If you’re going to give Nostradamus:
The Last Prophecy credit for anything, then give the game credit for its
originality. Not too many games can come up with the idea of having Nostradamus’
cross-dressing daughter (Madeline) running around trying to uncover clues as to
why members of early 15th century French royalty are going to die off
in Nostradamus’ prophecy. Unfortunately, this is where the positives for the
concept end since a lot of the ideas for the puzzles and objectives are get
overly complicated.
A good example of this can be seen
when you have to complete the quest to become Nostradamus’ cross-dressing
daughter – she’s trying to disguise herself as her brother Cesar – since it
takes a monumental effort! At first the task at hand doesn’t seem so hard since
you walk into Cesar’s room and find most of his clothes on the bed. Then you see
a picture of him on the wall which sheds further light on what Madeline needs to
be dressed like. You eventually find his hat in a room downstairs which makes
you think that you’re done with the disguise. But no!! This game is too
realistic for that so you’ve also got to run around Nostradams’ crib looking for
things like a wig, glasses, and a … compression bra?
The amount of time that it takes to
do this simple task in Nostradamus: The Last Prophecy is very frustrating. Even
when you do manage to get most of the stuff, you still have to create a
concoction out of different ingredients in order to make a goatee. Once you
finally create the disguise (which takes multiple hours to accomplish), you’re
finally ready to venture outside and solve more puzzles like the previously
described one. And most of them don’t get any easier either!
Getting past this unpleasantry, the
graphics in the game aren’t all that bad. Sure it’s a computer game which makes
it a little easier for Nostradamus: The Last Prophecy to pull this off. But
everything is pretty reminiscent of what the early Renaissance is supposed to
have looked like and all of the people and backgrounds are quite detailed as
well. The cut scenes leave a little to be desired but they don’t happen frequent
enough to be a major negative in the game. The music isn’t half bad either
since, like the graphics, it also seems to flow pretty well with the time
period. The voice acting is pretty solid too even though the characters’
emotions and facial expressions don’t seem to be entirely representative of the
voices.
The actual gameplay in Nostradamus
isn’t anything new since it’s another click-and-point computer game which has
become pretty common in the industry. And while there’s nothing revolutionary
that is brought to the table here, it’s not too hard to figure out what to do
next as far as the clicker is concerned. Sadly, it’s often hard to figure out
what to do with regards to completing your next objective. Making something as
simple as gathering items to create a disguise so difficult is the type of thing
that can really take a person out of a game even before it even begins. If you
do manage to get past the first few rough parts, the game gets better and you’ll
find yourself learning a little about astrology on the side too.
|
Review Scoring Details |
Gameplay: 5.5
Your traditional point-and-click style of play is offered here which should
be familiar to a lot of computer game players.
Graphics: 7.3
Nostradamus does do a quality job of presenting some authentic-looking
graphics for the early French Renaissance time period.
Sound: 6.5
As with the graphics, the sound does this region and period of time some
justice. The voice acting and player emotions could have better synergy though.
Difficulty: Hard
When a mundane task such as collecting clothes and accessories in a house
are mind-bogglingly tough, you know you’re playing a difficult game.
Concept: 6.2
The story is definitely original and can be considered good in many circles,
but the complaint with the concept is that some of the game’s tasks are a little
too demanding for their own good.
Overall: 6.3
Nostradamus: The Last Prophecy does do some things right in terms of the
graphics and sound quality. The overall concept isn’t that bad either, but some
of the finer points such as the tasks that need completed could’ve definitely
been dulled down a bit. This game is, however, an absolute must for any
astrology buff!
