GameHippo.art : ADVENTURE

What do you expect when you die? Shining light? Booming voice? Rotting slowly in the ground? You probably don't expect to be greeted by a grouchy old crone in a flying yellow bus, but then, neither does Nathan.ï¿½ Thatï¿½s how the game starts for you, as Nathan ï¿½ walk out of the door, have a heart attack, and dieï¿½ to be greeted by this flying yellow bus and taken to some sort of research post in deep spaceï¿½ When there you find out why youï¿½ve been taken toï¿½ well, not the afterlife, exactly. You see, youï¿½re going to be getting a second chanceï¿½ a chance to sort your life out, basically. Reconcile with your daughter mainlyï¿½ which may not be easy. With information from a slide-show and a little help from your friends, however, you may just be able to pull it offï¿½ What we have here is a traditional point and click adventure, and a well executed one it is. However, what I really liked about this game was the surreal, slightly warped humour that came from both the characters and dialogue, along with the fact that this is a game with a heart. The author, Tim Knauf, has done a great job with that and also in making sure there is plenty of variety in the type of puzzles to be solved, without any of them being real stumpers. All in all this is a great little game for anyone who enjoys adventure games, while serving as a perfect introduction to the genre for anyone unused to them The game is of course freeware but I really do ask that if you play the game and enjoy it, you email the author (address on his website mentioned below). Iï¿½m hoping that if he gets enough response, heï¿½ll write another! :-D Final Ratings Graphics: 8/10 ï¿½ very colourful and stylistic hand-drawn graphics with some nice animated touches to. Sound: 7/10 ï¿½ some good quality sound effects and bits of good music here and there (no MIDI files!) Playability: 8/10 ï¿½ easy to use interface that does what you need with the minimum of fuss. Longevity: 7/10 ï¿½ a decent-length game, over far too shortly, but thatï¿½s largely because itï¿½s so enjoyable in the first place! Replay Value: 8/10 ï¿½ the warped humour and short length make for a game youï¿½ll come back to after a while. This is a slightly abridged version of my review which first appeared at http://www.epinions.com/content_4636975236

PC REQUIREMENTS: 700Mhz CPU, 192Mb RAM, Windows 95 and up

GAME AUTHOR Tim Knauf
REVIEWED BY CaptainD
STAFF RATING 7/10
USER RATING 7.6/10

FILE SIZE 7 MB
FILE DATE Dec 31, 2005
UPLOADED Feb 25, 2006
DEV TOOL SLUDGE

DOWNLOAD

Iter Vehemens ad Necem

Iter Vehemens ad Necem (or IVAN, for short) is a graphical rogue-like that is simple enough for the casual gamer to play, but has even more depth than most of the others. Don't let the confusing name fool you, this is a game that rivals that of Nethack in the sheer joy of playing it. Within the world of IVAN, you play a lowly banana picker. One day, you are on your break when you are called to the castle. The viceroy of this colony tells you that another colony close by may be plotting against him, and you are givin the mission to take a letter to this place. You are not told what this letter says (you can't even read it), why you should do it, or what you are going to get out of it. You are just ordered to do it. Yes, the story is pretty lame, but the gameplay easily makes up for it. As I said before, IVAN is a rogue-like, and plays like one. Most of the time, you'll be running through dungeons killing monsters that oppose you. However, this is definitely one of the highest quality, and most unique of all rogue-likes I've seen. The game is suprisingly simple to play for a rogue-like, the commands are simplified and easier for the people who don't want to read manuals and study control lists. Even through the simplification, the game retains some complexity in the vast amount of things you can do. When was the last time you prayed to a god in a game, and the god invokes his wrath to sever your arm off? Yes, by far one of the most unique things I've ever seen in a game like this is the body system. All of your body parts can be severed off, and it all drastically effects how your player works. If one of your legs is severed off, your encumbrance is severely reduced, and your movements are slowed. If you lose both legs... well, your only hope is to pray to your most appreciative god in hopes he will give you a couple of iron legs, or else you'll be laying on the floor until you starve or are killed by the unforgiving amount of creatures about (or you could use an amulet of life saving, but those are extremely rare). You also must pay attention to the amount of damage your body has sustained. Eventually, you will start to bleed in areas you have been hit in, which detracts from your health even further. Of course, you've still got all the things you loved from other rogue-likes here, such as polymorph, one of my favorites. The only things I could've hoped for is a character creation system. You always start out with the same stats and items, with no options to tweak him. However, your character starts out as a clean slate, which you build upon throughout the game. Depending on your actions, you can build up certain skills. Carrying enough items to weigh yourself down will increase your leg strength, and taking heavy damage and healing wounds through rest will increase your endurance. This also applies to weaponry, use your weapon in your left hand and you will gain a proficiency with that hand, and fighting with one type of weapon for a long time will let you level up your skills for that weapon as well. This allows you to build your own type of character to play how you want. IVAN's graphics are very good for a rogue-like game. Objects are nicely detailed for their small size and there are lots of nice little graphical treats to be found within the game. When you hit an enemy, or when you're hit, you will see blood splatter on the ground, if youï¿½re hit hard enough youï¿½ll see your character dripping in blood. Once a character is bleeding, you will see a trail of blood following where they went. If an enemy runs after you have critically hurt him, you'll be able to chase him down and slaughter him for that nicely deserved helmet you were admiring. The real downside (if you see it that way) is the extreme difficulty. Iter Vehemens ad Necem even means; Violent Road to Death, which aptly describes the difficulty level. Overall, IVAN a great game with lots of features to keep you coming back for more, even when you've been killed by that pathetic little kobold around the corner. Most people could probably find something here to love, but the difficulty of the game is so unforgiving at times you might give up on it and move on to other games just because you lost your favorite character you worked so hard on. IVAN is the closest example of a perfect freeware RPG I've ever seen, and easily deserves a 10/10. I've always been a big Nethack fan, but IVAN has surpassed my expectations for any freeware RPG.

PC REQUIREMENTS: 266 MHz CPU, 48 MB RAM

REVIEWED BY Sykz
STAFF RATING 10/10
USER RATING 8.8/10

FILE SIZE 1.3 MB
FILE DATE Dec 10, 2004
UPLOADED Mar 17, 2005
DEV TOOL C/C++ (generic)

DOWNLOAD

1 2