GameHippo.art : ADVENTURE - Point-and-Click

Before we start: the download link leads to the CD version, in a package appositely made for the ScummVM interpreter (version 0.6.0 or higher), with which you can play the game under Windows without problems. A ScummVM package of the floppy version - obviously of a much smaller size, if the other is a problem for you - is available too: you can get it, along with the program, at http://www.scummvm.org. And, obviously, the original PC floppy, PC CD and Amiga versions of the game will work with ScummVM as well. Flight of the Amazon Queen is freeware since the first months of 2004, thanks to the authors. It was originally published for DOS and Amiga in 1995, in a time the most nostalgic players consider the "golden age" of adventure games (its last years, to be precise), when Lucasarts and Sierra still produced them. It hasn't been exactly the most famous of its genre, but with this chance to rediscover it playing the CD version, I found a game that comes close to the best Lucas productions in terms of quality. The game takes place in Brasil in the late 1940s. You are Joe King, adventurous pilot for hire, with your sidekick Rusty. Your new job is to transport a famous actress, Faye, across the Amazon Jungle with your plane, the Amazon Queen. But there are some problems, in the form of your arch-rival Anderson and his goons. And they are nothing compared to what lies beyond after you get out of the initial mess: you will soon be pulled in something much bigger, between amazons, dinosaurs, mad scientists and... Gorillas (in the Amazon Jungle? --> hint, hint). Sounds stereotypical, cliched, banal? Sure it is, and it's not a flaw. The entire game looks like some of those ingenuous old adventure comics, with a major difference: it never takes itself seriously - think of it as an Indiana Jones parody. [By the way, it reminds me of an old TV series too, but I don't recall the title.] The baddies are quite idiotic, with the scientist and its cliched evil laugh, and Joe himself isn't the brightest hero around. So, you won't be surprised to find out that the supposedly savage, virgin jungle looks more lively and populated than Rio de Janeiro, given the many bizarre characters you will meet exploring its depths. Let's give a look to the interface. The bottom quarter of the screen is taken by a row of icons; on the left, we have the eight verb icons (open, use, pick up...), while the inventory is on the right. Four items at a time are shown, but you obviously can scroll between them with the arrow icons. Even with the verbs represented by icons, it looks remarkably similar to the classic SCUMM interface, only with the verbs "push" and "pull" merged into a single one, "move". To save, load and quit the game you can use the journal in you inventory, or simply press F1 to access it. The graphics were already a bit dated in 1995: they look like the game had to be published at least three years earlier. It doesn't mean they are bad, absolutely: most of the locations are full of details and some are really suggestive, especially the view of the jungle from the pinnacle, which acts like a map. Some cutscenes have a comic book flavour. The final result is very good even if not all the animations are convincing (some are slow and/or jerky). As for the dubbing, it isn't objectively the best, and the voices are quite overacted and caricatural - but, given the general funny atmosphere, I liked them! Could have been all intentional from the authors. If it was a serious game they would have been much less acceptable, but in this case they pass the exam with a good grade. Flight of the Amazon Queen is not the longest adventure, but it turned out to be longer than I originally expected: when I thought I was near the end, a completely new section to explore was opened. Such part of the game has less humour (since you won't meet many people there) and is more adventurous: reminds me a lot of Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, even in some screens, which can be put between the most suggestive and graphically impressive of the game - at the same level of the aforementioned Lucasarts classic in my opinion. The puzzles and objects throughout the game are many, and I consider the overall difficulty average, or something a little above: some parts can be passed smoothly, other puzzles are definitely more challenging and will take some time for you to figure out. However, I rarely came to the desperate "try everything with everything" approach, which is extremely positive. In any case, the game will take his good hours to be completed, and in the meantime you will also enjoy the brilliance of dialogues and situations. Flight of the Amazon Queen is definitely not to be missed by any adventurer, but recommended to any other gamer - except little children, due to some sexual innuendos here and there (but nothing big, don't worry - this is not Leisure Suit Larry). Let's hope more developers will follow the example of this game and Beneath a Steel Sky, releasing their old adventure games to the public.

REVIEWED BY Gendo Ikari
STAFF RATING 9/10
USER RATING 8.4/10

FILE SIZE 35.6 MB
FILE DATE Mar 16, 2004
UPLOADED Nov 07, 2004
DEV TOOL unknown

DOWNLOAD

5 Days A Stranger

Trilby is a tall, elegant, English gentleman thief. Thanks to an informer, he is heading to the now deserted DeFoe manor, whose owner and wife tragically died recently, hoping for a good booty. But, once he entered the big house, he can't exit; doors and windows leading outside the huge estate can't be opened anymore. Moreover, there's other people inside, trapped like him. And things get even worse when someone dies... So, we have a classic haunted house theme, but the entire game is so well developed over it, that you'll quickly forget this detail. The plot, articulated through the five days of the title, develops greatly, and a lot of reading is involved in getting to know more of the mansion and its former occupants. The atmosphere is one of the game's strong points. Gore is very scarce, there are more fear and terror than visual horror. What I liked the most, are the cutscenes involving situations where you can't tell where reality ends and nightmare starts, or vice versa. In those cases, I was genuinely SCARED. Later in the game, you could be afraid of going on, in fear of witnessing some more bad events. Really a great work on this side. Graphics are nothing to scream about. They just do their work more than decently, reminding me of the Sierra adventures of the late '80s, early 90's. I must point out, however, that a good effort was put into animations, you'll get the chance to see some noticeable ones in action. Music are declaredly taken from the RPG Maker 2000 library, but they fit with the atmosphere. Most of the time, however, it's just silence and strange noises, helping develop the tension. The interface is simple and not invasive. You can use the icons on the bottom of the screen to select the main actions, but it's better to click the right mouse button to recall the complete interface with actions, items and save/load/quit functions. The only annoyance is that you have to move the mouse outside the interface to close it every time. The game is not exactly long, also due to the limited amount of rooms - but, after all, you are confined inside a mansion, so a big variety of locations wasn't to be expected from the start. Some puzzles could prove to be challenging, you may feel clueless about what to do next until you gather the necessary information; remember, often reading is the key. Don't forget to save sometimes: in the second half of the game, there are a couple of situations were you could get killed. There are some game design flaws. You will find, at some points, a couple of objects practically popping out of nowhere at the right time you need them, an artifice I never liked in adventure games. And at times, for example after Trilby heard a strange noise or a bad event just occurred, he talks to other characters like nothing happened. But these problems don't hamper the quality of 5 Days A Stranger too much. It hasn't the lastability of some of the best freeware adventures, but it beats many of them in terms of atmosphere. It's far from perfect, but with such small download size you shouldn't miss it.

GAME AUTHOR Ben 'Yahtzee' Croshaw
REVIEWED BY Gendo Ikari
STAFF RATING 8/10
USER RATING 8.1/10

FILE SIZE 1.2 MB
FILE DATE Sep 29, 2003
UPLOADED Aug 07, 2004
DEV TOOL Adventure Game Studio

NO DOWNLOAD