Viva Adventure Anthology

The Viva Adventure Anthology analysis. You get far more than you pay for here. Sybiria II alone is a very masterful(and at times touching) game of excellent dialouge and breathtaking graphics and atmospere making on feel as though your in the frozen tundra far from NYC the home/workplace of the protagonist, Kate Walker. My favorite of the anth and though I don’t normally play games with female protagonists, this is not exclusively for girls. Thier is a serious story here and great interaction, and a very likable main character and her friends and aquaintinces, much like Agon and Paradise. Agon, a very study required game, you read a lot here to gain clues to what you must do. It is a very time consuming game not for the busy or short of attention. You play a learned professor who must uncover secrets begining in a museum(his workplace) and ends up on many places far across the world, remminds me of what I would picture Stephen J. Cannel doing, he begins on his typewriter in his office and ends up in some jungle or like Reminton Steel, where a writer writes her way into adventure. As Professor Samuel Hunt, you must uncover artifacts and travel beyond the confines of your cozy office building. In Paradise you are an amnesic young woman who has only a barebone of information of her backgtround, she came from Europe and is kept away in a abby where you befreind a wild cat who aids you. She, like Kate Walker is a very likeable play character with a plot to take seriously. The other three titles I really couldn’t get into, the “Quick time” requrirement often crashes in Windows XP Riddle of the Spinx and Omega stone are much like “Myst” where a bunch of bad but animated actors(or game deve peorsonel) attempt to be “Realiztic” by putting themselves infront of exoctic(or rather virtual cardboard) backdrops, unlike Myst, this is atrociously done.- and trying to sound like Rand Miller doing “Attrus” from Myst is not creative, it sounds stupid when you totally miss the point like in Sphinx/Stoned riddle. Physicus is heavily Quicktime required and can dump your PC in a tale spin to the crapper, what I played it COULD have been a fun game if the “window” the “Quicktime” movie was in wasn’t 3″ on a 24″ monitor! I’d rather play it on a DSi. lol! Looks like some nostalgic retro 1940 ultramodernism but too bad I can’t really play on a little 3″ screen. Finally, the only action oriented game(more an adventure similar to “Redguard” from a long time ago) Black Buccaneer is an action game and the most fun of them as far as just plain fun. thier is no dialoug, a lot of action and it is the game to play when your brain is tired of Agon and you want to put it in neutrol and jump around exploring ancient ruins and fighting. you do morph into some ubber pirate and that is the only significant aside from the action much like “Prince of Pursia”. this “Anthology” will keep you going as you can swtich from brainy games to action and back again. “Viva” really is trying to breath “Life” into games by giving you a smorgusboard to sample so you’ll buy upcomings. I think Sybria II is so good I will buy 1 and maybe 3 if/when it is released.

gu dae! gov!
Rating: 5 / 5

This is a pretty good collection of classic adventure games. I will review them separately.

Syberia II – a continuation of the story line of the first Syberia which, along with the Longest Journey and Myst games, is one of the best in the genre. Gorgeous graphics, great music, dreamlike atmosphere, compelling story, intuitive games that fit the setting. The second half of the series is not quite as breathtaking as the first, but still better than anything else out there. A must play!

Paradise – also from Benoit Sokal (Syberia I and II) with similar gameplay, but not quite as good in terms of gameplay and graphics. The map layouts are a mess in many of the areas, and the controls can be frustrating (esp in the big cat scenes). The story is interesting, and a bit disturbing at the end. Overall, a good game.

AGON – included is actually 3 parts out of 13 intended. Currently there is a 4th out for separate purchase (Sword of Toledo, I believe). Bumbling British academic searches out ancient boardgames from around the world. Each section has 2 parts – one typical adventure style search for the board game, then the playing of the boardgame (except for the 1st section, which has no boardgame). The adventure bits are well done with good puzzles, though the controls are a bit difficult to get used to – not a standard point and click, but 360 environments. The boardgames are, in my opinion, the best part. They are interesting and fun to learn – each involving their own strategy. You can replay the games against the computer as often as you want from the main menu.

Physicus – I loved this one. It reminded me a lot of Myst (one of my first ever video games). All the puzzles are based on the principles of physics, and interactive lessons are included. The puzzle will inform you as to which chapters of which lesson are needed to solve them. The necessary chapters are a tiny part of the information included, and the lessons on their own would be a fantastic resource to students in 6-12 grade science. Beware though – there is a LOT of back and forth involved, which can become very frustrating. It is hard to know which area you should go to next to make progress.

Riddle of the Sphinx – this game, like AGON has 360 environments, but is a bit easier to navigate, especially with the help of the warp option. The game saves files directly into a Windows folder, so you can label and store your saves however you want. YOU CAN DIE IN THIS GAME, so save frequently. The concept and storyline are really interesting – tying together several ancient and mysterious civilizations. Beware the TERRIBLE acting by the one other character than yourself. He slips in and out of an awful (British?) accent. Lots of back and forth between locations – that warp really comes in handy. Also – really important – to put an item in the inventory – click on it to pick up, then move it over the backpack and click again.

Omega Stone – sequel to ROTS. Same controls, better inventory management. Same TERRIBLE actor, only know he plays like 4-5 different people, all with different accents, all horrible. Whoever hired this guy should be shot. The connection between the ancient civilizations is explored further and you get to visit each one! Not quite as much back and forth, each location is pretty much contained within itself (with a few exceptions). Some items/clues cannot be taken with you, but you have a camera, so take lots of pictures of these. For the books with multiple pages, it may be easier to create a save so that you can just load it whenever you want to look through it.

*NOTE* Amazon offers a collection with the 3rd installment, titled Riddle of the Tomb. It is NOT this pack, so if you want that game as well, buy the bonus edition.

Black Buccaneer – this game is very different from all the others. It is more of an action adventure game (think Tomb Raider) where you must control the character and fight enemies. I am not particularly dexterous, but I managed to get through it alright. I was skeptical, but it ended up being a pretty fun game. There is no manual so I will tell you the controls: WASD to move, mouse to look, spacebar to jump, left shift to interact, L and R click to use sword, Q and left click to use gun. Everything else will be explained within the game. Use ESC to access menu and F2 and F3 to scroll for special attack instructions, quests, and maps.
Rating: 4 / 5