Game Title: Adam's Venture Episode 1: The Search for the Lost Garden Publisher: Iceberg Interactive Developer: Vertigo Games Systems: Windows PC Players: 1 (Story Mode) Other Features: None
Story
Adam was in France doing some study on a couple of relics that were brought from the Holy Land during the Crusades. You ever heard of Charles L' Hereux? He was a knight who joined the Third Crusade with Rich the Lionheart. Well, Adam found interesting stuff about him. Apparently Charles L' Heurex was given an old scroll back in 1191. Adam did some research in his memoirs and found a scroll buried in a tomb underneath the church.
When Adam managed to decode the symbols on the scrolls what he had found was amazing. He recognized the four legendary rivers from the Book of Genesis that mark the secret location of the Garden of Eden. The birthplace of HUMANITY! With the help of the funding of Clairvaux Corporation Adam set up a base camp at the foot of the gates of Eden. Along with his dog, his girlfriend Evelyn, and Professor Jacques Saint-Omair they set out to unravel the mysteries of Eden's gate.
Gameplay
The easiest way to describe this game would be Uncharted minus the gunplay. There is some action and adventure but Vertigo Games seems to be targeting the casual gamer market. It's not just the "non-violent gameplay" as they advertise it. Like Uncharted there is a lot of climbing and jumping while exploring, but the difficulty level is always fairly low. Unlike Uncharted you have to really, really try in order to die, which may bore some hardcore gamers. While there's some boobie traps and a nameless "black thingie" chasing after you there's never any bad guys per se.
The brunt of the gameplay is focused on the puzzles split into seven major sections. The puzzles and traps are always symbolic, tying into a Bible verse given to you by these statues with rotating discs. You have to arrange 3 discs to form a coherent verse or sentence. Even if you don't know the verse you can still figure them out based upon basic grammar.
There were also some hidden treatures scattered about in tucked away areas. While they imparted some interesting information relevant to the story gameplay wise there did not seem to be any benefit for finding them other than a feeling of accomplishment I suppose. There's no unlockable or extras and no multiplayer mode.
Considering this game uses Unreal Engine 3.0 I was surprised to find out there was not any built-in joystick support. The controls were all keyboard based, with buttons for moving, jumping, ducking, running, and an action/use key. Yep, that's it. Long time since you've played a PC game with such simple controls, right?
Fortunately, since it is UE 3.0 the first thing I did upon starting the game was to quit it and then edit the configuration files so that the wired Xbox 360 Controller for Windows was detected properly. This improved the fun factor in my opinion since this style of adventure gameplay is not really suited to a keyboard.
I've included a link to my custom VentureInput.ini . You put it in \Adams Venture\VentureGame\Config\, replacing the original file. Happy adventuring!
Presentation
Graphics and sound on this game are very good, far better than most casual games being released in episodic form. This is largely due to this being the only episodic game, that I'm aware of, to use Unreal Engine 3.0. Now I'm using a PC system that just barely meets the recommended specs but everything ran fairly smoothly, with only the occasional jittering in the framerate even with the settings at their highest. This was quite a surprise since all the other UE 3.0 games I've played on this sytem are a slideshow even at the lowest settings.
But it's not just the engine that makes a game look good. It's the artists. In this you can see that they did a great job.
The story was a mix of Indian Jones-style overlays and maps. Once the game got rolling, however, everything was in-game 3D animation and voice acting. The character animations do their service but are not great, with the faces mostly expressionless. The voice acting for the primary characters is similar, with the actors sounding like they're reading their lines sometimes. Fortunately, the screenplay was decent with some humor scattered about and they even manage to throw in a plot twist right at the end. Really, the star of the show is the "black thingie". It's just plain creepy and probably the best character in the game.
The Conclusion
Overall I felt this was a good beginning to the series of episodes, but only as a beginning. Most of the beginning seems like a tutorial for a full length game. Considering this is only a single episode that lasts a couple hours at max this means the gameplay does not get too interesting until a third of the way in. I'm hoping future episodes will ramp up the complexity of the adventuring and the puzzles.
As a standalone title the one fallback is that this game is a one-player game only with no online content or no unlockable story extras like extra stages or extra weapons. Instead, it is just a static one-player story game with a lot of depth but once you beat it, you either shelf the game in your collection, trade it in for credit, or replay the same story.
The main draw for me was the inclusion of Biblical morals and a plot that required you to think. The puzzles not only required you to think about how to get to the next area, they required you to think about the message being imparted. For example, one puzzles warns to not follow the snake down the "easy path". If you do not heed this warning you die. Instead, you have to search for the "narrow path" that's brought forward by the light.
The motivations of the designers and more explanations of how the message and gameplay are fused is available in this interview at Diehard GameFAN. I'll give one example:
DHGF: What was the main motivation behind creating the Biblical aspects to the game, involving the Garden of Eden and the Holy Crusades? Also, what was the inspiration behind the creation of the game’s environments? Can players expect to see a number of other historical tie-ins to the story and other real-life or popular fictional locations?
TL: Christian and non-Christian audiences around the world have lately shown a renewed interest in Biblical stories. Games, however, have mostly avoided these topics until now. For Vertigo Games this was a way to distinguish ourselves from other companies. The fact that two-out-of-three founding members are devoted Christians also helped.
Myself, I’ve always been fascinated by history in the broadest sense of the word. By weaving some of it throughout the story I feel we’ve added a certain level of depth we couldn’t have achieved otherwise. So yes, historical tie-ins are quite numerous, and throughout the Adam’s Venture series players can expect to visit real-life locations from the past.
DHGF: The title’s description proudly proclaims Adam’s Venture features non-violent gameplay. Does this have the gameplay revolve around platforming and puzzle solving? What kinds of situations and puzzles will players find themselves in? With the appeal of non-violent gameplay, are there multiple settings or features to adjust the playability to cater to more casual players?
TL: In Adam’s Venture the gameplay is mostly oriented around puzzle solving and exploration, which are both used as a means of driving forth the story. Puzzles are oriented around Biblical themes, and will challenge players at several occasions to interpret their hidden meaning. Sometimes this is necessary to solve the puzzle, sometimes this will help you appreciate the story in its full depth.
Because we’ve taken such an effort to seamlessly weave puzzles and storyline together, dynamically adjusting the difficulty proved impossible in most cases. Still, Adam’s Venture, seems to have great appeal to casual gamers. I think the simplicity of its controls, the minimalistic interface and the episodic nature each play an important part in making this so.
While this is not something you expect to play with family or with friends, my wife enjoyed watching over my shoulder so she could view the story. All in all, a must-buy if you like a good story or you're a casual gamer looking for a good game to play on their own.
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Comments (1)
Thanks for the review
1
Sunday, 08 November 2009 21:44
Tim Emmerich
Thanks for the review Patrick! It was helpful to learn more about this title.
Sounds like a game I will enjoy!
-Tim
GraceWorks Interactive
See http://CGNOW.com for Bible-based Games
Sounds like a game I will enjoy!
-Tim
GraceWorks Interactive
See http://CGNOW.com for Bible-based Games