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Gateway 2: Homeworld  Released: 1993 Manufacturer: Legend In Brief: Involving sci-fi adventure with first rate puzzles and a good storyline.
Gateway 2: Homeworld begins as well as any adventure game ever has. Sitting at home, you suddenly find yourself about to be killed, and the first part of the game is a matter of rushing around trying to avoid that. The synthesized music urgently pounds as you desperately (and quickly, you're on the clock!) scrabble about trying to save yourself and the rest of the human race.
Involving, exciting, and yet, it's just another of Legend's illustrated text games, proof that with good puzzles and a good story, a low-tech game can still be as enjoyable as any 7 CD, full-video mega-production.
The sequel to Legend's first-rate Gateway surpasses the precursor. While Gateway was rather episodic, Gateway 2 moves smoothly and logically from your living room to an ancient spaceship and beyond, with puzzles that are intelligent and logical. There is not one puzzle in this game that I would describe as unfair, and the puzzles are nicely gradated, unlike previous Legend games I've played where there would be a ton of really easy puzzles followed by a ton of really hard ones.
Gateway 2 is a game that has done no less than restored my faith in adventure games and myself. I've been playing a few different adventure games, Discworld, Legend of Kyrandia, others, and I keep getting bored, or frustrated, and I think, am I stupid? Have my mental capabilities degenerated? Are these games really full of unfair, poorly designed puzzles or needless busywork, or am I just a complete and absolute moron. But then something like Gateworld 2 comes along to tell me yes, if I am presented with a good game with logical puzzles then I will enjoy it just as surely as I have enjoyed good adventure games since I first played Adventure many years ago.
I would say that all of the puzzles are solvable without hints, even though I actually did need little hints a couple of times to get through. The story is involving and believable, particularly the early episodes, when a number of unexpected things happen. The story doesn't entirely keep its momentum, but it's always interesting. The music is pretty good, although Legends little synthesizer riffs can get old after awhile. Like Gateway, this is an intelligent, thoughtful, imaginative game that does pretty much everything right.
Mike Verdu and Glen Dahlgren seem to be the main names in the credits. Good work, boys. -- Charles Herold -1999
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