80 Days
 

So it's out in France, but I don't want to buy it unless I hear good stuff about it. (because it doesn't appeal to me at first glance)

Anyone played it yet?

If you have the bandwidth available, check out the demo (link). I played with it for about 10 minutes before getting bored/annoyed with the general interface.

I didn't like it very much. It features a repetitive schema of puzzles and enigmas in each city; it's always the same narrative structure and sometimes even the same order: a sneaking mission; a couple puzzles á-la Tomb Raider (extending platforms to jump into, finding a path through some rocks, push levers...), a few Myst-like puzzles (that is, those that are full-screen in 2D games, I don't know how you call those in English), a couple (yes, only a couple) classic puzzles of combining objects (which were kind of nice and witty), some vacuous and annoying missions that consist only on going from one point of the map to another (to fullfill the wishes of some scottish clan), and that's pretty much it. There's even a repetition of the same puzzle up to 4 times: using a metal rod to get an object that's obstructing something.

There is no real interactivity in those beautiful, huge cities, you cannot interact with any objects, no real conversations whit any characters (dialogues are, by the way, authomatic and can't be controlled by the player, so dialogue puzzles are omitted), and no things to do at all.

Add to that the annoying interface, some uninspired dialogue, a huge plethora of anacronisms (which I don't think were intentional), and some nice pop music (with songs like "Walk an Egyptian" from The Bangles - with the vocals removed) that feels pretty much unappropiated for this kind of game. You know, it's hard to get into the story when you're running around in Cairo while listening pop and dance music from the 80's...

I liked the graphics and the engine though.


I wrote a review for my website, it's in Spanish for those who can understand it.

:r I've always hated licenced music in my games but that just kinda' sinks to a new low. I'm sure sales of the game are going to skyrocket with all the Bangles fans rushing out and buying every copy they can find.:crazy:

I'm looking forward to this game but I've got my reservations too. I think frogwares has been trying very hard on every game they've worked on but have just been slighly off mark with each. From the looks of this one, it might be a similar case. I guess I'll find out when it's released in the US and play it for myself.

...bysmitty

Though there's no way I'll be able to play this game, I'm still interested in what the system requirements are. Anybody know?

Update: Thanks kelmer.

Pentium 1 GHz Processor and AMD Athlon, 512 MB RAM, 64 MB Video Card, Soundcard compatible with DirectX® 9, DVD-ROM 2x, 2 GB dof Hard disk space.

That's what the manual says.

Kelmer, in your review you said that the spanish version had english voices with spanish subtitles or have I read wrong? Is it also possible to play with English Subtitles or just with Spanish ones? Not that it matters because I could learn more Spanish with Spanish subtitles. Also how much does it cost in Spain? I was thinking of getting this from US but if the Spanish version has English voices I might get it from there instead.

Yes, you read correctly - the game has voices in English and texts in Spanish, and there is no option to switch to original subtitles.

It is being released on November 18th for 39,99 euro.

Thanks I'll think about getting it in Spain then. I'll have to read several reviews though to see whether I should buy it or not as first impressions aren't exactly positive.