''Normality'' is a 3D

graphic adventure An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and/or puzzle-solving. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based m ...

, released in June 1996 by

Gremlin Interactive Gremlin Graphics Software Limited, later Gremlin Interactive Limited and ultimately Infogrames Studios Limited was a British software house based in Sheffield, working mostly in the home computer market. Like many software houses established in ...

. All

cut-scenes A cutscene or event scene (sometimes in-game cinematic or in-game movie) is a sequence in a video game that is not interactive, interrupting the gameplay. Such scenes are used to show conversations between characters, set the mood, reward the ...

in the game are

pre-rendered Pre-rendering is the process in which video footage is not rendered in real-time by the hardware that is outputting or playing back the video. Instead, the video is a recording of footage that was previously rendered on different equipment (typic ...

. The game's engine was later used in the game ''

Realms of the Haunting ''Realms of the Haunting'' is a first-person adventure shooter game developed by Gremlin Interactive and published by Interplay Productions. It was released in 1997 for MS-DOS compatible operating systems. The 3D engine used in this game was bor ...

''. It was re-released in 2011 with

Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

support on

GOG.com GOG.com (formerly Good Old Games) is a digital distribution platform for video games and films. It is operated by GOG sp. z o.o., a wholly owned subsidiary of CD Projekt based in Warsaw, Poland. GOG.com delivers DRM-free video games through it ...

, with

macOS macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...

support following in 2013 and

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which ...

support in 2014.

Plot

The story revolves around Kent Knutson, a rebellious teenager in the city of Neutropolis, from which various places take up the setting of the game. Neutropolis, a once thriving and vibrant city, is now a dark and polluted police state in which any kind of fun is prohibited. When the game begins, Kent is released after having been imprisoned by the "Norms", the city's police force, for whistling a happy tune while walking down the street. While in prison, he receives a note from an anonymous inmate telling him about the underground insurrection group that he might want to join. After being released from jail, the player starts the game in Kent's apartment, having to go find and join this resistance group. After winning the trust of the resistance group Kent must assist them in overthrowing the dictator Paul who is responsible for the city's sorry state, in which his twin brother Saul was rumored to be dead because of him.

Release

''Normality'' was self-published in the United Kingdom by Gremlin Interactive. It had a small credited voice cast. Interplay handled publishing duties in the US and decided to entirely replace the voice cast with a broader range of actors that it felt would appeal more to the US market. This included casting

Corey Feldman Corey Scott Feldman (born July 16, 1971) is an American actor and musician. As a youth, he became well known for roles in the 1980s in films such as '' Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter'' (1984), ''Gremlins'' (1984), ''The Goonies'' (1985), a ...

in the role of the main character.YouTube
US version credits

Reception

Reviewing the game in ''Maximum'', Rich Leadbetter praised the rendered intro, the believability of the 3D environment, the setting, and the user-friendly interface, while criticizing the dull scenario and repetitive speech. He concluded, "Although technically innovative and visually impressive, this one is for adventure fans only." A reviewer for '' Next Generation'' said the free roaming, real-time 3D environment is an impressive change of pace for the adventure genre, but feels incongruous in light of the fact that the game does not allow any interaction beyond what is traditionally seen in adventure games. He complimented the puzzles as being logical and not overly difficult, but added that veteran adventure gamers might find them too easy because of that. He summarized the game as "at least mildly fun and entertaining." Scorpia of ''

Computer Gaming World ''Computer Gaming World'' (CGW) was an American computer game magazine published between 1981 and 2006. One of the few magazines of the era to survive the video game crash of 1983, it was sold to Ziff Davis in 1993. It expanded greatly through ...

'' had a generally favorable opinion of ''Normality'', although she disliked its load times and certain interface bugs. She summarized, "Overall, though, ''Normality'' isn't bad."

Trivia

Violet Berlin Violet Berlin (born 2 January 1968) is a British television presenter, producer and script writer for films, games and immersive experiences, best known for her pioneering coverage of innovative technology and video games. Career Berlin first ...

, the ''

Bad Influence! ''Bad Influence!'' is a 1990s British factual television programme broadcast on CITV from 1992 to 1996, produced in Leeds by Yorkshire Television. It looked at video games and computer technology, and was described as a "kid’s Tomorrow's Worl ...

'' presenter, makes an appearance in this game. * Former 1UP.com Editor-In-Chief and

What They Play What They Play was a video game-centric website aimed at helping parents learn about content in video games, helping them decide what games their children should play. It was the first of several websites to launch under "What They Like, Inc.", ...

founder, John Davison, contributed music to Normality during his music days.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Normality (Video Game) 1996 video games Adventure games Point-and-click adventure games Cyberpunk video games DOS games First-person adventure games Gremlin Interactive games Interplay Entertainment games Linux games MacOS games Single-player video games Video games set in prison Windows games Games commercially released with DOSBox Video games scored by Patrick Phelan Video games developed in the United Kingdom