PaladinHeart
Mildly Dipped
I snatched this game off of eBay about a week or two ago for about $3 (new) and it's actually a somewhat decent adventure game.
At first I was put off a little because I felt like I was playing a book. There's quite a bit to read. As I further played the game, I quickly realized it was going to be about solving a murder by asking around town and stuff. I was disappointed later on when the game devolved from murder mystery into some sort of [spoiler:cb6cd38627]zombie attack plot.[/spoiler:cb6cd38627] Of course there's more to it than that. I can post further spoilers if anyone is actually interested. It did redeem itself a bit.
There are 3 different primary endings, which vary depending on what you choose to do at the very end of the game. Disappointing that that is the biggest (and only) deciding factor for the ending, but I really can't complain, considering most point&click style adventure games aren't nearly as interactive and only have one ending.
You also learn what happened to the other various characters, depending on your actions throughout the game. I'm not really sure if you can have any effect on how some of these turn out, but I'm guessing that you can, considering each particular one has their own little blurb at the end, Fallout style.
I would have liked to seen this made into a more complex RPG with a lot more murders to solve, but it was still well worth the $3 I spent on it. Definitely worth a look for Adventure gaming fans looking for a short diversion.
I got stuck quite a few times while searching for obscure/hard to find people/objects. This is my main gripe with the game and made it more frustrating at times than fun. I gave up the last time and used a walkthrough. [spoiler:cb6cd38627]Hiding something in an old mattress in a random prison cell is ridiculous though...[/spoiler:cb6cd38627]
The graphics are alright. Looks very similar to Age of Decadence screenshots. Nice environments and 3D people who move kinda weird. I'll give them a 3/5 for graphics. It's serviceable.
The sound and music are serviceable. Very uninteresting voice acting, but it helps if you don't feel like reading everything. Only the main character talks. 3/5 for the voicing, and 4.5/5 for the sound and music. Some nice creepy tunes, but the tracks can get repetitive if you get stuck and eventually put you to sleep.
Gameplay is decent. I give the inventory and item manipulation a 5/5, since you can drop items, make potions, etc.. If you ever get stuck you can always entertain yourself by walking around and gather herbs. The combat gets a 2/5. You hold your spacebar in to block, and then let go and quickly left click the enemy to hit them when their guard is down. Nothing fantastic, but [spoiler:cb6cd38627]since you only have to fight about 10 times in the whole game[/spoiler:cb6cd38627] it's not important.
At first I was put off a little because I felt like I was playing a book. There's quite a bit to read. As I further played the game, I quickly realized it was going to be about solving a murder by asking around town and stuff. I was disappointed later on when the game devolved from murder mystery into some sort of [spoiler:cb6cd38627]zombie attack plot.[/spoiler:cb6cd38627] Of course there's more to it than that. I can post further spoilers if anyone is actually interested. It did redeem itself a bit.
There are 3 different primary endings, which vary depending on what you choose to do at the very end of the game. Disappointing that that is the biggest (and only) deciding factor for the ending, but I really can't complain, considering most point&click style adventure games aren't nearly as interactive and only have one ending.
You also learn what happened to the other various characters, depending on your actions throughout the game. I'm not really sure if you can have any effect on how some of these turn out, but I'm guessing that you can, considering each particular one has their own little blurb at the end, Fallout style.
I would have liked to seen this made into a more complex RPG with a lot more murders to solve, but it was still well worth the $3 I spent on it. Definitely worth a look for Adventure gaming fans looking for a short diversion.
I got stuck quite a few times while searching for obscure/hard to find people/objects. This is my main gripe with the game and made it more frustrating at times than fun. I gave up the last time and used a walkthrough. [spoiler:cb6cd38627]Hiding something in an old mattress in a random prison cell is ridiculous though...[/spoiler:cb6cd38627]
The graphics are alright. Looks very similar to Age of Decadence screenshots. Nice environments and 3D people who move kinda weird. I'll give them a 3/5 for graphics. It's serviceable.
The sound and music are serviceable. Very uninteresting voice acting, but it helps if you don't feel like reading everything. Only the main character talks. 3/5 for the voicing, and 4.5/5 for the sound and music. Some nice creepy tunes, but the tracks can get repetitive if you get stuck and eventually put you to sleep.
Gameplay is decent. I give the inventory and item manipulation a 5/5, since you can drop items, make potions, etc.. If you ever get stuck you can always entertain yourself by walking around and gather herbs. The combat gets a 2/5. You hold your spacebar in to block, and then let go and quickly left click the enemy to hit them when their guard is down. Nothing fantastic, but [spoiler:cb6cd38627]since you only have to fight about 10 times in the whole game[/spoiler:cb6cd38627] it's not important.