Prince of Persia 2008 wows game reviewer

I'm sure glad this game reviewer clarified that the latest Prince of Persia is a new release and not just a rehash of the 1989 original. The graphics are obviously outstanding and he praises the dialogue and character interactions as well.

A snippet of a very extensive review:

Prince of Persia is a delight to behold. The game’s scenes cover the full spectrum of classic “desert epic” settings, carrying the player through deep caverns, sprawling wastelands, grand and towering palaces, and ancient cities of stone. Given the series’ reliance on platforming and acrobatic movement, of course, all of these areas have extremely vertical layouts: Players can expect to scale impossibly tall towers, climb and run on massive walls, and even reach the sky atop a series of dirigible-carried platforms. They may not be as crisp and shiny as the tall rooftops of Mirror’s Edge, but they’re extremely colorful and pretty to look at — and thanks to the unlikely and perilous ways in which one must navigate these areas, there are still plenty of vertigo-inducing moments.

The characters, too, are rendered quite nicely, using an effect akin to cel-shading to let them stand out against the scenery while still providing a high level of detail to their costumes and faces. Their animation is suitably fluid and spirited, and during cut-scenes, their faces exude an appreciable range of emotion, infusing each character with charm, confidence, vulnerability, or menace, as appropriate. More than anything, though, the characters are brought to life through the game’s spectacular writing and voice acting. - More

Murder in the Abbey

Thou Shalt Not Kill!
Monks, murder, and above all, suspense. An old abbey is the scene of a series of mysterious murders, and only one man
can put a stop to the slaughter.

Former Grand Inquisitor Leonardo and his assistant Bruno are sent by the Vatican to the isolated abbey to investigate the strange goings-on surrounding a carefully guarded secret.

Yet hardly have they arrived when their quest is overshadowed by an attempt on their lives...

Murder in the Abbey is a mystery of cinematic proportions whose suspense goes far beyond that of a conventional adventure game!

• Innovative cinematic presentation through a new method of combining 2D and 3D graphics
• A faithful reproduction of a medieval abbey, its architecture, works of art, secret passageways and treasures
• Music, effects, top-quality voiceovers and over 70 minutes of orchestral soundtrack recorded by the Prague
Symphony Orchestra, all in Dolby Surround Sound
• 1000 scenes in 60 locations promise 40 hours of gameplay
• Unique setting and presentation offers a fresh approach for adventure gamers

Scheduled for release August 19, 2008.

Cleopatra Riddle Of The Tomb

By: John Breeden

Game Industry News Editor

There has recently been quite a few puzzle adventure type games that start out in Europe and eventually get ported over to the U.S. market. Cleopatra Riddle Of The Tomb is one of them. However, unlike most of these efforts, this title actually does not do anything wrong. It offers about ten hours of mostly enjoyable gameplay.

The game is set in Ancient Egypt and surprisingly, is historically accurate. Most games figure everything set in Egypt should have hieroglyphics when in fact at the time of Cleopatra, Egypt had long-since been conquered by Alexander The Great. As such, puzzles here use the Greek alphabet. This little twist, positioned right near the start of the game, lets players who know figure out that Cleopatra is going for realism as well as enjoyment.

You play an astrologer working under a master named Akkad, who in turn works directly for Cleopatra. You also happen to be in love with Akkad’s daughter Iris. The game begins when you show up for work and both Akkad and Iris are missing. Given that Cleopatra has launched a civil war against her brother/husband Ptolemy which is tearing up Alexandria at the moment, this is not too surprising. (Although I did not know that Ptolemy was both brother and husband to that crazy Cleo, so that was a bit of a shock.)

At its heart, Riddle Of The Tomb is a puzzle game, more so than an adventure game. You basically can walk around with impunity (in other words not worrying about getting killed) until you hit a puzzle that needs to be solved. Unlike a really difficult puzzle game where you have to figure out what a puzzle is, here it’s pretty easy. When you hit a wall, sometimes literally, you have found a puzzle.

The game does a good job of easing you into the whole puzzle solving adventure. The first puzzles involve trying to find out where you master and girlfriend have gone (or were taken).

The puzzles themselves are fairly diverse and range from combining objects in your inventory to conducting basic research on Egyptian culture to discover, for example, what order to place statues for the ceremony to weigh the soul of a dead person. Almost all the puzzles are connected to Egyptian lore in some way, which adds a nice touch to the atmosphere.

Lego and Lucas Arts to release Lego Indiana Jones in June

"Lego and LucasArts is obviously a winning combination. The previous pairings of the two brands in the various Lego Star Wars games have been nothing but money makers for the brands and publishers involved. So it came as no surprise when LucasArts earlier this year revealed that another of its flagship characters--swashbuckling action man Indiana Jones--was getting his block on in Lego Indiana Jones. The new game--which is set for release on practically every game platform in the second quarter of this year--will cover all of the action of the first three Indiana Jones movies (no Crystal Skull here), and we got to see how the game is shaping up today at a special LucasArts GDC event.

Just like the first Lego Star Wars games, Lego Indiana Jones will break down each of the original three films into six episodes focusing on each particular movie's key action scenes. The very first location showed by LucasArts in today's demo was the game's hub world, which functions similarly to the cantina in the first Lego Star Wars. The hub world in this game is Jones' place of work (his day job, not his archaeology gig), Barnett College, and it's where players will access the game's various levels. After a brief tour of the college, the LucasArts rep jumped straight into the first level of the game, which takes place in the opening sequence of Raiders of the Lost Ark. From the following cutscene, it's clear to see developer Travellers' Tales has injected this game with the same mix of reverence for the source material mixed in with a healthy dose of humor seen in previous Lego games. This level copies the opening of Raiders almost exactly, right down to Satipo (played by Alfred Molina in the film) taking out that arrow stuck in the tree and tasting the poison on it. The comic relief comes in the form of three porter characters who are following Indy and one by one get accidentally taken out by hiding natives actually aiming for Jones.

Indy's main weapon will be his trusty whip, which can be used in a variety of ways. Not only can it be used for attacking enemies, it can also be used to swing across chasms, grab objects, and pull levers. The gameplay itself is extremely reminiscent of Lego Star Wars, with the same basic platforming and team-based puzzle solving found in those earlier Lego titles. The main character of Indiana Jones will always be accompanied by a partner character which--just like in Lego Star Wars again--can be controlled by a second player at any time (that second player can also drop out at any time). This second character will always have a different set of skills from Indy, which will be needed to get past puzzles. For example, the second character of Satipo in this first level had the dig ability, which he used to unearth some buried Lego pieces that the Indy character then used to build a bridge across a large gap. Later on, Indy had to step on some pressure switches to lower spikes barring Satipo's way.

This being the iconic opening scene of Raiders, the gameplay demo included the famous scene of Indy grabbing the gold idol off the pedestal, as well as the rolling boulder chase sequence. The level ends with Indy making it out of the temple, only to be confronted by the Lego version of evil French archaeologist Belloq, who asks Indy to hand him the idol. In another comical scene, Indy pulls several things out of his bag before the idol, including C-3PO's head."

I'll have to be sure my son sees this. When he was little we teamed up to solve the puzzles in one of the first Indiana Jones games that came out on the original Atari game console - oh my, it must have been over 20 years ago now!

Riddle of the Tomb

The graphics in this Adventure Company game look fantastic and the story sounds intriguing as well!

"The country is divided by civil war pitting Cleopatra’s supporters against those of her brother and husband, Ptolemy, who is ravaging the country. In this climate of terror, Thomas, a young apprentice to Akkad, Cleopatra’s astrologist and astronomist, falls in love with his master’s daughter. One day, in horror, he discovers that both Master and daughter have been kidnapped.

Thomas sets out on their trail and learns in the course of his investigations that Cleopatra herself has asked Akkad to make a specific divination, and that the partisans of Ptolemy are behind the kidnapping. Cleopatra promises Thomas that in exchange for the tablets required for the divination, her guards will find the master and his daughter.

Thomas’s investigations lead him to the discovery of Egypt’s legendary sites such as the Library of Alexandria and the Lighthouse. Thomas also meets the Queen and a whole host of other mysterious characters. Will he manage to save his master and his loved one, so that together they can decipher the stars? Without the prophecy, the country will be lost: the destiny of Egypt and its Queen are in his hands."

Features:

To avoid endless travel, an interactive map will gradually reveal new areas as the player advances in the game and visits more sites. The player can return to any visited location in a single click. The developers based their work on historical research in order to faithfully recreate monuments and transcribe Egyptian culture. Rediscover monuments such as the Lighthouse, the Library and the city of Alexandria as though you were really there. A multitude of challenging puzzles each referencing Egyptian culture and science.

Release date not yet announced.

Ankh: Heart of Osiris

After a wild party at Pharaoh's pyramid, young Assil accidentally dumps holy urns and gets himself a death curse - there he also discovers the precious amulet Ankh.

Only Pharaoh can save Assil - however not only is it impossible to get an audition, but Assil also has another problem: Osiris, God of the Underworld, is after the Ankh.

Features
At last a new humorous Point&Click-Adventure in state of the art 3D-graphics with attention to detail.

A funny and romatic story in a mystical and inspiring setting.

Numerous original localtions and characters create an immerging atmosphere that will amaze you.

The puzzles are always integrated to the gameplay - forget frustrating logical puzzles that have nothing to do with the game.

Self-explaining, uncomplicated interface, fair difficulty-level and above all: black humour in abundance!