Reviewed: June 8, 2003
Reviewed by: Mark Smith
Publisher
The Adventure Company
Developer
The Adventure Company
Released: May 21, 2003
Genre: Adventure
Players: 1
ESRB: Everyone
6
6
6
5
6.6
System Requirements
OK, follow me here. If you find yourself shipwrecked on an island and have a prophetic dream that you are going to kill your son, shouldn't you just stay where you are...ya think? Not so in Curse of Atlantis: Thorgal's Quest. You immediately being to look for a way off the island to help your son, while at the same time tempting the very fate shown in your vision.
And thus begins your adventure in this latest European import title based on a popular graphic novel. Don’t let the name “Atlantis” fool you – like it did me. This has nothing to do with the previous two Atlantis games from the now defunct, Cryo If anything, this game is more about Vikings and Norse themes than fabled lost cities.
The first thing you will notice about Thorgal’s Quest is that it is a true third-person adventure game and not one of those first-person interactive point-n-click deals that are quickly saturating the market. If you loved the old Sierra or Lucas adventures from the 90’s then you will feel right at home in this one.
By design, Thorgal’s Quest consists of plenty of exploration, character encounters and conversations, and some puzzle solving along the way. Normally, these types of games are choked full of puzzles but Curse of Atlantis was a bit light in the brain-teaser department, both in quantity and quality.
The first type of puzzle is the item or inventory puzzle. Anyone who has played an adventure game knows about these. You are asked to find an item and give it to someone or you need key A to open door B, etc. These are challenging only until you find the item then the solution becomes very obvious.
You will also get to put your archery skills to the test, sort of. These combat sequences are rather disappointing in that you don’t really get to fight your opponent but rather look for some clever non-violent method of incapacitating them. This process basically consists of your moving the mouse around the screen until the cursor changes to a target.
There are a few puzzles that rise above the rest including a very clever tile puzzle called “Runes” where you actually play Death. Some of the inventory puzzles are also fairly challenging and integrated into the environments better than others. Puzzles try to vary by using some timed events and others use audible cues and clues found in conversations, so even though the game is fairly simple you still have to pay attention.
Curse of Atlantis is quite linear. Despite it’s deceiving open-ended exploration style you usually can’t get more than two or three screens off the beaten path before you are corralled back on course by some environmental shepherds staff. Sure, this keeps you playing the game as it was scripted, but it also shortens the overall gameplay experience and takes away a lot of your sense of freedom.
Thorgals’ Quest is a unique blend of visual style ranging from very nice black and white sketches presented in a comic book form to the more typical 3D characters walking around 2D environments. The game graphics seem to be overly dark - nothing that can’t be fixed by playing at night in a dark room or by cranking up the brightness on your monitor – but it can get annoying when the game reverts to a pixel (object) hunt.
The opening movie and any of the other cutscenes for that matter are all excellent, both visually and dramatically. If the first movie doesn’t get your adventurer’s blood boiling then you are already dead.
The gameplay itself featured some nice static backgrounds so when you walk off one screen the view changes to another. The characters are a bit blocky and there are some “jaggies” that were able to fight off my attempts to anti-alias them with my video card. It’s still all good and for only $19 you get what you pay for.
The orchestrated soundtrack is wonderful. It blends into he background providing an almost soothing presence conducive to adventure gaming. There were a few tracks that stood out as a bit more entertaining than others.
Sound effects such as environmental noises and weather effects are all appropriately accounted for when and where they are needed. They aren’t anything special but they contribute to your overall immersion into the game world.
I found the voice acting a bit amateur and leaning toward the overdramatic, but the accents and script were all really good. For some reason the speech was sampled at a very poor bit-rate, so everything sounds a bit tinny and rather low quality. It’s not horrible but neither is it on par with most other adventure games coming out these days, including others from The Adventure Company.
I must admit I was a bit surprised when I finished Thorgal’s Quest in about six hours. Keep in mind I play a lot of these games so your mileage may vary, but still, that’s pretty short for any adventure game. The good news is the title is only $19 so even though the gameplay is about half of most titles, so is the price.
Curse of Atlantis: Thorgal’s Quest is your typical adventure game that strives to pay tribute to the classics of the early 90’s. While I found a non-FPS adventure refreshing I felt this one could have been a bit better. Still, for less than $20 you can’t really complain. This title is fun for the whole family and you are even provided with multiple slots so everyone can play their own game at their own pace.
If you’re looking for that next adventure game to occupy a few days of your time then Atlantis is the place to be and Thorgal is your man to take you there.