded in The Neverhood because there is a constant stream of things you have to do and often you don't really realize what something does because it triggers something for later or you cant get something until you do something else. Sometimes its a small thing (like turning on the water) and others it feels obscure until you stumble on it later (like the foghorn button door). Thankfully the game is never picky about skipping cut scenes so moving around the world is mostly easy to do and quick, but it gets slowed at times by certain means of travel (such as using the transporter) and the way Klayman walks sometimes makes me want to bash my head into the desk because it's slower on the third person scenes than it is on the first person ones and it cant be skipped when its third person (due to it not being cut scenes when he walks)- there's also something I cant place about how he walks I cant stand either. I think it's mainly the volume of his foot steps.

The puzzles themselves are smartly designed; consisting of sound puzzles, sliding puzzles, a memory puzzle, a switching puzzle (that involves dynamite which is actually a fairly simplistic puzzle), and environmental puzzles- among, probably, others . The puzzles themselves usually make sense, and the most annoying thing for me is that most of them always change so even if you remember what to do you still have to figure it out again. I like to move along when I'm replaying a game, so that slightly annoys me when they do that but I know that is kind of silly. Still... slider logic puzzles. Has anyone ever liked those? haha

This game unfortunately came out too late- having released at the end of the Adventure game domination (actually just as the genre was "dieing") so the game was a financial failure. I always thought that was unfortunate, as adventure games go it is a smartly made one. It has several moments that annoy the hell out of me still (and the amount of note taking you have to do- I still am not sure if I think it's smart or annoying the things that I have to write down for this game) but all in all I still enjoy going to The Neverhood. It's a weird place, with varying degrees of beautiful scenery, amazing claymation cutscenes that are fun to watch, and some alright puzzles that annoy the hell out of me. Although, I still feel smart when I solve a puzzle (although less so because often I can remember the answer) and I enjoy the absurdity of the worlds context.

So, in closing I'll just say that I really enjoy The Neverhood still. I do have a lot of nostalgia for it, but playing it again is a reminder of the things I both hate about some adventure games and the things that I love. I hope with Armikrog they go beyond what they did with The Neverhood. They can leave out things like the hall of records (which is 38 screens of text [I think] on a wall that you have to walk all the way down for a video cartridge) and finding ways to not backtrack, or at least backtrack in more interesting ways and I'd probably be happier with it. All in all, though, it's still a one of a kind adventure. You wont see an all claymation video game anywhere else.

Gallery

As always, a photo dump at the end. Enjoy!