Posted January 16, 2010
I dont agree with all the praise heaped on this game. I found it mediocre.
Puzzles were either obvious or were needlessly convoluted. On Zombie Island, some screen exits were pixel-hunts in themselves.
The plot felt like it was written by a 12 year old. Why do you have to hang around a movie set, and why is it such an unbelievable scenario - a poor attempt at humor, maybe? I didn't get the joke. Why does George embark on this quest to find these mythological stones? Is he, unbeknownst to the player, really a Mayan himself - a believer in this crap? Why must he walk to "certain death" at the end - surely he doesn't believe this nonsense about some Mayan god returning?
And then, the elevator next to the temple?!! I just didn't get any Indiana Jones type feeling playing this game - imagine Indy in the Temple of Doom - with an elevator! Yeah, couldn't sustain my suspension of disbelief and "get into" the plot.
Finally, the game felt very linear - VERY linear. It is compartmentalised into very small "scenes". You can't travel back and forth between scenes. This made the puzzles extremely easy, even when they were totally illogical. (except for the time-based branch-jumping, boar shooting puzzle)
Compared to Fate of Atlantis, there is no comparison. In FOA, the plot is believable, consistent and engaging. The characters have depth, especially the player-controlled character (Indy), unlike George Stobbard who has no personality. And finally, in FOA, you spend MOST of your time in exotic locations doing interesting things. In BS2, you spend most of your time in boring locations doing boring things. There are no hot-air balloon rides in THIS game!
Finally, the game would take about 5 minutes to play, if it wasn't for the SLOW animation, unskippable cut-scenes etc. At least you can double (or is it triple, or double-double) click on screen exits to exit immediately instead of having to watch you character saunter along.
Still, its worth playing, but it certainly doesn't belong up there with LucasArts' games
Puzzles were either obvious or were needlessly convoluted. On Zombie Island, some screen exits were pixel-hunts in themselves.
The plot felt like it was written by a 12 year old. Why do you have to hang around a movie set, and why is it such an unbelievable scenario - a poor attempt at humor, maybe? I didn't get the joke. Why does George embark on this quest to find these mythological stones? Is he, unbeknownst to the player, really a Mayan himself - a believer in this crap? Why must he walk to "certain death" at the end - surely he doesn't believe this nonsense about some Mayan god returning?
And then, the elevator next to the temple?!! I just didn't get any Indiana Jones type feeling playing this game - imagine Indy in the Temple of Doom - with an elevator! Yeah, couldn't sustain my suspension of disbelief and "get into" the plot.
Finally, the game felt very linear - VERY linear. It is compartmentalised into very small "scenes". You can't travel back and forth between scenes. This made the puzzles extremely easy, even when they were totally illogical. (except for the time-based branch-jumping, boar shooting puzzle)
Compared to Fate of Atlantis, there is no comparison. In FOA, the plot is believable, consistent and engaging. The characters have depth, especially the player-controlled character (Indy), unlike George Stobbard who has no personality. And finally, in FOA, you spend MOST of your time in exotic locations doing interesting things. In BS2, you spend most of your time in boring locations doing boring things. There are no hot-air balloon rides in THIS game!
Finally, the game would take about 5 minutes to play, if it wasn't for the SLOW animation, unskippable cut-scenes etc. At least you can double (or is it triple, or double-double) click on screen exits to exit immediately instead of having to watch you character saunter along.
Still, its worth playing, but it certainly doesn't belong up there with LucasArts' games