Review Joseph's Story Developer: Sunday Software Publisher: Sunday Software Genre: Action/Adventure Release Date: 2004 Platform: Review by Alexander Tait March 1, 2005		Buy this game at Trade for this game at:

From the aleX-Files (Case file #ER540-45MN) comes this 2004 entry. As mindreaders will know, the aleX-Files deal with little known or little played games that fit under the banner of adventure. I love discovering aleX-Files and I search for them on the Web in all their forms: independent games, games released in their native countries only, and Christian games. Joseph’s Story falls, figuratively, from the latter tree. I discovered it by chance one day when browsing at a Christian software page. The graphics looked adventure-ish. It was about archeology. It dealt with finding things. And it had “story” in the title. Surely, this was an adventure game.

I contacted the website, Sunday Software and asked them about the title. They were initially reluctant to send me a copy, not because they were not generous, but because they thought it would be compared unfavorably with modern games i.e. first person shooters. Their other concern was that the game was brief, playable in one sitting of forty-five minutes, as it had been developed as an educational tool for schools. They kindly sent me a full version once I explained the audience for JustAdventure+. The game arrived within a couple of weeks complete in DVD case with a manual and cover. The disk was professionally manufactured. So far, I was mighty impressed for this I knew to be designed by an independent company.

The manual is a few pages long and lists some, but not all, of the controls. These controls seem to have been selected somewhat at random or by someone with an extra pair of hands. The arrows are used to move. So far, so good. The mouse is used to aim and shoot the “H20zinator”, a water gun used to clear material blocking the way. Parents will be pleased to know that this is used to blast rocks, sand, and cobwebs (and, somewhat alarmingly, hippos, but more about that later…). It is not used to shoot people. Alternatively, Ctrl can be used. Action is by way of the spacebar. Jump and duck are not documented in the manual but key bindings can be accessed through F1 at any time in the game. From recall, I think End and Home were used. When the player enters a helicopter, S starts it, B stops it, A takes it up, and Z lowers it. K is used to veer left, while L is to veer right. Any experienced player will recognize that this is far from optimal, especially in a kid’s game. To add insult to injury, the bindings can not be configured. Despite these shortcomings, both my five-year-old son and I played through it without much trouble.

The game installs completely to the hard drive and does not require the disk to be in the drive from that point onwards. Booting up the game, there is a huge delay before the game starts, which is not uncommon with the GameStudio A5 engine. The game engine itself tests computer capabilities and adjusts graphics accordingly during this process. After 30 seconds or so of activity on the screen, the game loads to the menu. This is easy to use. It must be noted though that in reloading games in future, on this screen the saved game names do not show up. On in-game screens, there is no problem.

Once started, the independent nature of the game is apparent. Graphics are poorly defined but readily recognizable. They are colorful and kids will enjoy looking at them. The game is played in true 3D and is not meant to challenge Doom 3 or Half-Life 2 for visuals. The graphics are workmanlike and get the job done. The game can be played in first- and third-person but the graphical glitches that appear throughout in first-person are exacerbated in third-. At times, Robin gets stuck in an object and needs to jump out of the object for example. The creators purposely kept the graphics to “low polygon” type so that the game can run on older computers as well as new. Voice acting and sound effects are also average but easy to hear and understand. Players need to be careful not to trigger voice files on top of one another. This can happen when a player moves quickly from one area to another before one voice-over has finished.

In the game, the player is Robin, summoned by her Grandfather to an archeological dig of Joseph’s palace. For reasons unexplained, Joseph has recreated his life story in the palace. As Robin delves deeper inside, she discovers that she is mistakenly thought to be Joseph and must live out his life, making the appropriate decisions along the way. This includes the famous stories of the coat of many colors, his dreams, through to the reconciliation with his brothers.

The casual gamer will find a very brief game indeed. This is explained best in the words of the developers: “Our primary goal in this game is to teach the scope and sequence of Joseph’s enormous story. It takes about 35-45 minutes to make it through the ruins depending on student age and whether they stop to ponder all the ponderables”. The inclusion of “stop and ponder” points that encourage consideration of the message inherent in certain parts of the story. The ponder points can be changed by the technically minded if the teacher wishes to explore other concepts at these points in the game.

The game is intended for children aged 8-18. A nice touch was the inclusion of “Joe Easy”, a lite version that alters signs in the game to make where the player should go and what they should do more obvious. This makes only very slight changes to the game, however, usually just superimposing arrows or other signage over the older player version and I’m not really sure just how much value there is when the game is very easy anyway. A short Arabic melody plays when something has been achieved in the game, so players know when they are on the right track. Although I did not find them, the creators mention that there are “jump points” in the game so a teacher can revisit important parts of the story again.

As I mentioned above, the game is pretty easy. There are no real puzzles. There are some inventory items that need to be collected and used. There is some simple action in the form of using the H20zinator to clear debris out the path of the player. Adventure purists need not turn away at this point, as this is definitely not an action title. There are some quirks in this game, however. It is possible to get trapped by non-player characters twice in the game. The troubleshooting page offers advice about how to get out of this but I found I had to restart my game and use Shift to run away from characters trying to capture me. There are some mazes. Again, adventure games need not fear-my five-year-old son navigated them without any help from me. At certain points, the player must make a selection from one of several doors. Wrong selection takes them back a little bit in the game but steps are soon retraced.

At the conclusion of the game, there are additional learning materials and activities. Robin can find a catchy and surprisingly heavy song, conduct interviews with six of Joseph’s brothers, and do a short Bible study. She can return to the dig and go helicopter flying again or find her way out of the Mad Hippo Wash Maze, shooting hippos as she goes. My son thought this was excellent but I found it boring and a little disturbing that hippos blew up when shot three times, not intrinsically in accordance with Scripture teaching! Incidentally, the song “Go Where the Spirit Says Go” is sung by Tyler Wright, the lead singer of The Tyler Wright Project, a local band where the developers live.

Real kudos must go to the developers for the Joseph’s Story website. The website includes links for game updates, tips for playing the game, and information about the game. There are screenshots, a song, demos, and teaching aids for use to enhance the educational aspects of the game. Much of this information is included on the disk also. There is a technical support page, which contains bug reports and their solutions. They encourage contacting them if new problems are discovered, even listing two email addresses (sundaysoft@ee.net or neil@sundaysoftware.com) as contacts.

Obviously, this is not a game for most adventure gamers. It certainly could have potential if it were much longer but the costs of licenses make it prohibitive unless purchasing it for a school or Sunday school. The site lists the cost as $22 for one and $17 each for two to four computers, whereas a site license available is $85 for five to ten computers or $110 for eleven to fifteen computers. Adventure gamers could find something in it to enjoy if it were readily at hand but it is a pricy hour of gameplay, even taking into account the extraneous activities. This game deserves a C- but as a teaching aid is a B.

Final Grade: C-
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System Requirements:

• Windows 98/Me/XP
• 500 mhz processor
• 64 mb of Ram (more preferred)
• 8 mb accelerated videocard