Ten years before the acclaimed 2004 release of the PC game bearing the same title came GameTek’s version of Jack the Ripper. The 1994 DOS game revolves around the brutal killings committed by the serial killer who came to be known as Jack the Ripper. Whereas the later game places the killings in New York City under the pretense that Jack has fled Britain, the original adventure game stays much more true to the actual story. For those of you unfamiliar with that story, here is a very brief synopsis.
Ten years before the acclaimed 2004 release of the PC game bearing the same title came GameTek’s version of Jack the Ripper. The 1994 DOS game revolves around the brutal killings committed by the serial killer who came to be known as Jack the Ripper. Whereas the later game places the killings in New York City under the pretense that Jack has fled Britain, the original adventure game stays much more true to the actual story. For those of you unfamiliar with that story, here is a very brief synopsis.
In 1888 London several murders of prostitutes and women of ill repute took place in the London night. A man claimed responsibility for these murders by sending a letter of confession to a London news agency. Unfortunately,
he did not include his name, he was not arrested and the killings continued, each one more grizzly than the next, and often accompanied by letters describing the killer’s glee in the act. To this day, the case remains unsolved and has gone down in history as one of the greatest human mysteries ever known.
The game itself is a point and click style adventure game that is primarily text based. The dialogue and characters are very well done and remain true to the case. The protagonist is a Scotland Yard detective seeking to solve the Jack the Ripper case before any more killings occur. As this detective, you need to manipulate clues and objects to advance the text-based story line. You will use these clues to identify, interrogate and possibly arrest suspects. Your “war room” is your study, complete with files and a real drawing board for mapping out your theories.
Overall, the storyline on its own is very interesting, and the game makers did a good job of holding that interest level in their captivating version of Jack the Ripper. The graphics are not great, but the game play is mostly text, illustrations, maps and so forth, and does not require awesome three dimensional monsters or realistic gore like many action adventure games. The graphical user interface consists of scrolls and drop down menus that are easy to manipulate. Although the story itself was too complex to be solved in real life, this game is very playable and will keep you entertained, especially if you are fan of the classic murder mystery.
