Involving player's in a journey of exploration and puzzle solving, adventure or puzzle games are created for those players who would rather challenge their mental prowess rather than test their coordination. Great classics include LucasArt's Grim Fandango and Monkey Island series, which has entertained thousands of players around the globe for years. Ignore those sourpusses who declare the genre is dead and cold - A brilliant adventure title can last for years. And with hundreds more new players warming up to the pleasures of puzzle solving, the genre is experiencing some of the most imaginative settings and whimsical plots ever conceived. Here are some of PC gaming's most brain-busting titles.
A few years ago, J.K. Rowling began a phenomenon with her first fantasy novel, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Now, the incredibly popular series has dominated not only the fantasy novel scene, but has also spread into Hollywood, with the first movie in the series being released to some of the highest sales ever recorded in history. Not only Hollywood has been affected. Now, the series has arrived to gaming audiences as a series of cross-platform action-adventure games published by Electronic Arts. As the orphaned young wizard Harry Potter, you will now be able to attend and experience his first year of studies at Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Attend classes to learn the arcane arts, including Flipendo and even Wingardium Leviosa, the levitation spell. Collect as many of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans as possible, and trade them for collectable trading cards of various famous wizards throughout history. Play Quidditch, guide Harry in his role as a seeker and capture the Golden Snitch. More importantly however, foil the plot of your parents' killer, the evil Lord Voldemort.
Explore the world of fantasy and magic in a beautifully detailed 3D game world. The developers have certainly tapped into the Unreal engine's vast potential to re-create J.K. Rowling's fantasy world. Wandering ghosts, animated suits of armor, and other students populate this fantasy world. Spells are cast with attractive particle effects, and the spookier portions of the game are successful in adding to the atmosphere, with light and shadows being effectively utilized. The atmosphere is also enriched by composer Jeremy Soule's work, his music adding depth and soul to the game.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone will make the ideal gifts for younger fans of J.K. Rowling's work. Already it has proven itself, with sales topping the charts, beating even the popular people sim "The Sims : Hot Date" down to second place. So be sure to check this title out, and add some magic to a young wizard's holiday season.
In 1993, compact discs were beginning to gain both widespread popularity and acceptance. Myst took advantage of the compact discs' huge storage capacity to create a gaming experience unlike any other at the time. It was refreshingly different from most titles being released, nearly all of which included combat in one form of other. Instead, through a nearly transparent point-and-click interface, players navigated past challenging puzzles in a surrealistic island of fantasy origins. It was like wandering into an enchanted art gallery, created from dozens of beautiful static scenes rendered at high resolutions. The concept was so immensely popular that both Myst and its sequel, Riven, have sold approximately 10 million copies worldwide to date. Now, with thousands of fans worldwide, the fantasy returns back to the gaming scene with Myst III : Exile, a game that builds on the legacy of the series to provoke an awe-inspiring sense of wonder.
Central to the stories in Myst and Riven are the D'ni, a race with the ability to write magical books that create links to other worlds, described by them as "ages". In Myst, you learnt that Atrus, a part-D'ni scribe, imprisoned his malicious sons, Sirrus and Achenar, in other ages and then destroyed the books linking to them, leaving his sons trapped forever. Myst III : Exile builds up on this very mythology, focusing on these two twisted beings.
One of the greatest appeals of the Myst series has always been its ability to immerse you in beautifully rendered fantasy worlds. The same is true here. Explore the island of J'Nanin, with its beautifully detailed buildings carved inside gracefully arching giant tusks; The age of Amateria, with its otherworldly amusement park look. Examine carefully rendered machinery, made of fine gears and elegantly carved spindles, or even gigantic flora, with a level of detail practically unseen in any other game. With superbly rendered animations constantly happening around you, and a impressionist, ambient score, the world of Myst seems to come to life, drawing you deeper and deeper into the game world, making sightseeing even more entertaining than ever.
With multiple endings, enjoyable yet challenging puzzles, Myst III : Exile proves to be another excellent sequel. However, be forewarned that Myst isn't for everyone. As enjoyable as the puzzles can be, some players may be frustrated with the complexity and toughness of the puzzles. In the end, much of the appeal depends on how much one enjoys puzzle solving, since it is key to progression in the game. If your recipient enjoys intellectual challenges, solid storytelling, and stunning, beautifully rendered scenes, then Myst III will prove to be the perfect gift. But either way, games like Myst III are those games which help to sustain the adventure genre. It certainly is a pity that games like Myst III, or even Monkey Island 4 are becoming more and more of a rarity these days.
From the creators of Tomb Raider, comes the Sci-Fi themed action adventure game Project Eden. And while the guns and action prove to be below average, the innovative puzzles and challenging level design will certainly entertain.
The setting is a bleak post-apocalyptic Earth a few centuries from now. Due to the huge global population growth over the last few years, the government has built towering skyscrapers, officers and apartments soaring towards the heavens. The rich live at the highest levels, breathing fresh air and enjoying a breath taking view of the sun and sky. The poor and destitute however, reside in dark, polluted slums, filled with dirty, near-unlivable smog, nearly-uninhabitable environments and rampant crime. When equipment begins malfunctioning at the Real Meat Factory, technicians are sent to investigate. However, the technicians fail to turn up soon after being sent down. Concerned, members of the Urban Protection Agency, an elite police force with the right to overcome threats while securing the safety of the citizenry, are sent to recover the missing engineers. Now, venturing into the depths, your team, consisting of four members, must comb through the repulsive and dilapidated surroundings to find the missing engineers. Carter is the acting team leader, information gathering specialist and operator of the remote robot Rover and the aerial camera Flycam. Andre is an engineer, specializing at repairing broken equipment. Minoko is a computer expert who can access download terminals and hack into even the most heavily protected systems. Amber is a mammoth robot, with great firepower and a protective suit design to give her immunity to several environmental hazards.
Carter, Andre, Minoko and Amber will have to put their wits together in order to solve puzzles, overcome obstacles and defeat foes. With eleven huge levels filled to the brim with challenging puzzles requiring each and every member of the team to work together and use their respective specialties, players must quickly learn to utilize their team members well and explore the environment carefully to manipulate certain devices if they are to successfully descend further down to a lower section of the city in an elevator. Objectives can range from reuniting the team, fixing broken equipment, to hacking into computer terminals and fragging a bunch of low-ping bastards.
This dismal future world is brought to live quite effectively. The huge environments are imaginatively designed and implemented, with outdoor scenes sporting vibrant, unusual futuristic architecture. Several great graphic effects help bring out this dismal world even further, include lighting and shadowing effects, bump mapping, particle effects, volumetric fog, trilinear filtering and even transform and lighting effects. On the whole, the graphics certainly succeeds at communicating the desired moods.
While the combat sequences prove to be the weakest link with an unsatisfying gameplay experience, a substantial amount of creativity and ingenuity in the level design helps make Project Eden a worthy title to add to your collection. The puzzles are varied and on the whole very well designed, making this a perfect title for an adventure or puzzle lover. So get a copy and add this to a loved one's adventure collection today!
