First things first, my knowledge of
Jules Verne is limited. In fact I’ve heard the name more than I’ve read any of
his writings. Shame on my part, yes I know, but life moves on. But we’re not
talking about a book by Jules Verne; instead this review is about a game
inspired by Jules Verne.
Voyage: A Journey Beyond Reality
focuses on the story by Jules Verne about a trip to the moon. The original story
involves three heroes launched to the moon by being shot out of a huge gun. But
instead of just circling the moon the game has you landing on the moon.
Unfortunately only one hero survives the trip to the moon, Michel Ardan. You
play the role of Michel Ardan and your task is to explore all of the mysteries
of the moon.
The gameplay is the
simple-and-easy-to-play point-and-click-style adventure game. The game is played
out in a first-person perspective that allows you to look in roughly any
direction you want. Veterans of point-and-click adventure games will be right at
home since the interface is near fool proof. If you can use an item then the
screen cursor will change. Using an item can range from picking up an item to
combining it with other items in your inventory.
Speaking of your inventory the game
offers a huge amount of space to store items you discover during the game. Early
in the game you’re forced to drop several that you ultimately get to recover.
But it’s not a big deal since I was never close to running out of space that
required me to leave items behind. The layout of the inventory screen was nicely
done as well with the inventory screen having several tabs that you can click to
move to the next page.
Nothing is dropped into your
inventory screen automatically. The game keeps all of the items you find in a
holding area that you will need to organize. But all you have to do is just drag
and drop the items over to an empty slot in your inventory. Joining items
together was a piece of cake; if the items can be combined then the combined
items will automatically change to the updated item. If you’re missing an item
to be combined then the game will display a question mark or a series of
question marks to indicate how many more items are needed.
You might be thinking to yourself
“All of this sounds really simple. Where’s the fun in that?” Well, how much fun
would it be spending several hours on one puzzle without the game providing any
type of help to keep the game moving along? The simple-to-use interface and
layout of the game keeps Voyage moving along at a steady pace. Sure, there will
be a few puzzles that will have you scratching your head but the game tries to
help you along as much as possible. The game doesn’t just give you the answers
but you will probably say to yourself “Duh!” once you’ve figured out the
solution.
The pacing of the game is one of the
drawbacks. The game is set on the moon with some weird, freaky stuff happening
on the surface. For example there are strange and unusual drawings located all
over the moon. The drawings seem to be the written language of the moon
residents, the Selenites. As you progress through the game Michel Ardan will
figure out what the different symbols mean without a problem one minute and then
have a stupid attack the next minute. I understand that you have to set a
boundary on how much you can uncover right away but it’s still frustrating
seeing “unrecognized symbol” on the screen. Solving certain puzzles will usually
allow you to understand a symbol but when you have to just guess what something
means to figure out a puzzle then it’s sort of a catch.
The graphics in the game are another
drawback to what could be considered gaming bliss. The game offers some simple
2D static graphics for the majority of the landscapes and creatures. There are
some items and creatures that are modeled in 3D but nothing that will really
impress everyone. When compared to other point-and-click adventure games the
graphics in Voyage are disappointing. There are some vibrant colors but the
overall game lacks the lush, spectacular view that has been seen in countless
other adventure games. However, there is one part of the graphics that I thought
was interesting, which were the cutscenes. The cutscenes early in the game
played out in a vintage/antique-style cartoon look that would have been seen in
magazines/books from days of old. These cutscenes would pop up every few minutes
early in the game until you finally reached the planet.
One last feature that I really did
enjoy was the game’s ability to try something a little different. There were
certain parts in the game that had you jumping to different parts of the stage.
But in order to jump you have to time the jump just right by pressing your
cursor at a certain point. The cursor scale will change depending on the
distance of the jump. The farther the jump the harder it will be to stop the
cursor at the right time. It’s just a simple little diversion to the standard
point-and-click game but it was still different.
At the end of the day Voyage is a
good adventure game that will please fans of Jules Verne and fans of the
point-and-click genre. The easy-to-use interface, interesting setting and unique
jumping option will offer gamers an adventure game that will fill the void until
the next game is released. However the plain graphics and questionable puzzles
will keep regular gamers far away from any trips to the moon. But I’ll make it
real simple for anyone that has made it this far in the review: if you’re an
adventure game nut then you already know that you have to get this game.
Everyone else can probably skip it.
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Gameplay: 6.8
The point-and-click interface is easy for everyone to use. The inventory system
made it very easy to keep track of what items you have and if the items can be
combined with other items. The majority of the puzzles were straightforward
enough for anyone to complete but a few were questionable.
Graphics: 6.4
This isn’t the game to push your new high-end graphics card. There are a few
vibrant colors in the game but the rest of the graphics are very dull. There are
a few moments of movement in some of the creatures but the majority of the game
is non-animated.
Sound: 6.5
The voice acting and music in the game were well done. The character of Michel
Ardan didn’t repeat himself too much to get on your nerves. The music added a
nice sense of ambiance to the game. The sound effects were nothing to write home
about but did the job.
Difficulty: Easy/Medium
As I’ve mentioned earlier the pacing in the game keeps you moving along without
running into too many roadblocks. Some of the puzzles were a little crazy and
will have you pulling your hair out.
Multiplayer: N/A
This is a single-player game.
Concept: 7.5
It’s based on Jules Verne. How many times have you played a game based on Jules
Verne? The antique style cartoons early in the game sets a good tone for
connecting the game to the classic works of Jules Verne. The jumping mini game
offers a good change of pace from the standard point-and-click adventure game.
The rest of the game is nothing that you haven’t seen in other adventure games.
Overall: 6.8
It might not be the best adventure game ever released but Voyage is still a fun
and entertaining game. You already know by now if you’re going to pick this game
up or not. This game won’t shine your shoes, press your clothes or mow your
lawn, but it’s a game that offers a few minutes of removing yourself from the
rigors of day-to-day life.
