View source for Gadget:Invention, Travel, & Adventure

{{Infobox VG
| title = Gadget: Invention, Travel, & Adventure
| image = [[Image:Gadgetbox.jpg|250px]]|CD Insert]]
| developer = [[Synergy, Inc.]]
| publisher = [[Synergy Interactive]]
| designer = [[Haruhiko Shono]] and [[Hirokazu Nabekura]]
| engine = [[Proprietary software|Proprietary]]
| released = 1993
| genre = Graphic Adventure/Interactive Movie
| modes = [[Single-player]]
| ratings = 
| platforms = [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]], [[Mac OS]]
| media = [[CD-ROM]]
| requirements = '''Windows''': [[Windows 3.1]], 33MHz 486, 3MB disk space, 8-bit [[Sound Card]], 640x480 Display. '''Macintosh''': [[System 7 (Macintosh)|System 7]], [[QuickTime]] 1.6.1, 33 MHz 68LC040, 8 MB RAM, 640x480 Display
| input = [[mouse (computing)|Mouse]]}}

'''''Gadget: Invention, Travel, & Adventure''''' (or '''''Gadget: Past as Future''''') is a [[videogame]] or [[interactive movie]], first released by [[Synergy Interactive]] in 1993. Gadget resembles a point-and-click adventure game similar to [[Myst]], but with a strictly linear storyline culminating in a fixed finale. Thus it tends to be classified more as an interactive movie rather than a videogame. The story centers around a future dominated by retro technology from the 1920s and 1930s, especially streamlined locomotives and flying machines.

The game was originally released on 1 CD in 1993 by Synergy Interactive. A special edition of the game, ''Gadget: Past as Future'', was later released on 4 CD in 1998 by Cryo Interactive. A companion volume of additional art and background plot material, ''Inside Out with Gadget'', was also available.

==Plot==
[[Image:Gadget screenshot.png|thumb|left|Screenshot from shortly after the start of the game.]]
The game's plot takes place in an unspecified (albeit vaguely Eastern European) nation headed by the dictator Orlovsky. The protagonist is a government agent tasked with discovering the whereabouts of a missing scientist named Horselover Frost. He begins his quest in a third-floor room of a luxury hotel (which is in fact the headquarters of the government's intelligence arm). After collecting his belongings in a suitcase, the protagonist takes an elevator ride to the lobby, during which a boy replaces the case with another identical one containing various spy-related paraphernalia. In the lobby, the government's intelligence chief briefs the protagonist on his mission. The protagonist then moves to the central railway station. From this point on all the events of the story take place on trains or at the various stations (which include the national science institute) along the nation's main rail line. The player must engage in scripted conversations with various individuals, each of whom reveals pieces of information that advance the protagonist in his quest.

==Credits==
Directed by
*[[Haruhiko Shono]]<ref name=synblurb>''[http://web.archive.org/web/19970414062054/www.synergy-j.co.jp/artists/index.html 庄野晴彦　Haruhiko SHONO]''. Synergy, Inc. 14 April 1997.</ref>

Music Composed by
*[[Koji Ueno]]

Story Developed by
*[[Hirokazu Nabekura]]

Visuals
*Haruhiko Shono<ref name=synblurb/>
*Minoru Kusakabe<ref name=synblurb/>

Programming
*Hideyuki Aida
*Koji Katayama

Graphics
*Isao Konaka

Englishing
*David

Production Management
*Yoshie Ikeda
*Toshihiro Masumura
*Eri Osada

Producer
*Masanori Awata

Executive Producer
*Takahiko Nagashima

Other
*Akitsugo Doi
*Hiroko Ichikawa
*Tensay Ishiguro
*Masaaki Shina
*Yasuhiro Fujita
*Kenji Kimura
*Yasuo Ichige
*Mayumi Tanaka
*Masami Takahashi
*Makoto Sekikawa
*Akira Takahashi
*Hiroyuki Miura
*Shouzou Fuse
*Taizo Sugihara
*Tetsuko Ohta

==Reception==
The game was reviewed in 1994 in ''[[Dragon (magazine)|Dragon]]'' #212 by [[Ken Rolston]] in the "Eye of the Monitor" column. Rolston gave the game a very positive review, stating "I'm a total fan of ''Gadget''."<ref name="Dragon212">{{cite journal
|title=Eye of the Monitor
|author=[[Ken Rolston|Rolston, Ken]], Paul Murphy, and [[David Cook (game designer)|David "Zeb" Cook]]
|journal=Dragon
|issue=212
|date=December 1994
|pages=55–59, 62}}</ref> According to Mexican filmmaker [[Guillermo del Toro]] (director of ''[[Hellboy (film)|Hellboy]]'' and ''[[Pan's Labyrinth]]''), ''Gadget'' was "very influential on movies like ''[[Dark City (1998 film)|Dark City]]'' and ''[[The Matrix]]''."<ref>http://www.edge-online.com/magazine/hellboy-director-talks-gaming</ref>

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* [http://www.adventureclassicgaming.com/index.php/site/reviews/248/ Gadget: Invention, Travel & Adventure] review at Adventure Classic Gaming
* {{moby game|id=/gadget-invention-travel-adventure|name=''Gadget: Invention, Travel & Adventure''}}
[[Category:Mac OS games]]
[[Category:Windows games]]
[[Category:1993 video games]]
[[Category:Point-and-click adventure games]]