In short, Barrow Hill is a dark and moody point-and-click adventure that deserves far more than 2.6.
Barrow Hill is a standard point-and-click adventure game set in the English countryside in a fictitious town of the same name. Well, not so much a town really, but more like a "blink and you'll miss it" pit stop on the way to bigger and better things. However, this rest stop has much more to offer than a simple hotel and gas station. Fueled by years of rumors and legends concerning the disappearance of a group of travelers, tourists come from miles around to see the ancient stone ruins and healing wells within Barrow Hill's limits.
What you were doing in the town, we'll never know, but it soon becomes apparent that you won't be leaving anytime soon, since your car breaks down at the beginning of the game. This accompanied with short lasting power surges and a real lack of many things resembling civilization immediately adds a feeling of desperation to this first person adventure. Oh, and did I mention the fact that it just so happens to be the night of the Autumn Equinox? That's right, you are in for twelve hours of total darkness, something that is more than a little frightening in a town surrounded by dense woods.
At the beginning of the game, you're left on your own to find a way out of town. The only person you actually meet is a man named Ben who works at the gas station along the only road in town. Shaken and visibly terrified, Ben warns you to leave town; he says that "they have been awakened" and that they are out to get everyone. They being the guardians of the ancient stone circle buried deep within the woods.
Seven stone pillars stand in a circle, each representing a different land-made material, like water and salt. After years of negotiations, an archaeological dig has finally been approved for the sight. Led by a man named Conrad Morse, the dig was opened only a few weeks before everyone around started to die. The dig, as you'll quickly learn, has disturbed the balance of the stones, releasing the guardians who are out for revenge on the villagers who disrupted their land, and it's up to you to set things right.
The game is set in a very small section of land, with the gas station being the center "hub," if you will. The game's story may be linear, but the order in which you find your items is not. Every area of the map is opened once you find a lantern (which happens within the first ten minutes of game time) and where you go from there is up to you. This is one of the game's big negatives, since you may end up finding items that you can't use for some time or not being able to find the items you need right away.
Along the way, you will gain advice and clues from journal and news clippings, as well as from the game's only other main character, a radio host named Emma Harry, who will contact you via cell phone. The voice acting isn't as bad as other reviews would have you believe, and the addition of a camera phone like aspect, which allows you to see who you are talking to, adds a "Blair Witch Project" sort of feel to the game, when Emma starts talking about how she is being hunted.
Since the game is set on such a small land area, it won't take long to learn every detail of the land without the help of the map. While this takes away from the overall stress of the game, the developers made sure you could never be too comfortable when they added in random encounters with the circle guardians. These encounters are the only way in which to die in the game, but can easily be avoided by simply turning around and running. However, if you're madly clicking, trying to quickly make your way from point A to point B, be prepared to pay for it with your life.
In true "horror" style, there are various instances set up for quick scares, like a bird flying right in front of your face, or the floor giving way below you. Since the game takes place in first person, these instances can be truly scary. I'll even admit I jumped at least once.
What the game has in terms of scare factor it adds to with its graphical appeal. The environments are more like photographs than interactive landscapes, which means that they could add all the detail they wanted to the backgrounds, and add they did. Dark shadows and foliage surround you on your many trips into the woods, and the miniature spotlight provided by your lantern truly makes you feel as if you are walking through haunted territory.
To round out the fear factors is the sound department, which provides more of those instant scares with loud booming drums mixed with creepy voices and the howling of animals. As to be expected, the musical score will grow and change depending on the level of danger you are about to find yourself in, which makes venturing into that dark barn or into that murky swamp all the more suspenseful.
While the game may take place during twelve hours of complete darkness, I'm very sad to say that it won't take you near that long to complete the storyline. There are two endings available, with one adding only about ten minutes to your overall time. You can easily finish the game in less than three hours, and once you see the ending you may very well be left wanting more.
Where the ending was the main aspect that left something to be desired, everything leading up to it makes the game worth the time, especially since it is so short. It may not be the best point and click game to have ever been released, but Barrow Hill should definitely receive some credit for trying something different. Too many times, games are based on crime dramas and whatnot, challenging you to find the serial killer or terrorist before it's too late, but Barrow Hill takes a completely different route. At least, I don't believe I've seen another game like this based around archaeology.
Overall, Barrow Hill may not have reinvented the wheel when it comes to the adventure genre, and it may have taken one too many cues from the film "The Fog," but it didn't fail either. It's definitely a breath of fresh air in terms of independent developments, and if you do manage to find a copy, no matter how rare they might be, do yourself a favor and pick it up. You're bound to enjoy it while it lasts.
Review part of grrlgamer.com. Full review and screenshots at: http://grrlgamer.com/review.php?g=barrowhill