It would be hard to think of a serious SF novel better suited for adaptation to computer games than Arthur C. Clarke's Rendezvous With Rama. The novel itself is, like many adventure games, a journey of exploration, during which the protagonists are confronted with a variety of sometimes maddening puzzles, each of which must be solved before larger and more enigmatic puzzles are revealed. Of course, something similar could be said for Larry Niven's Ringworld, and we know what happened when that one was adapted for PC play.

Indeed, RAMA has been a computer game once before, back in the days of text-based adventure games, when Tellarium's well-intentioned title ultimately failed. Sierra has now returned to Rama, under the guidance of Gentry Lee (Clarke's collaborator on three Rama sequels), and the results are a spectacular and in some ways breathtaking adventure that, ultimately, may work better as an interactive novel than as a game per se. Lee himself has been evolving as a storyteller--if you haven't yet picked up a copy of his solo novel Bright Messengers, you should--and his sense of story serves RAMA's design beautifully. Science fiction--and good computer games--depends upon unfailing internal self-consistency, and Lee and Sierra deliver the real goods here. Nothing is shoehorned in simply for effect, nor is the integrity of the Raman environment ever seriously violated.

The bones of the story match Clarke's original more so than the Clarke/Lee sequels: a huge cylindrical construct enters the solar system and an expedition is mounted to explore it and, if possible, make contact with any intelligence it may contain. The hook for the game is equally simple: a key member of the expedition has been killed and you are selected as the replacement.

Within that framework, a variety of storylines and opportunities are concealed, ranging from the interpersonal--can you trust other members of the exploration teams, and which ones?--to the immense. Just what is the purpose of Rama and what is the nature of the guiding intelligences behind it?

Prologue

The game gets going quickly, with a prologue that establishes the scenario, followed by a video welcome. You are issued equipment that includes a personal computer/communications device, on which you will quickly come to depend for vid-mail messages and other information. Additional equipment reveals the creators' occasionally puckish sense of humor.

Paying close attention to the beginning of the game is essential to your success, and it would not be a bad idea to keep a notepad handy for jotting down information. Review every message that awaits you in the staging area before your descent to Rama proper: failing to do so will quickly result in your being stuck.

Likewise, take a deep breath before proceeding, and drop into game exploration mode: that is, look at everything, touch everything, go everywhere you can before leaving your arrival point. Navigation around the various settings, and acquisition and use of the various implements at your disposal are simple and well conceived. It does not take long to get the hang of getting around in RAMA.

Character Development

Interpersonal relationships are equally well done, with the various other members of the Rama exploration team being given levels of characterization that are surprising and refreshing for a computer game. In the course of playing RAMA you will come to learn the personalities of your fellow explorers (you'd better!), and from that knowledge will come the ability to navigate your way through some of the game's more challenging aspects.

Deciphering the essence of an alien culture is not supposed to be easy, but it's a tribute to the seriousness with which the designers approached their source material that nothing here is arbitrary. In Raman context, almost all of the puzzles make sense. The puzzles themselves are as challenging as one might expect from Clarke and Lee. Linguistic and mathematical in nature, the puzzles will draw upon all of your skills as an interpreter and scientist, as well as your ability to pay attention to the world you find yourself in.

Thus armed with a sense of your fellows, a gathering understanding of the Ramans and their technologies, you're ready to explore the vast ship and uncover its secrets.

Among the many charms of the novel that the game seeks to duplicate is its sense of vista. There's only so much you can do within the limitations of a monitor screen, and as a result, some of the interiors fail to communicate the sheer size of Rama. Additionally, the brightness of some scenes works to mitigate the mystery and enormity of the alien craft. Even so, there isn't a single frame in the game that's less than gorgeous, and only a few that are less than convincing.

It does seem too easy to get around within the game's confines, and this occasionally works to diminish the sense of size of Rama. On the other hand, you wouldn't want to spend real hours getting somewhere, no matter how awe-inspiring the scenery along the way, would you?

Epilogue

These caveats aside, RAMA is among the most convincing computerized worlds I've encountered. Certainly the various creatures and creations you'll encounter are striking and believable. To a large extent they appear to have stepped--or fluttered or crawled--directly from the pages of the novel itself. Their appearance and function are brilliantly accomplished and almost wholly persuasive.

Is this a game? Like MYST, it's an environment studded with puzzles and enigma, challenges and mysteries. Unlike MYST, the story here outweighs its setting, a tribute to Clarke, Lee, and the team that supported them. RAMA is in virtually every way a triumph and another large step toward the creation of wholly convincing interactive SF novels. It begs for a sequel, I think, and not least because, as Clarke himself wrote years ago, the Ramans always do things in threes.

Keith Ferrell was Editor of OMNI Magazinefrom 1990 until 1996. His latest novel, Passing Judgment, was published last fall by Forge.