Developed by Index+, France
Telecom Multimedia, and Canal+, The Messenger, once again puts
players in charge of nothing less than
saving the world. Members of an order known as the Black Templars
have apparently created four artifacts of tremendous power, known
as Satan’s Keys, to avenge the destruction of their order and
the slaughter of its members. If brought together, Satan’s
Keys will unleash their power, kindly destroying the world in the
process. Naturally, it is up to the players, in the role of secret
agent Morgan Sinclair, to go back in time to find and destroy these
artifacts before the Black Templars can bring them together.

The Messenger starts with
Morgan finding out about the keys through a message left by her
late father. She then breaks into the Louvre
Museum in France, where one of the artifacts is located. Once inside,
Morgan encounters the ghost of a knight, who sends her back in time
to Louvre in the middle ages, to find all of the artifacts and bring
them to the present so they can be destroyed. Thus, Morgan embarks
on a mysterious journey in search of Satan’s Keys, overlooking
the fact that the moment she has possession of all four of the artifacts,
the world should be destroyed. Although the plot is obviously lacking
in depth, The Messenger does offer the entertaining premise of exploring
Louvre at different points in its history.

Each time period Morgan
visits is like a small adventure game, with its own story and challenges.
It is interesting to observe Louvre
change through the ages, especially in terms of the people who occupy
it. What is a glorious palace in one period degenerates into a hideout
for prostitutes in another. The graphics of the game, although not
groundbreaking, are still pleasant to look at and portray the palace
and its inhabitants very nicely. The same can not be said for Morgan’s
character animation however, since her face is unfortunately devoid
of any emotion.

The sound effects have been very successfully handled both in terms
of their timing and appropriateness for the occasion. The music is
very nice, but it only plays on the menu screen and during the video
sequences of the game. The voice acting is also generally acceptable,
but the characters tend to speak rather unnaturally fast. It is almost
as if the developers were consciously trying to keep the dialogue
sequences short. Players should be warned however, as highly offending
sexist jokes are abundant in the game.

The gameplay consists
of exploring 3D images from Morgan’s
point of view. The mouse pointer changes to indicate when Morgan
can walk towards a direction, interact with a hotspot, or examine
an object more closely. A right click grants access to the inventory
screen, in which players can examine, combine or select items to
use on hotspots. The only problem with this otherwise effective inventory
system is that for no apparent reason, Morgan can only carry a certain
number of items at a time. It doesn’t matter how big or heavy
the items in Morgan’s possession are; it only matters that
she has no more than a certain number of them. Like in Resident
Evil games, extra items need to be stored in magically connected chests
found around the palace, forcing players to spend more time with
puzzles than is necessary. As if to alleviate the annoyingness of
the inventory problem, there is a very useful map function that can
be accessed through the inventory screen. With a click on the map,
Morgan can be transported directly a room she has already visited.
Yet another feature is the Dictaphone that gives historical information
about Louvre, which is not needed to beat the game, but might be
interesting for some players.

The major flaw of the game is that all of the puzzle solving is
essentially based on pixel hunting. Players keen on beating the game
without getting any help must be willing to spend hours looking for
hotspots that can be at very illogical places. The least interesting
looking object in an area can be the only important one. Furthermore,
hotspots are only available from certain points. That is, you could
be virtually equidistant from a point of interest on two screens,
and be able to interact with it only on one of them. Once the items
of interest are located however, the puzzles can be solved relatively
easily as they are simple and the clues to help the player are very
clear.

Overall, The Messenger is an entertaining game with its flaws. It
is a pleasant experience to observe the evolution of the palace through
time. The interface is intuitive and smooth. The graphics, sound
effects and music generally meet expectations. However, the game
suffers greatly from the pixel hunting and the cumbersome inventory
system. With more obvious and logical hotspots, an unlimited inventory,
and perhaps a little more challenging puzzles The Messenger could
have been a great game.

Final Grade: B

System Requirements:

PC

• Windows 95/98/ME/XP
• 32 MB RAM
• 64 MB Virtual Memory
• Pentium 166 MHz (200 recommended)
• 16 Mb RAM (32 recommended)
• 4 x CD-ROM (8 x Recommended)

MAC

• System 8.5.1
• 32 MB Available RAM (64 MB virtual)
• 6 MB 3D Video Card Open GL Compatible
• 8 x CD-ROM (8 x Recommended)