| 22 DEC 2004 at 10:35pm |
thomasbcSpace Cadet
Posts : 132
Joined: 20 NOV 2003
Status : Online | Return To a Kheops Studio Game
After slogging through The Crystal Key II, the most recent and thoroughly dreadful offering from Kheops Studio, my wife and I were ready to write these guys off as serious adventure game developers. It was that bad (see my previous review). In their defense, the first game from Kheops, The Egyptian Prophecy, was actually a pretty decent little game. That's why it was difficult to understand how they could stumble so badly on their next effort. Now, less than a year later, comes their newest adventure title, Return To Mysterious Island, based upon the classic Jules Verne story, The Mysterious Island. The buzz around the forums about this game was positive enough (plus I snagged a copy during a rare 10% off sale on Amazon), so we suddenly found ourselves giving Kheops one more chance to redeem themselves.
First of all, I should probably admit that neither my wife nor I have read the book. We had, like millions of other students, read Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, so we were at least familiar with Mysterious Island and its famous resident. But, we had no idea that the story was extended by Mr. Verne into a sequel of sorts. I mention this because our not reading the book in no way hindered our enjoyment of this game. Plus, it gives me an opportunity to write this review accordingly (most reviews I've seen so far have been by people who have read the book).
In this game you take on the role of Mina, a plucky young explorer who finds herself washed upon the shores of the title island after her around-the-world sailing attempt fails disasterously. I'll wager that it is not at all coincidental that Mina shares numerous traits with so many other adventure heroines that have come before her: April Ryan from The Longest Journey, Kate Walker of Syberia, Ariane in Journey To The Center Of The Earth, Ren Silver of Legacy: Dark Shadows, and even Maya from Kheop's own title The Egyptian Prophecy. With a strong female protagonist, Kheops has opted for the road well-taken here.
Speaking of Ariane and Journey To The Center Of The Earth(JTTCOTE), I am sure a lot of comparisons could be made between these two adventure titles. Both titles are contemporary re-tellings of classic Jules Verne stories and, of course, both have the aforementioned female leads. Interestingly, though, these games have been developed by two different companies. JTTCOTE was developed by Frogwares who, rumor has it, is hard at work on yet another Jules Verne adaptation, Around The World In 80 Days. I don't know, maybe Mr. Verne's stories are ideally suited for this type of adventure game story. Plus, maybe it is easier to adapt an existing story with contemporary affectations rather than developing full-blown, original story ideas, a la The Longest Journey and Syberia. Regardless, it seems to work quite well seeing as how we have liked both adventure titles.
Technically Speaking...
One definite departure from a lot of the other female-centric games already mentioned, is that this game is played from a first-person perspective. Since there is very little character interaction and the game is pretty much a solitary-exploration style game, first-person perspective was a great choice. You only actually see your character of Mina during the beginning- and end-of-game, third-person cutscenes. After the successful completion of puzzles in the game, instead of video cutscenes, we are rewarded with static, black-and-white, comic-book-styled "pictscenes" with voice-over narration. I imagine that this was chosen as both a cost-savings and as a space-savings (the game comes on two cd's and can be fully-loaded to the hard-drive).
Navigation in the game is of a standard point-and-click variety with the cursor at the center of the screen and all hotspots and directions clearly indicated. All graphics are pre-rendered, 3D environments that you traverse in 2D from node-to-node and then pan around 360 degrees at each node. There are a few options in the interface to help with panning speeds, resolutions, subtitles and such.
There also seems to be an unlimited amount of game saves available with a screen-shot thumbnail plus a date and time stamp accorded to each. I mention this because we did have the game crash to the desktop once during the game and our previous save point was quite a ways back. So, don't get as complacent as we did. Save the game frequently.
Finally, the biggest and most impressive piece of the game's interface is the Inventory Management area:
(continued)
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| 22 DEC 2004 at 10:37pm |
thomasbcSpace Cadet
Posts : 132
Joined: 20 NOV 2003
Status : Online | "Just How Big Of a Backpack Do You Need To Carry Six Booster Engines?"
Nearly all of the puzzles in this game are of the inventory variety and they are not of the simple "pick-up-item-A-and-try-it-on-hotspot-B" type. Nope, in this game you will be picking up literally hundreds of items scattered about your environment and then combining them in creative ways to create the end results needed to solve the puzzles.
To help manage this massive amount of inventory and facilitate in the combinatoric process, the developers have provided a very unique inventory management section of their interface screen. All items initially fall into a common holding zone. Once you've snagged a bunch of items and are ready to try your hand at assembly, you right-click to access the management area. Here, you can drag the items out of the holding zone and organize them into individual grid-slots that come twenty eight slots (4x7) to a tabbed page. In turn, you have eight tabbed pages to work with; the last one being a "trash" area where you can dispose of unused items.
To assemble more complex items, you simply drop one item on top of another. If they can't be combined you get an error tone, but if they can be combined, they will both drop down into the combination/equation area. If those were the only two items needed to create the end result, then you immediately get the resulting item in your inventory. If more items are needed, then you will get an incomplete "equation" with question marks designating each item that is missing from the equation. Some finished items can even be "disassembled" back into their individual parts to be re-used in other ways. This just barely scratches the surface in describing the complexity of this wonderful inventory screen, but you get the idea.
As an added bonus, many of the puzzles have more than one satisfactory solution. Of course, one solution may be deemed more "creative" than others, so the developers have included a point system to let you see how creatively you have played the game. The first part of the game is spent in survival mode: finding food to build up your depleted energy. Once healthy, you switch to an exploration mode and find out what else is on this island. Finally, you reach a point where you switch to escape/rescue mode and look for a way off of the island and back to civilization. In the last mode, you switch from mostly inventory-based puzzles to mostly logic- and twiddleware-based puzzles. That is about all I will say so as not to spoil the outcome of the game (the "mystery" of Mysterious Island).
Aesthetically Speaking...
This isn't a particularly "expansive" environment as far as adventure games go. After all, the entire game takes place on this one island. But, there are plenty of diverse "sub-areas" of the island to explore. And, all of the areas are beautifully rendered (almost photo-realistically). There are lots of animations sprinkled about the island to help bring the environment alive. Our favorite was the hummingbird that flitted about.
For the longest time, I was all set to mark down this review by pointing out an obvious graphics glitch in several of their panoramic sky views. I thought that what I was seeing was caused by an incompatibility with my graphics card. There were several evenly-spaced, vertical white lines which I thought were "seam" problems with the texturing. Let's just say that this turns out to be a vital part of the story. 'Nuf said. It might have helped if Mina had said something about these lines early on in the game to avoid confusion (she had to have seen them as well)!
The sound of the game is of the same high quality as the graphics. The voice acting of Mina is very professionally done. Some of the things she says fall on the "uh!" side of the scale, but overall it's not too irritating. Both the sound effects and background music were a HUGE step above from the disaster that was, The Crystal Key II.
(continued)
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| 22 DEC 2004 at 10:37pm |
thomasbcSpace Cadet
Posts : 132
Joined: 20 NOV 2003
Status : Online | The Final Verdict Is...
Overall, this is a very nice little adventure game for the price. It certainly seemed a little on the short side. This may be because the game rather abruptly ends with a lot of seemingly loose-ends left dangling. This could mostly be due to the fact that a lot of the puzzles do have multiple solutions and, thus, some of the other "pre-puzzles" aren't particularly necessary to solve. But, I think this is also supposed to entice the players to try playing the game again, in a different way, to see if they can score a higher point total.
I will admit, that after our game crashed and we had to re-play a significant portion of the game over again, that we tried different things in the replay to see what would happen. But, that was about all of the re-playing we did. (Actually, there was one little puzzle we skipped the first time through and were curious enough about it that we re-loaded a saved game just to solve it.)
One other minor irritation. Whenever we got stuck on a puzzle, we would automatically enter the "try-everything-on-everything" mode of combinations in the inventory. When you have several dozen items in inventory, this gets pretty tedious. This might be an indication that the game might have been a little too "over the top" in the inventory arena.
Otherwise, it was a great and fun adventure. We learned a lot about the island and the previous occupants (from the Verne story). We even learned you can get a monkey drunk! How great is that?
[smiley=thumbs.gif]
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| 31 DEC 2004 at 11:26am |
Jeroen StoutSchattenjger
Posts : 2798
Joined: 14 NOV 2003
Status : Online | Nice review [smiley=thumbs.gif] I played the demo, but got annoyed by the awful voice acting of Mina ("Oooh, I'm to weak to move that...", "I was the first blahblah, I fought through the black sea", "excited) Hey, you, come back!... (3 second pause) (dull)... am I seeing things?", "oooh, I splashed the coconut, what a waste of good food", "First, make a hole to drink the milk out (slurp), then break it open and eat the flesh! Zzzzzer000 waste!", and the puzzles didn't appeal to me, really. It all looked nice, though not beautiful to me. Ah well, that's my opinion about that! Good to read those lines in the sky had some purpose, I wondered about them (actualy, I made a 'tsk tsk' sound about them).
I did frown upon the comic style of cutscenes, too. Really oddly done.
Overall, it seemed like a highly Syberia / TLJ inspired game, female lead, slightly 'cute' interface type and 'happy' puzzles.
Still, I can see why people like that .. nothing wrong with it.
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| 31 DEC 2004 at 1:24pm |
| Deleted User | Those white lines are something to do with the story? What a bizarre design decision!
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| 2 JAN 2005 at 4:28pm |
ShanyGuild Master
Posts : 3313
Joined: 19 JUN 2003
Status : Online | one recorded line would've solved the 'lines' problem. All they had to do was have Mina comment about the strange lines in the sky...but no...
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| 17 JAN 2005 at 9:11pm |
bonte-kraaiIntergalactic Janitor
Posts : 14
Joined: 18 JAN 2004
Status : Online | Nice review. I just ended the game and I liked the most of it. The game is indeed a little bit short. What I don't liked were the remarkabel " white stripes" in the landscape. But the main problem was the end of the game. I was suprised the game was suddenly to an end. I even ended the game without solving al the problems or using al the materials I gathered. I know you can end this game in many different ways, and I did, but I think the end was a little disapointing.
But overall I liked the game a lot.
PB
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| 2 APR 2005 at 2:59am |
ElfstoneGuild Master
Posts : 5892
Joined: 4 NOV 2002
Status : Online | The description of the inventory makes me want to check out this game infinitely more than before.
It's something I always dreamt about. Creative puzzling...how good that sounds...
[b]playing[/b]: Destination Treasure Island (done in two sittings, but it's nice), Syberia (ho-hum), Dracula: Last Sanctuary (on hold)&&[b]reading[/b]: even more study papers&&[b]listening to[/b]: [url=http://www.last.fm/user/Brax82/]this and that[/url], plus [url=http://www.musicovery.com/]Musicovery[/url]&&[b]TV favorites[/b]: (currently) Pushing Daisies, Chuck, Journeyman (cancelled! grrr...), Heroes&& all-time) 24, Stargate SG1, X-Files, Lost, House
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| 11 APR 2005 at 7:47pm |
ElfstoneGuild Master
Posts : 5892
Joined: 4 NOV 2002
Status : Online | What a fantastic game!
I just point out some things that were significant for me:
Graphics
Very convincing, lush jungle sceneries dominate the island. I think it's beautiful, with attention to details and wildlife to make you feel like you are on an actual island yourself.
I couldn't find the white stripes on the horizon particularly distracting. I would have jumped to the conclusion that this belongs to the plot if I hadn't known already.
Sound
Definitely nicely done. Memorable music (limited, however), atmospheric sound effects, not too shabby voice acting
Inventory/Puzzles
The biggest achievement of this game. The heart and soul. I had lots of fun with figuring out the combinations. Jep is skillfully worked into the puzzles. There are non-inventory-based puzzles, although they basically follow the same concept. There are no illogical tasks in this one, everything could work out in real life, which is a nice change from mindbending, abstract puzzles.
Point System
I was never urged to replay a game in the way I am with this one. The point system presses me to max out the score and I will try the minimalistic approach after that.
So far I made it up to 350 points, but I know some lost points along the way and will try again.
This has been a surprisingly satisfactory experience. I really like the way the inventory is handled and would like to see another title in this vein as soon as possible. Despite the fact that such a system might not make much sense unless you are stranded on an island...find a setting that works and do another one!
A well-deserved 9 points, call me crazy. This game is fun!
I thought about giving it 8 points, because it's not as lengthy as many other games, but then, the length of this game enables me to replay it several times. It's definitely better that way.
[b]playing[/b]: Destination Treasure Island (done in two sittings, but it's nice), Syberia (ho-hum), Dracula: Last Sanctuary (on hold)&&[b]reading[/b]: even more study papers&&[b]listening to[/b]: [url=http://www.last.fm/user/Brax82/]this and that[/url], plus [url=http://www.musicovery.com/]Musicovery[/url]&&[b]TV favorites[/b]: (currently) Pushing Daisies, Chuck, Journeyman (cancelled! grrr...), Heroes&& all-time) 24, Stargate SG1, X-Files, Lost, House
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| 18 MAY 2005 at 9:44am |
nanzgreatIntergalactic Janitor
Posts : 18
Joined: 18 MAY 2005
Status : Online | i thot is was an ok game. but itz not even in league with the otherz.
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| 28 MAY 2005 at 11:13pm |
ElfstoneGuild Master
Posts : 5892
Joined: 4 NOV 2002
Status : Online | Originally Posted By nanzgreat (18 MAY 2005 9:44am)
i thot is was an ok game. but itz not even in league with the otherz.
Whoat? It rulez!
[b]playing[/b]: Destination Treasure Island (done in two sittings, but it's nice), Syberia (ho-hum), Dracula: Last Sanctuary (on hold)&&[b]reading[/b]: even more study papers&&[b]listening to[/b]: [url=http://www.last.fm/user/Brax82/]this and that[/url], plus [url=http://www.musicovery.com/]Musicovery[/url]&&[b]TV favorites[/b]: (currently) Pushing Daisies, Chuck, Journeyman (cancelled! grrr...), Heroes&& all-time) 24, Stargate SG1, X-Files, Lost, House
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| 10 JUN 2005 at 7:27am |
CarolineJA+ Overseer
Posts : 16553
Joined: 28 JAN 2007
Location: AU
Status : Offline | Well it doesn't rule me. I'm very disappointed with it. I can't make head nor tail of these inventory based pick up everything games. I want to wander around enjoying the landscape, not hacking the vegetation simply because there's a hotspot there. It would be nice if I could understand why I want bamboo before I cut it down. But I'm simply scanning for hotspots and responding.
The inventory management is brilliant ~ I like the way it prompts you to put things together but again, the logic of why certain objects make another is lost on me.
I like the twiddle with me puzzles I'm afraid.
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| 10 JUN 2005 at 8:23am |
Chris.Schattenjger
Posts : 1842
Joined: 8 MAR 2005
Status : Online | Originally Posted By Elfstone (28 MAY 2005 11:12pm)
Whoat? It rulez!
[smiley=laughing.gif]
...not to be confused with Keira Knightley
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| 10 JUN 2005 at 1:17pm |
DonaJourneyman
Posts : 801
Joined: 19 MAR 2005
Status : Offline | Awesome review I loved the game and I'll definitely replay it again someday later. Even my mom played it, and she's never played a video game before, so it's a progress I guess
Yuck, those white lines... I too thought something was wrong with my graphic card (it's pretty old..), thought it seemed impossible for a pre-rendered scene to look plain weird.
Yeah, the game was really great. And I loved Mina and her little 'companion'
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| 12 JUN 2005 at 2:01pm |
CarolineJA+ Overseer
Posts : 16553
Joined: 28 JAN 2007
Location: AU
Status : Offline | I saw those white lines too - even pointed them out to my son - but it didn't worry me. I just thought it was a bit unpolished, that's all.
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| 13 JUN 2005 at 12:01am |
Jenny100Guild Master
Posts : 3510
Joined: 12 OCT 2002
Status : Offline | I figured out what the white lines were. But I don't see why they'd have been visible, considering what they were.
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| 13 JUL 2005 at 10:52pm |
Mr. WrecksSpace Cadet
Posts : 118
Joined: 5 OCT 2004
Status : Online | Originally Posted By Caroline (10 JUN 2005 7:27am)
Well it doesn't rule me. I'm very disappointed with it. I can't make head nor tail of these inventory based pick up everything games. I want to wander around enjoying the landscape, not hacking the vegetation simply because there's a hotspot there. It would be nice if I could understand why I want bamboo before I cut it down. But I'm simply scanning for hotspots and responding.
The inventory management is brilliant ~ I like the way it prompts you to put things together but again, the logic of why certain objects make another is lost on me.
I like the twiddle with me puzzles I'm afraid.
And how. True dat. I stopped this game when the stupid, out of place, destroyer robots came at me. WTF? I was already spent with trying to figure out the lame inventory combinations, but then all of a sudden I gotta use a cannon to shoot these buggers out of the sky? Ya, not my cup of tea. Way too much inventory and hot-spot grabbing and not enough exploring.
Then you have the ridiculously amateurish drawn cut scenes, with ridiculous voice overs and sound effects, coupled with a monkey that can tie knots to make a rope bridge. Yech.
What could have been a great game turned into a turd, for me, so I was thoroughly disappointed. I can see how people could like it, if they are in to massive amounts of inventory-type puzzling, but not Ponder.
Overall I give it a P and a U.
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| 14 JUL 2005 at 11:24pm |
Jeroen StoutSchattenjger
Posts : 2798
Joined: 14 NOV 2003
Status : Online | Originally Posted By Caroline (12 JUN 2005 2:01pm)
I saw those white lines too - even pointed them out to my son - but it didn't worry me. I just thought it was a bit unpolished, that's all.
Heh, a black line on a rock is unpolished, but white lines in the sky is near to an 'amazingly large error'
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