Now, in this time, people live simply and at peace. There is no need for money, and treasure is not desired, so it is not about finding great wealth. For Beni’s people the tombs exist as a rite of passage, or maybe a chance for challenge in a world at ease, without war or threat of harm. However, Beni has come to Tomb 35 for an age-old purpose. He comes determined to beat the tomb’s guardian and bring out hidden treasures. Why? Because if he fails to return with the goods, his sister will be harmed or even sacrificed at the hands of an evil man and his cohort. So, armed with nothing more than his wits and the tales brought back by Ramirez, our hero enters the depths of Tomb 35 determined to win the day and save his sister.

Once there, Beni meets what may be one of the more personable characters in recent games. She is Dormeuse, a tantalizing construct exuding wily charm and calculating menace. As the sole character in the game, she serves more than a passive role in this game universe. In fact, the story is revealed through a series of discussions she has with Beni, as she appears without warning throughout levels of this game. She is crafted from the memories and experiences of the long dead occupant of this silent mausoleum, and the bits and pieces of that one life give depth to this character. All this is enhanced by the superb voice talent used for this role. You will enjoy her tale as it unfolds, and also learn of these ancient ancestors of Beni’s people. Even better, the tale weaves its way to a satisfying conclusion. The end story is one of the more unique resolutions in gaming and creates some unexpected surprises.

With a thin but compelling story driving us forward, we now travel into the obscure world of puzzling. Bear with me on this one. First I will tell you that after much initial grousing, I dug in and found that the puzzles for the most part were not that difficult to solve. In truth, many are quite easy once you get past their daunting appearance. But it’s that initial presentation that repeatedly ravaged my gameplay.

There are two basic levels to in-game puzzling. First there is the problem of figuring out what or even where the puzzle is. This is the “what am I supposed to do now?” part of the challenge. Then there is discovering and applying the solve itself. In stand-alone puzzles, such difficulties may be mastering sounds to apply or negotiating a maze. In these situations, you know “what” to do—it is the “how” that is elusive. Still, for players to have a fair chance, we depend on the game designers to clue us in a bit, or we end up in a brute force application of everything in our pants or bag o’ tricks.

Without some skillful design work from the game-maker, games can end up with challenges maddeningly obscure on one or both of these levels. The more frustrating of these are puzzles frying your brain before ever letting you get to the “how.” Discovering the puzzle itself or what you need to be doing IS the puzzle, but often more frustrating than fun. Sentinel’s puzzles fall into this group for most of the game. Now, this design decision may not be such a bad thing in a game where there are many interactive elements like characters to question, books to read, or items to look at. But the lack of actual interactive elements makes it incredibly difficult to get past the “what is the puzzle” part of this game.

I will point out there is an in-game hint system that you can access for help. Now, I think this is a great concept that many games should feature. It allows for a developer to create a puzzling atmosphere that is a legitimate challenge for more intrepid gamers, yet still make the game accessible to time-constrained or casual gamers. It isn’t so much a lack of gray matter for many people as it is a lack of time or energy for writing out reams of diagrams or struggling through a schematic for sound relays. But finding this helpful aid is turned into another obscure game puzzle. Unless you read the manual, it is unlikely you will even know it is there, as it is buried three levels deep in the menu area, rather than placed somewhere prominent to draw attention to itself. One more wrinkle with the system was that many of these “hints” were sadly just another layer of obscurity. I checked some of them after solving a few of the puzzles and was glad I hadn’t seen them first. They simply were not always helpful, and in a few places were actually confusing.

Now, Sentinel certainly has some puzzles that are inspired and well done. They have the requisite built-in layer of accommodation to make them enjoyable whether you are an abstract or practical thinker. Though there are no blueprints to these puzzles, manipulation of the elements and an alert eye show the manner of each challenge, and the means to a solution was neither too easy nor obscure. Unfortunately, this is not consistent throughout the game. Since each discrete environment is really one large puzzle to be solved, if that puzzle is vague and problematic, it sours the gameplay for the entire level. Since the game has such a low interactive component, if the challenge eludes you, all that’s left is a sterile virtual world to wander in, with nothing else to do... except figure out there is a hints feature.

Playing Sentinel really got me thinking about what makes a game good and fun. What do great graphics do, really? They set up expectations. A free-moving control scheme makes you eager to explore through the gameworld, gobbling up the scenery and environment. A great story gets you primed for the gameplay. But generally if the design is actually done well, then it will be consistent, and if it starts weird, it'll stay weird. That’s the rub—I found that this game is amazingly well-designed from a technical and artistic standpoint, but doesn’t ever match that expertise with its gameplay execution. It never breaks away from its rigid formula, and yet the ambiance, the amazing look, and that clever character construct make you desperate for it to break out.

Games shouldn’t feel like an SAT test, or like a job to get through, no matter how high the production values they’re dressed up in. Here’s a wistful remark from a former Happy Gamer: they are supposed to be… diverting… relaxing… stimulating. And yes, challenging, but is there any reason that challenge can’t be more fun?

I think that if game designers can't achieve these goals, they will end up with titles that have amazing graphics, ambiance and even stories, but just don’t play as well as they should, or receive the sort of player appreciation that they otherwise deserve. Sentinel is precisely one of those games, and the end result is another “sigh… this could have been such a great one” experience.