Kether

We yet again probe the annals of the CD-i library in hopes of finding something to justify the purchase of this colossal failure. As far as I've found, Kether is the most worthwhile experience I've stumbled upon. That doesn't mean it's on par with the other titles in our defunct family; it just isn't as woefully inferior as it could have been.

Kether spins a Science Fiction yarn about traversing the hazards of space to unlock the mysteries of five specific temples. There is a generous amount of Full Motion Video (FMV) to be "enjoyed" along the way, but this is to be expected from these early CD-ROM games. The actual gameplay isn't too bad, though. The levels begin with a stellar voyage to each temple that will have you dodging asteroids and the like. The occasional city-scape is thrown in, and to pretty good effect, as it's always enjoyable to weave through sky-scrapers en route to hidden temples; at least I think it is. I just can't believe the ONLY route to these planets and temples had to be right through a damned asteroid field. Glaring logistics problems aside, these levels simply have you move your ship above, below, left and right of incoming obstacles. It's fun the first, second, and maybe third time, but the novelty wears a little thin after that.

Once the beginning level is completed and your ship arrives in orbit of the temple, access is gained by solving a puzzle. The puzzle is really nothing more than a memorization game with mysterious symbols as pieces. Once inside the temple, though, it becomes a first person shooter, with an overhead map to guide you. Your mission, once inside, is to locate specific rooms and confront the wandering monsters that always, for some reason, inhabit these kinds of digs.

The controls are responsive, if not too responsive at times, and the musical score is of the appropriately sci-fi synthy variety. If you have a CD-i I would suggest looking into this game. If not, you're really not missing anything new or wholly original.