Sadly, the rest of the game comes up short. While the graphics and art of the game go above and beyond modern titles, the gameplay takes so many steps back and to the side that it’s hard to tell what the developers were thinking. People play point and click titles to piece together puzzles and solve them, or to find clever ways to get around a problem. The game has plenty of puzzles (some may argue too many), but the solutions are often so absurd and out there that it completely removes you from the experience.

Rather than rely on your own intuition and wit to get through each problem, Perry himself seems to be pulling from whatever hidden reservoir of odd solutions title characters seem to always tap into, and a good majority of his solutions are so obscure or random that you’re more likely to say to yourself, “Why the hell would he have done that?” rather than “Oh, I get it!’

After solving most of the puzzles, there’s no real feeling of accomplishment. Not only is it Perry, not you, usually figuring things out, but after completing a puzzle you move right on to the next one and almost all the story progress is done via Perry talking to himself. Not exactly the kind of writing the original author would have wanted, I’m sure.

Thankfully, the game does do one thing which helps a bit and will hopefully become utilized in future point and click titles: the scanner. By using a scanner, you can see what you can interact with in each area making the days of randomly clicking around to find that one hidden pixel which will solve the puzzle you’ve been laboring over for the past hour a thing of the past. And trust me, in this game the feature is a godsend.

Like all games based on successful licenses from the written world, it’s a shame to see Immortals of Terra struggle so much in terms of overall direction. I’m sure in the vast Perry Rhodan landscape there’s more than enough material to make several blockbuster titles, yet this game fails to even make it out of the starting block. It may sound strange, but I’m sort of glad Perry Rhodan isn’t as big in the US as he is in Germany and Europe. Just imagine how much more disappointing this game would have been if the franchise had a gigantic rabid fan base.

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