The Beast Within: A Gabriel Knight Mystery is an interactive movie, point-and-click adventure released by Sierra in 1995. Unlike the first game in the series, it was produced entirely in full motion video; would I be able to overcome my aversion to FMV in order to finish it?
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Following from the success of Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers in 1993, a sequel was released a year and a half later. But this time around Sierra decided to use full motion video (FMV) rather than the 16-bit VGA graphics featured in the original game. In an interview with Game Informer, talented writer Jane Jensen said that the storyline for The Beast Within: A Gabriel Knight Mystery was much more involved than that of its predecessor because of this: “[The FMV] limited the amount of interactivity we could do. I specifically tried to put a lot more intrigue in the plot, so even though the interactivity was easier, there would still be enough meat to keep people engaged.”
I remember being a kid in the mid-nineties and the latest thing on the gaming scene was ‘interactive movies’. Hollywood had invaded the industry and developers now had to worry about blue-screens and actors as much as puzzles and gameplay. Unfortunately however, very few FMV titles were actually any good; the method seemed like a good idea but the emphasis almost always ended up being more on ‘movie’ than on ‘interactive’. Eventually it was found to be too expensive and complicated, hiring actors to film every possible action within the constraints of a game, and with the advent of 3D technology FMV gradually fell to the sidelines.
Gabriel always seems to find himself in awkward situations.
It was because of my previous bad experiences with FMV titles that I went into The Beast Within with a bit of a heavy heart. That, and the fact that the lovely Kevin Kutlesa from The Mental Attic had recently told me that Tim Curry’s original depiction of Gabriel Knight had been replaced by Dean Erickson! How could anyone top the drawling, lady-loving sleazebag from the first game in the series? I therefore really wasn’t expecting to enjoy the sequel at all but I’ll hold my hands up: it did in fact grow on me over time. Yes, I didn’t enjoy the gameplay as much or Erickson’s interpretation of the loveable rogue, but it’s probably the best FMV game I’ve ever played.
While it isn’t essential to have played Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers before embarking on this title, I think the majority of players would find it beneficial although their liking of the new graphics and actors may be damaged because of it. The first game will help to explain a lot of the plot at the beginning of The Beast Within and fill in how a New Orleans book store owner and author ends up owning a huge castle in Germany, and why the villagers are drawn to him for help when something mysterious happens.
He may not be played by Tim Curry, but Gabriel is still a ladies’ man.
The storyline takes place a year after the voodoo murders of the original instalment and we find Gabriel ensconced in his family’s seat in Schloss Ritter in Rittersberg. His attempts at trying to recreate the success of his first novel are interrupted by the locals who ask him to investigate the death of a young girl. Meanwhile, his acerbic assistant Grace Nakimura grows tired of being left on the sidelines in New Orleans and begins to work the case on her own, learning of the German village’s history and one of Gabriel’s ancestors who faced a creature which called itself the Black Wolf. As the story continues, she discovers the fate of King Ludwig II of Bavaria and the history of Wagner’s missing opera, and author’s enquiries lead him to a group of men who indulge in their primal natures led by the charismatic Baron Von Glower. The both face their own temptations and trials: can Grace come to terms with her feelings for Gabriel in order to save him and can he overcome the beast within?
As with the original game, Jensen obviously did some serious research on German history and culture. Although the story is fictional, some characters and geographic landmarks such as the castle museums of Bavaria are real. My only disappointment with the plot was that its ending was given away fairly early on in the title through a clue uncovered by Grace and after this, none of the so-called ‘twists’ were really that surprising. However, that’s not to say I didn’t enjoy it; despite its predictability, I thought the storyline was great and it will keep many a gamer gripped for a number of hours.
Another well-researched game by Jane Jensen.
As well as the move to FMV, the title’s interface is a radical change from the first instalment in the series. Rather than feature a menu of icons representing various actions – pretty standard for a lot of classic point-and-clicks – the player is presented with a cursor which highlights hotspots in the environment and performs a designated action when clicked. Unfortunately, this does cause some problems as it’s not always clear what’s going to happen; for example, you may click on an item to look at it and understand what it is, but your character will automatically operate the object and thus another puzzle is ‘solved’.
The inventory interface also takes a little getting used to. Rather than choosing an action and then applying to an item, as is the case with most other adventure games, the order is reversed: once chosen, an object can be examined, combined with other items or used with hotspots on screen. On a positive note, your character will read any notes or books out loud when they’re selected meaning that you don’t have to struggle to read any terrible handwriting.
As with Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers, the story unfolds over a sequence of days and each has a required set of actions to be performed before moving onto the next. What’s different this time however is that players take on the role of both Gabriel and Grace, switching between the two for alternate chapters. For me this provided a great change in gameplay focus with the author’s scenes being more danger-filled and his assistant dedicating herself to researching and uncovering the past. Their love-hate relationship remains, although towards the end of the game Grace finally confronts her feelings for Gabriel – even if she doesn’t admit them to him.
Unfortunately, the switches between cutscenes and play aren’t seamless and this slows down gameplay. For almost every object it’s possible to examine, a video sequence is loaded after which Gabriel or Grace step into frame; cut to item; cut back to a close-up of our heroes for a comment or simply a raised eyebrow. The sequence then closes with the character stepping out of frame, and the player is returned to them standing stiffly to attention awaiting further instructions. As well as this having the effect of making actions seem very unrealistic, it can be a bit disorientating: your character will often exit a cutscene in one direction and be standing in the opposite when you’re returned to play.
Will Grace ever admit her true feelings to Gabriel?
Luckily you can skip through any videos in order to speed up the gameplay but this does have its own problems. For example, at one point I accidentally clicked my mouse, resulting in me entirely missing Gabriel’s lawyer’s important translation of a German conversation and being unable to replay it. There’s the chance that players will blithely click through cutscenes thinking they’ve already seen them and then become stuck when a vital piece of information is missed, so unfortunately it’s for the best to watch every video even though this can become tedious.
Puzzles are conversation- and inventory-based, although the introduction of the one-click interface simplifies the game dramatically; this is great for gamers new to the point-and-click genre but for experienced players like myself, it can feel as if there wasn’t an awful lot to do. During my research I discovered that many reviewers disliked Grace’s chapter where it was necessary for her to examine three museums across Germany in order to uncover clues about Ludwig’s past. For me however, this was probably one of the best sections of the title because it seemed like there was more plot and puzzle-solving to get involved in.
Grace needs to scour this museum for clues… if the receptionist will let her in.
Grace and Gabriel’s narratives eventually converge towards a ‘climatic’ ending in the basement of an opera house. Sadly, the final sequence of actions is timed and seems only solveable through trial and error. I’m not a big fan of timed puzzles and I found this combination frustrating because I couldn’t figure out whether I’d made a wrong move or simply mistimed it. There are other similar sequences in the game but they’re all easily handled, and the ‘Try Again’ feature means you won’t have to start again from your last save point.
Speaking of our two protagonists, I feel it’s important to point out some character changes here. Grace was full of biting sarcasm in the original title and it’s the reason why we loved her: always ready to put Gabriel in his place and tell him to ‘stop looking down her shirt’. But in The Beast Within she comes across as an extremely green-eyed person and her misplaced jealously at Gedde had me screaming ‘CAT FIGHT!’ at the screen on several occasions. As mentioned above, the role of the author was recast since Jensen felt Curry didn’t look the part and this won’t go down too well with fans of Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers. Erickson’s take on the character is totally different; I felt like shaking Gabriel when he had a massive clue on his hands but couldn’t make an intuitive leap and figure out its meaning.
Mmm-mmm, dinner!
Given modern technology, it would be a lie to say that The Beast Within’s graphics don’t look dated. But if you consider that in 1995 FMV technology was seen as the next big thing, it’s actually quite impressive. Sierra comes out on top when comparing their title to other FMV games of the time but it does have some issues. As well as the cutscenes being disorientating as mentioned above, the grainy and low-resolution videos could put some gamers off and, when moving around outside of cutscenes, your character’s feet tend to move faster than the ground. Either there’s a problem with the animation or it was a particularly icy winter in Rittersberg that year.
The biggest change in sound would be that of Gabriel’s accent: the drawling New Orleans voice from the original has been replaced with something less over the top. While this means it’s more realistic, I can’t deny that I miss Curry’s ladies’ man! At times during the gameplay the voice-acting changes in volume and distance, breaking continuity, but other than that the audio is great. The climatic opera sequence towards the end of the game was actually written by Jensen and her husband Robert Holmes and, while it went on a bit too long for my liking, it’s a remarkable piece of work.
This title is probably the best FMV game I’ve ever played.
As with the first game, The Beast Within does have some replay value as each puzzle completed or new discovery adds to an overall score displayed at the top of the screen. Players aren’t allowed to progress unless they’ve finished all essential tasks for the current day but it’s possible to leave some lesser jobs behind, resulting in a lower score.
For an ‘interactive movie’, The Beast Within: A Gabriel Knight Mystery does make a genuine attempt to provide adventure and puzzle elements and succeeds better than other FMV games. It perhaps lacks the atmosphere and intricacies of Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers but for me, it was a fairly good follow-up. I’m surprised I enjoyed it as much as I did considering my aversion to FMV (and a lack of Tim Curry) and won’t be long before I find myself picking up the third title in the series, Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned.
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