When the scientists discover a terrible secret behind the vanished Heechee, you must battle against an ancient race so ruthless and deadly to be known simply as the Assassins. Pohl is most famous for his Hugo and Nebula award winning Heechee Saga. Production Gateway is what is best called an illustrated text adventure. There is a picture for each location which is richly described in text. Mixing text and graphics is, of course, not a new idea in adventure gaming design since its inception, but computer hardware has also evolved a lot since the earlier attempts.
Gateway demonstrates very well such an evolution.
The pictures are all well drawn, and the text parser is as good as they come. If you have played any Infocom game before, you should feel instantly at home. There are also the occasional MIDI tunes to enhance the atmosphere. The game comes with a wealth of information in the form of manuals, bulletin boards, trivia games, and others, akin to the classic A Mind Forever Voyaging. While a lot of these extras are of little use and the information contained within is mostly obvious, they nevertheless do add a lot to the overall atmosphere and enjoyment to the gameplay.