Spend a little time exploring
the mysteries of ancient China with this lovely, moody game. Pronounced “ching”,
Qin is a dreamlike game that gives you the opportunity to visit
China and
explore a vast ancient underground burial city.

ARE YOU READY FOR ANOTHER PRETTY PRETTY MYST CLONE?

The format of the game
is quite Myst-like, a point-and-click slide show. You play a character
that is in China working on an archeological
expedition on behalf of a gigantic Western conglomerate. But this
is no ordinary academic dig – this is a treasure hunt. The
chairman of your company is looking for a fabled elixir of life that
is supposed to be hidden in the buried city. As the game opens, an
earthquake swallows you into the bowels of the earth!

After the earthquake, you realize you have landed at the entrance
to the very underground necropolis that the expedition is looking
for.

BURIED

As I said, Qin is definitely
a Myst clone, though it’s not
nearly so challenging as Myst was. After the earthquake your job
is to explore a series of subterranean environments that make up
this mysterious buried city. The game has four levels, and as you
solve puzzles and reveal more and more of the mystery, you gain access
to more and more of the city.

The graphics are just beautiful (if fairly static), and create a
dreamy atmosphere as you explore the various pavilions, palaces,
workshops, throne rooms, and burial chambers that make up the world
of Qin.

OOPS! I ACCIDENTALLY LEARNED SOMETHING!

The mysteries in the game
are driven by Chinese history, philosophy and folklore, and this
content is presented with a great deal of
finesse and intelligence. It was quite enjoyable to wind my way through
the poetry, symbols, sayings and stories that filled this world.
There are some adventure gamers who may not like the idea being subjected
to “educational” content while playing a game. I am not
of that persuasion. If the information is presented compellingly,
intriguingly, compellingly – I am quite happy to go along for
the ride. In fact, playing educational games can have unexpected
benefits. I find that whenever I see a movie now that deals with
ancient Egypt or the ancient Mayan culture, because I’ve played
so many games that deal with these cultures, I am watching with slightly
more educated eyes. Sitting through the new version of The Mummy
recently, for example, I was delighted to realize I understood who
some of the statuary represented, as well as some of the symbols.
This would not have been true at all before my discovery of adventure
games.

This is not a game for
someone in the mood for muscular puzzle solving. The puzzles are,
for the most part, pretty mild stuff – logical,
straightforward, and very tied to the textual material. One exception
is a badly designed puzzle involving a sort of combination lock.
This stinker is difficult, not because its a devilishly clever challenge
or anything, but because the designers made a fundamental mistake – the
combination is based on compass directions that are actually incorrect!
This sort of thing gets me pretty irritated. It’s like a musical
puzzle that only works when you use the WRONG notes (hello, Golden
Gate!).

By the end of the game, you have of course put the elixir of life
back together, and you then have a fateful decision to make: what
to do with it? Happily, the game provides three well-thought out
endings based on your possible choices.

CONCLUSION

The music in the game is excellent and contributes greatly to the
intoxicating mood.

Also the game is very
short, being one of only two games I’ve
ever finished in a single day. This is not necessarily a criticism.
The main reason my friend and I finished it in one day is that it
was so compelling we couldn’t quit playing it!

I would recommend Qin for its lovely, mysterious atmosphere, intriguing
content, beautiful graphics and compelling (if easy) puzzles.

The graphics are beautiful, the music entertaining and the content
educational. The game is too short and easy with one really bad puzzle,
but Qin is a nice dreamy, leisurely escape that I would recommend
to anyone interested in the subject matter.

Final Grade: C

System Requirements:

PC

• Windows 3.1/95
• 2X CD-ROM drive
• Screen capable of
  displaying 256 colors
• 8MB RAM

MAC

• Performa or better/33 Mhz (68040 processor or higher)
• * 12 MB RAM, or 8
  MB of Available RAM
• * Color monitor with
  256 colors or better
• * Double-speed CD-ROM
  drive (4X CD-ROM recommended)
• * System 7.1 or higher
• The Qin CD-ROM is
  designed for optimal viewing at 640 x 480

This
review is copyright Ray Ivey and Just Adventure and
may not be republished elsewhere without the express written consent
of the author. Republication of said review must also contain a link
back to Just Adventure.