Gadget: Invention, Travel, & Adventure (or Gadget: Past as Future) is a videogame or interactive movie

Interactive movie

An interactive movie is a video game that features highly cinematic presentation and heavy use of scripting, often through the use of full-motion video of either animated or live-action footage.-Philosophy:...

, first released by Synergy Interactive in 1993. Gadget resembles a point-and-click adventure game similar to Myst

Myst

Myst is a graphic adventure video game designed and directed by the brothers Robyn and Rand Miller. It was developed by Cyan , a Spokane, Washington––based studio, and published and distributed by Brøderbund. The Millers began working on Myst in and released it for the Mac OS computer on September...

, but with a strictly linear storyline culminating in a fixed finale. Thus it tends to be classified more as an interactive movie rather than a videogame. The story centers around a future dominated by retro technology from the 1920s and 1930s, especially streamlined locomotives and flying machines.

The game was originally released on 1 CD in 1993 by Synergy Interactive. A special edition of the game, Gadget: Past as Future, was later released on 4 CD in 1998 by Cryo Interactive. A companion volume of additional art and background plot material, Inside Out with Gadget, was also available as well as a DVD entitled Gadget Trips/Mindscapes. On March 23, 2011, a remastered version of Gadget: Past as Future was released for iOS by NTT Resonant Inc.

Plot

The game's plot takes place in an unspecified (albeit vaguely Eastern European) nation headed by the dictator Orlovsky. The protagonist is a government agent tasked with discovering the whereabouts of a missing scientist named Horselover Frost. He begins his quest in a third-floor room of a luxury hotel (which is in fact the headquarters of the government's intelligence arm). After collecting his belongings in a suitcase, the protagonist takes an elevator ride to the lobby, during which a boy replaces the case with another identical one containing various spy-related paraphernalia. In the lobby, the government's intelligence chief briefs the protagonist on his mission. The protagonist then moves to the central railway station. From this point on all the events of the story take place on trains or at the various stations (which include the national science institute) along the nation's main rail line. The player must engage in scripted conversations with various individuals, each of whom reveals pieces of information that advance the protagonist in his quest.

Credits

Directed by

• Haruhiko Shono
  Haruhiko Shono
  is a Japanese computer graphics artist. He has served as director for numerous computer games and has provided CG work for motion pictures with , where he serves as corporate representative...
  
  

Music Composed by

• Koji Ueno
  Koji Ueno
  is an award-winning Japanese composer, musician, arranger and keyboardist. He is noted for his unique style of music.He graduated from Nihon University's department of music at its faculty of art, and in 1978, began his career in music with his first music ensemble, 8&1/2, after which he worked...
  
  

Story Developed by

• Hirokazu Nabekura

Visuals

• Haruhiko Shono
• Minoru Kusakabe

Programming

• Hideyuki Aida
• Koji Katayama

Graphics

• Isao Konaka

Englishing

• David

Production Management

• Yoshie Ikeda
• Toshihiro Masumura
• Eri Osada

Producer

• Masanori Awata

Executive Producer

• Takahiko Nagashima

Other

• Akitsugo Doi
• Hiroko Ichikawa
• Tensay Ishiguro
• Masaaki Shina
• Yasuhiro Fujita
• Kenji Kimura
• Yasuo Ichige
• Mayumi Tanaka
• Masami Takahashi
• Makoto Sekikawa
• Akira Takahashi
• Hiroyuki Miura
• Shouzou Fuse
• Taizo Sugihara
• Tetsuko Ohta

Reception

The game was reviewed in 1994 in Dragon

Dragon (magazine)

Dragon is one of the two official magazines for source material for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game and associated products, the other being Dungeon. TSR, Inc. originally launched the monthly printed magazine in 1976 to succeed the company's earlier publication, The Strategic Review. The...

#212 by Ken Rolston

Ken Rolston

Ken Rolston is an American computer game and board game designer best known for his work with West End Games and the hit computer game series The Elder Scrolls...

 in the "Eye of the Monitor" column. Rolston gave the game a very positive review, stating "I'm a total fan of Gadget." According to Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro

Guillermo del Toro

Guillermo del Toro is a Mexican director, producer, screenwriter, novelist and designer. He is mostly known for his acclaimed films, Blade II, Pan's Labyrinth and the Hellboy film franchise. He is a frequent collaborator with Ron Perlman, Federico Luppi and Doug Jones...

 (director of Hellboy

Hellboy (film)

Hellboy is a 2004 supernatural superhero film, starring Ron Perlman, John Hurt and Selma Blair, directed by Guillermo del Toro. The film is based on the Dark Horse Comics work Hellboy: Seed of Destruction by Mike Mignola. It was produced by Revolution Studios, and distributed by Columbia Pictures...

and Pan's Labyrinth

Pan's Labyrinth

Pan's Labyrinth is a 2006 Spanish Spanish-language dark fantasy film, written and directed by Mexican film-maker Guillermo del Toro. It was produced and distributed by the Mexican film company Esperanto Films...

), Gadget was "very influential on movies like Dark City and The Matrix

The Matrix

The Matrix is a 1999 science fiction-action film written and directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski, starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano, and Hugo Weaving...

."

External links

• Gadget: Invention, Travel & Adventure review at Adventure Classic Gaming
• Gadget: Past as Future iOS re-release