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Vulcan Software. £17.99 | |
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Vulcan Software. £17.99 | |
This is the third part of a trilogy of speech adventures from Vulcan. They are all set in the world of Valhalla, this time your job is to rescue all the ladies of the kingdom who have been kidnapped by the Evil Witch Queen Eve, so that your king can marry.
So explore the landscape, pick up the objects, use them in the right places and solve the puzzles to get you one step closer to rescuing the poor helpless women. Four large levels, with plenty to do on each. Interact with other people, talk to them, give them the things they want so they'll give you the things you need.
Not a quick game by any means. Time consuming and involved enough to keep you at it for hours. Considering the cheap price of the whole of the Vulcan range of software, it takes a really good commercial release to be as good as this. It's not shareware or licenceware or anything, but is only available direct from Vulcan themselves.
The interface has been upgraded which makes the whole game better and easier to play, the graphics, although unchanged, convey the situation more than adequately enough, and the speech seems pretty much similar to the other two games.
So what do I think of this game? Well, the puzzles are mostly linear, i.e. you have to solve the first puzzle before you can do the next, and although logical some of them are pretty obscure! You'll end up saying to yourself, "Oh yeah. Why didn't I see that before?". I suppose that's the main object of an adventure/puzzle game, but it sometimes involves traipsing around the map trying all the objects at all the 'interesting' locations to see what happens and this detracts from the continuity sometimes!
This would have got a higher score if it were more different from the other two. But if you don't own one of the others and want it then it's safe to add another 5% or 6%.
One final, but none the less important point, is the packaging. Very nice! Great little box that looks good amidst all the other crap that ends up on your desk.
Download a demo of Valhalla 3 from Vulcans home page.
Score = 82%
This piece of software was released very shortly after the famous 'Theme Park' and is very similar in some respects. Take control of a seaside resort and buy shops and amenities for the promenade. Stock has to be ordered, prices have to be set right, people have to be kept happy.
Meanwhile, down on the beach, toilets and changing rooms have to be provided, watersports equipment needs to be purchased and controlled, and staff such as cleaners and lifeguards need employing.
It is vitally important to get an act booked for the show on the pier, get some more staff in to advertise it daily, and hope you can get enough punters in to see it to pay the expenses!
An excellent game, with just enough to control so that it is not overly demanding for younger players, but still enough for those who excel at this type of simulator. Hard drive installable, easy to get into, nice graphics, plays well and will keep you busy for hours and hours.
Download a demo of Hillsea lido from Vulcans home page.
Score = 87%
TimeKeepers is labelled as "The Simplistically Complex Puzzle Game", and quite rightly. Overhead view of a platoon of (funny looking) soldiers which you have to negotiate through increasingly complex puzzles in four different time zones. Send them back to 2 million BC, then Medieval Land 1245, then Vietnam Land 1966, then finally Space Land 2001, to locate and disarm a nuclear device in each time period. Through 15 levels to each zone, become confused and irritated as you restart to give it "just one more go!"
You can order your men to change direction, jump, fight, pause and use items. In this limited amount of actions lies the complexity of the game! Each obstacle must be navigated and overcome with thought and logic, not with a large array of abilities as seen in Lemmings.
Playable, enjoyable and frustrating gives this game a good mark. Easy to get into, hard to get out of!
If you really do enjoy punishment of this sort, then you'll be glad to know that there are an extra 60 levels available on an expansion disk to keep you going!!!
Download a demo of TimeKeepers from Vulcans home page.
Score = 89%
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| £14.99 | £14.99 | Expansion £5.99 |