Atlantis Redux Episode I + II

Reviewed on 20th December 2004 by: Alex

Précis:

The combined Episode 1 + 2 is much better than Episode 1 alone. I was also very impressed by the response of tetraedge to the previous review, and the fact that they upgraded all Symbian Episode 1 buyers to the new Episode 1+2 for free. In any case, buying it now you get an impressive game showpiece, and the puzzles themselves are better and more numerous.

Review:

An adventure game with elements of the classic Myth; this is nowhere near as large a virtual world, but it still manages to be a compelling puzzle adventure for the mobile gamer. While your primary function is to be an in-situ puzzle-solver, the game has been designed intelligently, and portions of the second episode require lateral and intuitive thought for successful completion. All this is supported by good graphics, a soundtrack which includes full voice-overs, background music, and sound effects.

First, it must be noted that the second episode has much better gameplay than the first. With a series of interlinked puzzles which are both enjoyable individually and make sense as a whole, the gamer is thrust into an exciting factual matrix which lends credence to the puzzles, and makes their completion actually seem worthwhile. The first involved a lot of searching around for the next thing to do; a "puzzle" of sorts, but one which is intrinsically irritating; and the short puzzles contained in it are also quite - sad. However, you still should play the episodes in order; because the first helps to flesh out the storyline beautifully.

Having said that, possibly the problem with the first game is that the graphical resolution is too low. This means that various shots of the desert look really really similar, which adds to the difficulty in finding out what to do next. This does not mean that the graphics are bad, quite the contrary: the graphics are pretty good, and everywhere else they are almost breathtakingly so; just look at the screenshots on the right.

The sound is (obviously) much improved. Silence really does not jive well with a game of this sort, and to fill in the gaps there is different background music for each episode. The sound effects are also good. One surviving niggle is that English is rather bad. You'll be pleased to learn that your adventurer is "A Big Girl Now!!!" and is sufficiently cool-headed to make comments like "Does that mean you strangle me?" straight-faced. Thankfully, the consistent voice acting makes it more believable; the female protagonist has a rather foreign accent, which is obviously why she makes comments like that. Also, there seems to be a reference to sex. *cough* Some comments are still totally out of place, but the voice acting is well done, and makes me happy. The dialogue is also quite funny, in places, and there is even lip-synching during the voice-overs. In combination with the mostly delightful graphics, it is obviously a really good demonstration of how much better your phone is than that icky Samsung.

However, not everything is peachy. There are still a couple of issues. First, after you choose a conversation option, you are dumped back into the world, rather than back into conversation with the character you were speaking too. This is very irritating, as sometimes you even have to do a whole circle to talk to them again. It would be much better to stay in the conversation, and to have a quit option. Second, while you can mute the game, you can't change the volume of either the music or the sound effects! This is very bad, when combined with the fact that the background music is rather excited, and can become bothersome. Third, the game is still not very long, and this is compounded by the fact that it has no replay value. This, however, is not fatal, because the game is rather reasonably priced.

In conclusion, Atlantis Redux Episodes 1 + 2 is a worthwhile buy, but is still not *great* It will, however, make a good small christmas gift for the occasional (or not so occasional) gamer.

Score: 74%

Buy in our software shop (USD 6.95)

Buy at Handango (USD 6.95)

Screenshots: