A genuinly creepy experience, and a emotionally charged ending and story. One of the best adventure games ever conceived
You star as Max. Sanitarium starts off as Max steps into his car and calls a loved one to reveal some "important" information. Supposedly, Max had made a astounding discovery in the not yet revealed field of work, that had been quite obvious. While promising to tell all the details when home, Max attempts to stamp his brake at the turn, whereupon too late he discovers that the brakes have been slashed.
The game begins as you wake inside a Asylum of sorts, with no memory previous occurences. This simple begining sets up a fantastic story.
One of the first things you'll realize when you play Sanitarium is the great artwork. Characters are all interesting and memorable, and the pre-rendered backgrounds are both disturbing and beautiful to behold. But to tell the truth, Sanitarium is not for the weak of stomach, at times I wonder how the game managed to acheive only a Teen rating, instead of Mature. Certain scenes are incredibly gory (the sight of a disgusting experiment in a bloody lab) and others are just a bit too disturbing to look at for too long (small "cyclops" children trapped in grill crates).
Despite it's graphic appearance, Sanitarium is never too bloody or gory just for gore's sake. Everything is used in the perfect context to create the perfect scene, instilling the right emotions and fears inside a person at the right time.
But along the line of graphics are a few of the irregularities. Some character animations are choppy at best, and don't fit with the great models. Backgrounds can sometimes be off-key with the characters in them. And at several times, graphical glitches occur, although not too major to deter from the overall look.
Sanitarium really shines in the gameplay department. Although the game is certainly too short, (it can be finished in less than ten good hours by Adventure veterans) the experience is memorable while it lasts. Puzzles are never too difficult, and always involve a little investigation and logic on the player's part. Discussion with other characters is interesting, at some times disturbing, at others revealing. Everyone you meet in turn is memorable, and some of the characters are just too bizarre to forget.
Although navigation is pretty easy, the movement system is a bit annoying and cumbersome at first. Moving Max around consists of holding down the right mouse button, and pushing it in the direction you wish to move. Too many times I accidently stepped down stairs instead of walking along a narrow pathway. It quickly catches on at least, and the most trouble you'll have is the occasional misstep.
Although sound is fine and dandy, the voice acting suffers in some cases. Max's acting is sub-par, and some characters are just atrocious. This is even more bizarre crediting to the fact that some actors are superb. Sounds are sometimes wonky, and there's a definite lack of music. Otherwise the atmosphere set up by the menagerie of different sounds and graphics is perfect.
There you have it, if you want a good, short time, Sanitarium is worth picking up. Although it has it's collection of problems, these are too small to deter the game much, and Sanitarium still manages to please. But I can only award it so much credit, as there are some polish issues that could have been easily avoided. But Sanitarium's story alone makes it worth playing, and its great gameplay can only help more.