For those who follow me for a while 'time now, I think become clear that the interactive adventures are among the videogame generation, one of my favorites. Although it considers the adventures Lucas Film the best ever produced, as a good omnivore I never disdained securities of other companies ... receiving, inter alia, a real pleasure!
Today I decided to talk about Heart of China, title developed by Dynamix Inc and published by Sierra On-Line back in 1991 for Amiga, PC and Macintosh . Hoping to welcome you to what I'm going to start then ...
In Hong Kong '30s Jake "Lucky" Master , The heroic pilot of World War I, he served the airlift for tourists and businessmen. One day, while Jake is intent on finding ways to balance the accounts of small airline, knocks on his door EA Lomax, unscrupulous businessman, who offers him in exchange for $ 200,000, of free daughter abducted by Kate Li Deng, one of the local warlords. The occasion is greedy and the pilot did not hesitate too much to accept the proposal. To encourage Jake to do my best, Lomax dinimuire is committed to the agreed amount of $ 20,000 for each day that passes without the release the girl. And
'This is the BEGINNING of an incredible adventure that will bring our hero to pass through the heart of China and reached Kathmandu, Istanbul and finally Paris, where the tour ends after a roccambolesco trip aboard the legendary Orient Express .
meeting with a merchant from Istanbul - Ready to go to free the lovely Kate
The first thing you notice, since by the excellent presentation, is the beautiful graphics that harmoniously blends hued watercolor backdrops with digitized characters. Really a very good exercise in style that shows how the old and new can amiably coexist if mixed with wisdom. But, as I had occasion to say several times, the graphics are completely irrelevant if not supported by a valid gameplay. From this point of view the work of Dynamix is commendable, given the effort made to try to bring a breath of fresh air in a landscape dominated by the Sierra adventure games of and Lucas Film .
The first "new" is actually a step back in the game view it first. The protagonist, in the adventures of those years, was a fine show if within the game, disappears to return to observe the scene outside. Personally, I believe that this choice was dictated by the difficulty in a credible mix moving objects in scenes worthy of a painting, scenes whose beauty is enhanced by shots from close typical first person view. In addition, repeat old patterns of a decade is basically a novelty: o)
also the control interface seems designed not just for stealing the show with beautiful designs: the game is not the typical command bar to which we had used the Lucas Film titles but uses a completely embedded in graphics. Moving the pointer on the scenario that will change shape whenever an important element is encountered. The cursor identifies the action that we will be able to do: to talk about a comic book, a scroll with the words ' EXIT' to exit the location and access to the following, an arrow to pick up an object and so on. Pressing the left mouse button triggers the action, that of the right (also usable on non-active areas), allows you to get a description of the item that you train with the pointer. This type of interface makes it easier not just the game because it forces you to rack one's brains to understand what action to take. Simplification at first glance may seem excessive, but it is also true that avoids grope trying to make every action on each object encountered in the course of the game.
At the bottom of the screen, some small icons identify the protagonist and any supporting actors. Acting on the icon of the active character (the one on the right) opens the inventory from which you can analyze and use the objects it contains. Acting on the icon of the actors, on the left, control passes to the selected character.
Some scenes are truly worthy of a painting
At this point I think the case say a few words about the secondary characters. Along the way Jake gradually will be joined by some actors: first of all the ninja and Who Following the lovely Kate . The game, as Maniac Mansion and Zak McKracken , more than once will require the cooperation of several characters to be able to solve a problem successfully, so some situations can only be met by a member of "party" . Again this is not a breakthrough but it's a welcome return: o)
Very varied landscape of the enigmas proposed that, always logical, never overly frustrating, help to stimulate the desire to continue to assist the umpteenth shot scene which adds the new element to the plot of a story which is always exciting. The game can address problems in different ways leading to bifurcation in the course of history that will lead to three alternate endings (the best of which makes the two main characters fall in love ... the ninja would always be empty-handed ... poor!).
To lighten the game have been placed two sequences an arcade and a drive to combat. If it is not very good (although essential to end the game) the first, which takes place aboard a tank, is very well done and shows off the excellent three-dimensional engine developed by Dynamix for their Previous Red Baron (great flight simulator).
The two arcade sequences (noticed the goodness of Engine polygon on the right)
If graphics and gameplay are also first-rate sound is equally good with oriental motifs that accompanied throughout the adventure. We are not at the levels of soundtrack "interactive" proposed by ' iMUSE of Lucas Film with his Monkey Island 2 (published the same year) but the result is highly appreciated.
The game is obviously not free from defects in the most frustrating of which is undoubtedly attributable to the excessive importance of the phases of dialogue (as Classic accessible through multiple choice) ... simply wrong for a sentence be removed from your angry partner. Many times this case leads to the loss of a day resulting in lower end of the spoils. The spoils from winning tends to become an element of frustration. Like any self-respecting player we will be driven by a force of ancestral origin to try to complete the game with the best results. This moves us to save at every turn just to avoid seeing reduced the spoils in case of error ... definitely not a good way to proceed. In defiance of the Treaty of
Ron Gilbert analyzing the flaws of the adventure 80, in Heart of China the character can die in different circumstances (although not as frequently as in the games Sierra ) ... it is true that this possibility gives a touch of realism to the performance of the story, if it becomes too frequent, it ends up being due to dissatisfaction. Despite these minor flaws
Heart of China is shown from the beginning a great adventure driven by a relentless plot and visual style that will make you seem more of an opportunity to live in a bubble (mythical Jake's thoughts that are suggested by classical game within the cloud). The ideas and the script of the game are the work of wizards that Jeff Tunnell of which we have titles such as Project Firestar the first survival horror of the story came out a couple of years before the Commodore 64 pimpantissimo ... mica just a character: o) I close
note the version Amiga, a real blockbuster for standard machine Commodore with its 9 discs (of course, be installed on harddisk , played by floppy I think it's impossible). Despite the inevitable fall color, the game retains its charisma and charm ... if you are a diehard Amiga and use a PC gives you the hives try it in this incarnation ... In any case, it is a satisfying experience: o)
to you the inevitable movie made with patience and skill from your favorite blogger: o)
PS
To keep the costs of production, the actors that make up the cast of Heart of China are members of staff or their relatives and friends.
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