Review Five Magical Amulets Developer: Off Studio Adventure Team (Independant Developer) Publisher: N/A Genre: Adventure Release Date: March 2005 Platform: Review by Shannon Hall May 4, 2005		Buy this game at Trade for this game at:

5 Magical Amulets is a surprisingly well-done adventure game by independent Czech developers, the Off Studio Adventure Team. Using the Wintermute game engine, it spins a tale of magic in the tradition every fairy tale lover will recognize: a young girl caught between the forces of good and evil who must be pure of heart in order to prevail.

The lovingly rendered 2D graphics are inspired by classic games such as the King’s Quest series and Kyrandia, so if you’re a fan of the classics, it’s definitely worth a look. And no, I’m not using the ubiquitous “lovingly rendered” phrase lightly. That tired old saw has a true home in this instance, and I think anyone who plays this game for more than 5 minutes will be able to appreciate the care and attention that went into its creation.

Developed with a traditional point-and-click interface, 5 Magical Amulets is easy to navigate. Each screen has exit points indicated by feet, and hot spots are easy to “spot” as well. Inactive areas are indicated by a yellow cursor; if the cursor is red, you can right-click for the look, use, and talk options. You’ll be surprised by how many things will require the talk function. The list includes animals, plants, and paintings - yes, paintings. Not quite worth a thousand words, but you get the picture. Okay, I’ll stop now.

While the story line is spun in true fairy tale fashion, it’s still unique in the way that it plays out. You’re cast in the role of Linda, a young girl living in the Nyron, a land kept in perfect balance by - you guessed it - 5 Magical Amulets. Each amulet has a different influence, i.e. earth, time, water, etc., and as usual in fairy-tale land, an evil wizard wants to combine all of them in order to rule the world. Your goal is to gather the amulets and defeat Zarkyran before he can execute his dastardly plans. As always in adventure games, you’ll meet and help many characters along the way, including a fairy, a dwarf, a mermaid, and even a few talking animals.

On the plus side, the story line is consistent, tightly woven, and well-thought-out, with none of the random “huh?” elements that seem to plague some independent games. Its only down side is that the plot tends to move very slowly, especially in the beginning. If you’re the type of gamer who needs a lot of stimulation to keep moving forward, this may not be the game for you. However, if you’re looking for a sweet, non-violent game that’s filled with magic and wonder, this is an excellent way to spend a few quiet evenings.

At this point I have to interject a couple of thoughts about things I felt were incongruent. First off, this is a game set in a time period that, although not specified, is obviously not modern day. The land is exotic, and most characters have names like Twelge, Tvarain, Zarkyran, etc…. and then there’s the main character: Linda. Maybe it’s just me, but that just seems to stick out like a sore thumb. And while other characters sport the old-fashioned clothing, gowns, and robes you would expect for such a story, Linda has modern-day attire. There is no explanation for this, no reason given. She’s not from another land, and she hasn’t been transported through time, but there it is - a purse, loafers, a knee-length skirt, and what appears to be panty hose. Those are very minor details to fixate on, I know, but they bothered me throughout the entire game.

For the most part, the puzzles in this game are fairly easy. There was one involving star constellations that I simply had to refer to a walkthrough to solve, and even then I had a basic idea of what to do. The majority of the puzzles are logically presented and inventory-based, and several require that you combine items for use. I found the most difficult area to be in the castle kitchen, where sabotage is the name of the game. There were several clues that offer the gist of things, but the exact solution isn’t readily apparent except through trial and error.

Another minor point of contention had to do with the music. It fits the mood of the game quite well, but it’s extremely repetitive. Fortunately it’s soothing and innocuous enough to blend into the background, and overall the sound was well done. There are no voice-overs, and therefore no actors to distract from the game. All dialogue is text-based, and the translation from Czech to English is surprisingly smooth. I don’t recall any blatant mistranslations or awkward phrasing. I’ve experienced much worse dialogue in games that originated in English, some of them commercial.

Another thing the developers were able to accomplish that’s rare even in high-end commercial games is stability. I had absolutely no problems playing the game, although load times were occasionally a bit slow and there were one or two places where sound was a problem- most notably at the waterfall.

All in all, this game was very well planned and executed, and judging by comments on the Off Studio Adventure Team forum, it has some very dedicated fans. You can download this game for free at http://offstudio.fabry.cz/index3.html.

Final Grade: B-
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System Requirements:

• WINDOWS 98/ME/2000/XP
• DIRECTX 8.0 OR HIGHER
• 170 MB OF FREE DISK SPACE
• 64 MB OF RAM
• 3D ACCELERATED VIDEO CARD IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED