Posted April 19, 2014
So far I've played Eschalon Book I and Fallout I and given them draft reviews.
I'll do that for Anachronox. My review will take into account my experience with those games and others.
I lucked out and got it for $1.49 or something. Good deal, even at $5.
Please note these are just my opinions and they're not professional. I also played on hard difficulty.
Graphics - Nothing impressive. This game was released in 2001, just a year or two before Morrowind, and Morrowind is well ahead. However, a good use of colors and mood makes it work. Unlike Morrowind, the faces are ok too.
Sound/Music - Nothing about the sound or music bothered me. I had a good time. I particularly liked the background music on Hephastos, but all in all, nothing really stands out. It did the job.
Story - The cinematics are well done. They use the in-game 3d engine, but on inspection, I don't think it matters. I can't really make a fair comparison to the greater numbers of games out there, but versus just Fallout 1 and Eschalon Book I, the cinematics are numerous and creative.
If Anachronox were a novel, Eschalon Book I would be a couple pages torn out and passed off as a story. In Fallout 1's case, it's more YOUR story, so it's subject to your actions and won't be cinematic, but Fallout 1 does have a lot more story than EB1. By "story" I mean it has more quests and talking. I'd say Anachronox is a richer, albeit linear story without the anal mechanics of those two games. Overall, I was very impressed with it all and won't forget it.
Gameplay - Linear, but without the modern glowing paths, glowing items, explicit directions and so forth. So, despite the game being linear, there're a number of places where you have to put 2 and 2 together. Sometimes this is made harder by how the content or objectives are laid out and in how some dialogues will not be repeated by the non-players. This led to me wasting time on some things.
The combat was not anal, like some games out there. While you do keep an eye on stats, they're not extensive and the item/skill upgrade path is straightforward. However, there're a couple places where the combat encounters can surprise you, at least on hard difficulty. While the game usually warned me and gave me the option to find new gear and develop my characters, sometimes I was surprised anyway. However, this, at most, only resulted in a small number of deaths. With save points being freely available almost everywhere, it was a matter of replaying only a few minutes. Still, I can imagine the last couple fights will bother some people. It bothered me somewhat too. I thought I was going to die, but I found a way to survive using Tears and one of the character's first level battle skill.
Worth noting is the combat is only semi turn-based. While the game will pause when you click on some orders, I'm fairly sure it will go on its own on others. I started using the pause key habitually to ensure my orders were good ones.
Replayability - There're apparently quests attached to the other characters. Since I failed to focus on 3 of the characters then I'd likely find more things to see in a replay. I also missed some side quests. The end credits certainly don't pass the chance to tell me this. Beyond that, I don't think there's any more than one ending. So the replay value is probably limited to the characters and maybe some hidden areas.
SPOILER: The end credits also say there's a way to beat the game in five hours.
Final Comments - This is a story-focused game. You do a LOT of talking. In fact, that's where a lot of the value is. The non-players say a lot of things and it often made me think about it afterward. The cinematics can be funny and are well done. Despite problems I had with the last battle, this game was a lot of fun. It was also a departure from the usual sort of game I play that's tactical and combat-focused. My experience with Fallout 1 and Anachronox has taught me to be a lot more patient with dialogue and has also uncovered a new way of enjoying games.
Score? I gave the past games scores, but I think it's mistaken to attach a score to them. I'll just say Anachronox was a good story-based game. And I think that's what adventure games are meant to be. Compared to a game like Planescape: Torment, another game wiht rich story, I'd say this game is more playable for people like me.
Oh, my elapsed time on the last autosave is 66:02. Some of that time was wasted on dead ends.
I'll do that for Anachronox. My review will take into account my experience with those games and others.
I lucked out and got it for $1.49 or something. Good deal, even at $5.
Please note these are just my opinions and they're not professional. I also played on hard difficulty.
Graphics - Nothing impressive. This game was released in 2001, just a year or two before Morrowind, and Morrowind is well ahead. However, a good use of colors and mood makes it work. Unlike Morrowind, the faces are ok too.
Sound/Music - Nothing about the sound or music bothered me. I had a good time. I particularly liked the background music on Hephastos, but all in all, nothing really stands out. It did the job.
Story - The cinematics are well done. They use the in-game 3d engine, but on inspection, I don't think it matters. I can't really make a fair comparison to the greater numbers of games out there, but versus just Fallout 1 and Eschalon Book I, the cinematics are numerous and creative.
If Anachronox were a novel, Eschalon Book I would be a couple pages torn out and passed off as a story. In Fallout 1's case, it's more YOUR story, so it's subject to your actions and won't be cinematic, but Fallout 1 does have a lot more story than EB1. By "story" I mean it has more quests and talking. I'd say Anachronox is a richer, albeit linear story without the anal mechanics of those two games. Overall, I was very impressed with it all and won't forget it.
Gameplay - Linear, but without the modern glowing paths, glowing items, explicit directions and so forth. So, despite the game being linear, there're a number of places where you have to put 2 and 2 together. Sometimes this is made harder by how the content or objectives are laid out and in how some dialogues will not be repeated by the non-players. This led to me wasting time on some things.
The combat was not anal, like some games out there. While you do keep an eye on stats, they're not extensive and the item/skill upgrade path is straightforward. However, there're a couple places where the combat encounters can surprise you, at least on hard difficulty. While the game usually warned me and gave me the option to find new gear and develop my characters, sometimes I was surprised anyway. However, this, at most, only resulted in a small number of deaths. With save points being freely available almost everywhere, it was a matter of replaying only a few minutes. Still, I can imagine the last couple fights will bother some people. It bothered me somewhat too. I thought I was going to die, but I found a way to survive using Tears and one of the character's first level battle skill.
Worth noting is the combat is only semi turn-based. While the game will pause when you click on some orders, I'm fairly sure it will go on its own on others. I started using the pause key habitually to ensure my orders were good ones.
Replayability - There're apparently quests attached to the other characters. Since I failed to focus on 3 of the characters then I'd likely find more things to see in a replay. I also missed some side quests. The end credits certainly don't pass the chance to tell me this. Beyond that, I don't think there's any more than one ending. So the replay value is probably limited to the characters and maybe some hidden areas.
SPOILER: The end credits also say there's a way to beat the game in five hours.
Final Comments - This is a story-focused game. You do a LOT of talking. In fact, that's where a lot of the value is. The non-players say a lot of things and it often made me think about it afterward. The cinematics can be funny and are well done. Despite problems I had with the last battle, this game was a lot of fun. It was also a departure from the usual sort of game I play that's tactical and combat-focused. My experience with Fallout 1 and Anachronox has taught me to be a lot more patient with dialogue and has also uncovered a new way of enjoying games.
Score? I gave the past games scores, but I think it's mistaken to attach a score to them. I'll just say Anachronox was a good story-based game. And I think that's what adventure games are meant to be. Compared to a game like Planescape: Torment, another game wiht rich story, I'd say this game is more playable for people like me.
Oh, my elapsed time on the last autosave is 66:02. Some of that time was wasted on dead ends.
Post edited April 19, 2014 by jonbee77
