I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream

Plot synopsis:
The story takes place 109 years after the complete destruction of human civilization. The Cold War had escalated into a world war, fought mainly between China, Russia, and the United States. As the war progressed, the three warring nations each created a super-computer capable of running the war more efficiently than humans.
The machines are each referred to as "AM," which originally stood for "Allied Mastercomputer", and then was later called "Adaptive Manipulator". Finally, "AM" stands for "Aggressive Menace". One day, one of the three computers becomes self-aware, and promptly absorbs the other two, thus taking control of the entire war. It carries out campaigns of mass genocide, killing off all but four men and one woman.
The survivors live together underground in an endless complex, the only habitable place left. The master computer harbors an immeasurable hatred for the group and spends every available moment torturing them. AM has not only managed to keep the humans from taking their own lives, but has made them virtually immortal.
The story's narrative begins when one of the humans, Nimdok, has the idea that there is canned food somewhere in the great complex. The humans are always near starvation under AM's rule, and anytime they are given food, it is always a disgusting meal that they have difficulty eating. Because of their great hunger, the humans are coerced into making the long journey to the place where the food is supposedly kept—-the ice caves. Along the way, the machine provides foul sustenance, sends horrible monsters after them, emits earsplitting sounds, and blinds Benny when he tries to escape.
On more than one occasion, the group is separated by AM's obstacles. At one point, the narrator, Ted, is knocked unconscious and begins dreaming. He envisions the computer, anthropomorphized, standing over a hole in his brain speaking to him directly. Based on this nightmare, Ted comes to a conclusion about AM's nature, specifically why it has so much contempt for humanity; that despite its abilities it lacks the sapience to be creative or the ability to move freely. It wants nothing more than to exact revenge on humanity by torturing these last remnants of the species that created it.
The group reaches the ice caves, where indeed there is a pile of canned goods. The group is overjoyed to find them, but is immediately crestfallen to find that they have no means of opening them. In a final act of desperation, Benny attacks Gorrister and begins to gnaw at the flesh on his face.
Ted, in a moment of clarity, realizes their only escape is through death. He seizes a stalactite made of ice and kills Benny and Gorrister. Ellen realizes what Ted is doing, and kills Nimdok, before being herself killed by Ted. Ted runs out of time before he can kill himself, and is stopped by AM. AM, unable to return Ted's four companions to life, focuses all his rage on Ted. To ensure that Ted can never kill himself, AM transforms him into a helpless, gelatinous blob that is incapable of causing itself harm, and constantly alters his perception of time to deepen his anguish. Ted is, however, grateful that he was able to save the others from further torture. Ted's closing thoughts end with the sentence that gives the story its title. "I have no mouth. And I must scream."

Tags: good versus evil, psychedelic, fantasy

Review:
Dark, creepy, and great for fans of Harlan Ellison. I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream is based off one of Harlan Ellison's  short stories of the same name. A supercomputer gains the power of  conscious thought, and kills everyone on the Earth except for 5 humans,  which he takes down to the middle of the Earth. Your goal is to jump  through the hoops that AM lays out for you and retain your humanity at  the same time.  A typical point and click game here. use commands such as Walk, Ask,  Get, Use, Swallow on objects in your inventory or on the screen. The  system is very intuitive, so you won't spend hours struggling on what  to do with an object. The only reason this category didn't get a 10, is  because there are several times you have to find an object that may  only take up a few pixels on the screen, leading to some annoying  hunting with your mouse. When you have to talk with people, you get  several conversation choice, most of which will affect the plot. Say  the wrong thing, and you might fail your task.  You also can't just kill people to get your way, as in games nowadays.  You have a spiritual barometer that measures how human you are. Treat a  person with kindness and it'll go up, and your character will become  happier and more-self confident. Do something against their moral  beliefs and they'll go into panic attacks and possibly die.  Ah, now this is where IHNM really shines. You get to play as each of  the 5 humans AM has brought down with him. You must make it through a  scenario for each character. You'll have to confront your past mistakes  and your one character flaw that caused it. Locales will range from  Egyptian electronic pyramids to Nazi Germany to a honky-tonk road side  cafe. As you make it through scenarios you'll encounter forgotten  machines that let you in on AM's past. And there are plot-twists  galore, especially in the final scenario.  The best thing about this game in my opinion. The music is ranges from  creepy and bonechilling, to sorrowful and depressing. It all fits  together with the story. You'll find tunes stuck in your head up to  days afterwards.  And the voice-acting. Harlan Ellison himself voices AM, the computer  God. From the moment you hear him expound on his hate for the humans,  you couldn't imagine anyone but him in this role. He speaks with  passion and exuberance, making just sitting back and listening a joy.  And the rest of the characters are done wonderfully too. With the  exception of the child actor, none of these voices will make you cringe  in embarrassment or turn down the volume.  This game is a definite must-have for fans of the adventure genre,  Harlan Ellison, or horror fans.. love. let me describe to you how much i love this game.... Based on the excellent short story by Harlan Ellison; I have no mouth and I must scream is an expansion on the story. it features numerous characters to play as(each with their own story and in conflict) and the choices actually effect the game. also; Harlan Ellison is excellent as the voice of AM. so yes. I would recommend this game to people(if they don't mind a little disturbing imagery).. Good plot, tedious game. I'm not extremely knowledgeable about Harlan Ellison, just about all I've seen or read about him is a scathing TV Guide article he wrote about his ill-fated run in with the Star Trek crew concerning the episode he penned (and was heavily edited) and spotting some editorial feature he did on...Sci Fi channel, I think. While the guy is brilliant (and I think he'd be the first one to tell you that) I'm not sure I'm a big fan.The world he creates in the game and the short story it's based on are excellent. His characters seem awfully Steven King-ish (or maybe Stephen King's usual characters are awfully Harlan Ellison-ish). That is, they're the protagonists but there's a lot about them that is unsavory or at the very least makes people not want to entirely identify with them. The characters in the game are at least somewhat less...estranging...than they are in the short story.The game itself has the potential to end much more happily than the short story, though like a lot of quest games, it's so tedious getting through that about 4 hours into it you're probably doing a web search for a walk-through.As far as the acting goes, Harlan Ellison does a great job reading for the role of AM. When I say reading, I mean just that. He sounds like your favorite librarian reading a story to you and adding life to the characters, only in this case his reading is limited to just the one part. It's not bad, it's just not what you'd call acting. That may be the intent. After all, the guy is a writer, not an actor. Considering the other voice actors do their parts in much the same manner---95% of the speaking is what you'd call "inner monologue"---that may be why they sound more like they're reading than acting.Anyway, good game for its type. Unfortunately this game, like many others, is an example of why quest games have died: no real re-playability.. You Have A Mouth, And You Will Scream!. "I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream" is one of Harlan Ellison's best and most re-printed short-stories, and arguably one of the best short-stories ever written. However, is the game as good as the short-story? Plot: The Allied Mastercomputer (or AM, for short) loses his mind, after being given limitless creativity and sequestered to a massive underground labyrinth. In his fury, he destroys all of humanity, except 5 people. After torturing them for over a century, AM becomes bored, and decides to give them a gift they've never received before: The chance to either kill themselves, or escape. However, they must relive some of the darkest days in their lives in order to do it.Acting: The acting is very believable, and Harlan Ellison--as the voice of AM--is perfectly over-the-top.Game-play: It's one of those point-and-click adventure games, only with a focus on ethics (and the human condition) that many similar games lack. AM throws many puzzles at the player, and most of them are not very easy (not as hard as, say, "Myst III: Exile", but far from too easy). To my knowledge, however, there is no multi-player; unlike most games these days, this isn't a down-side to the game (or most adventure games, for that matter).Graphics: Considering that the game was made and released in 1995 (on CD-ROM), the graphics are pretty good. I've heard of many complaints, stemming from bugs and glitches, but I've never seen any.Music: The music is pretty good; it's definitely above average for a non-"Myst" adventure game. It's also certainly above average, considering the mature-content. Speaking of which...The Mature-Content: Naziism is the primary aspect of one part of the single-player campaign; it's as sad and terrible as one can imagine. Human sacrifice is also depicted, although, not in a very graphic manner. Rape is implied, but--fortunately--never seen (although, I've never lost during Ellen's campaign; it could be one of the potential "bad endings"). There is also some sexual content, although--if it were on television in America--it would probably only be rated "TV-14 S"; the sexual content is also by-passable, and is something you can choose to pursue or not pursue.Differences Between The Game And The Original Short-Story: Bennys' character's back-story is somewhat different from the short-story; AM communicates with the other characters much more often; the original ending from the short-story can only be seen if the player loses towards the end of the game; there are some other things, but none of these differences interferes with the entertainment value of the game.Overall: "I Have No Mouth" is a very unique game for its time, in that there's no clean, "scot-free" way to win the game. Mr. Ellison always stressed when making this game that it shouldn't be about winning, but rather about losing in varying ways with varying consequences. It's all about ethics, human dignity, and perseverance. It's excellently written, wonderfully acted, and very engaging. I give it a 10 out of 10!