I can’t think of a higher compliment for a game then to state that I was prepared to be disappointed by Curse of Atlantis, but after playing through this advance copy provided by The Adventure Company, I was pleasantly surprised!

A few recent Cryo games have not been among my favorites – Time Machine and the Arthur’s Knights series come immediately to mind – but Curse of Atlantis is a solid effort and I have to admit that I was occasionally disheartened knowing that this will be the next-to-last game we will ever play from Cryo (assuming that is, that The Adventure Company releases Salammbo in North America). Granted there are some time-honored annoyances present such as minute pixel hunting that will drive you cross-eyed, but the strong storyline and infusion of Viking mythology help to override these shortcomings.

Curse of Atlantis – released in Europe as Thorgal – is based on the travels of the mighty Viking warrior Thorgal Aegirsson. Much like General Maximus in the movie ‘Gladiator’, Thorgal wants nothing more than to return safely to his family. But ill winds have driven his ship off-course and now a mysterious old man has shown him a vision of Thorgal purposely killing his own son! Now Thorgal must journey through time and space to dispel the curse that has been placed on his family.

Curse of Atlantis: Thorgal’s Quest is based on a series of five illustrated novels that are very popular in Europe and the game itself notes your progression as it unfolds in a series of comic-book illustrations. If I had but one wish about this game, it would be that I would have welcomed a guest appearance by that skinny runt Gilbert Goodmate who could have then spewed one of his gosh-awful Viking jokes to Thorgal. The beating on Gilbert’s head that would have followed could at least have erased my horrible memories of that game!