Gamer Reviews

The adventure genre may not be the type of game that flies off the store shelves, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t any developers willing to tackle the genre to provide challenging and mind-numbing puzzles for those who still reminisce the glory days of Myst. With RHEM 3, German developer Knut Müller, responsible for the first two RHEM games, and Got Game Entertainment come together to bring a puzzle-adventure that will please fans of the series and genre, but leave newcomers and the impatient behind. Like other point-and-click games of the genre, the puzzles at times can feel impossible, and you can spend hours wandering the static world wondering what to do next.

RHEM 3 is no exception. The game begins with a letter from Zetais who has decoded the relic that you had given him in RHEM 2. With the attached note, you are instructed to give it to Kales, Zetais’ brother, and enter the realm of Rhem. After a ride on the railcar, Kales pops up on the intercom, instructing you to hand him the note before you can proceed. The story doesn’t progress much from there, so you’re not missing too much by not playing the previous two games. Your goal here is to look for a valuable relic and you will spend many hours alone, unraveling the mysteries of Rhem.

The game makes no effort to bring you up to speed except for that brief introduction and your interaction with anything but stone walls is almost non-existent. Your conversation with Kales is the last voice you’ll hear for awhile, as he leaves you to your own devices. As with any adventure game, you’ll spend a good amount of time exploring. The controls are simple; the mouse is used to gloss over the static environments and the cursor will change to provide you with options to move in any of the cardinal directions available. The mouse cursor will also change to a hand or magnifying glass if there is something of interest. Exploring every nook and cranny is crucial, as you never know whether there is a clue on the back of the door you just walked through, or whether the markings on the wall actually mean something.

The puzzles are not exceedingly difficult but they do require a lot of trial-and-error and backtracking. Thankfully, they’re all relatively logical, so solving them takes time, a keen eye and a lot of patience - not an engineering degree. If you’re into hardcore puzzle games, you’ll find yourself quickly engrossed in the world, and you’ll take in everything from every direction. What is unfortunate is that the game doesn’t provide a map or anything to track your progress. Unless you have a photographic memory, a notepad will come in handy when you come across clues. Later in the game you are given a notebook to copy information in a library, but the way the menu is set up is far from ideal. In order to solve some of the puzzles you’ll have to write it all down anyway.
You will find that you spend most of the time trying to open doors, push buttons, flip switches, turn on power, all the while exploring Rhem’s intricate labyrinth above and below ground. For the most part, once a door opens you can go back and forth without a problem, but early on in the game, there is a room with four doors that require you to turn off the lamps before the door will open. This is an easy puzzle to figure out, but since this intersection will need to be crossed many times during your exploration, it is rather repetitive to click through the lamps each time to get the door to open. Some puzzles were creative, such as keeping a light on for a few seconds and then turning it off to see a glow-in-the-dark clue, or keeping track of audio cues from different birds.
If you aren’t already giddy with excitement at the prospect of solving puzzle upon puzzle, then there really isn’t much else this game will do for you to up the fun factor. The graphics are a bit dated and the little bit of animation is heavily pixelated. The world is rather large, which makes it more difficult to keep track of things. However, moving from screen to screen is quick and painless.

There isn’t much to say in terms of music and sound as there is hardly any. Other than ambient noises and the occasional twill of a bird, you’re left with whooshes of doors opening and closing and negative buzzer sounds when the button in question doesn’t work. A few notes here and there keep it from being entirely silent, but it’s not intrusive. The limited voice acting in the game is stiff and actually creepy more than anything, since you spend most of the time alone.

This is by no means a bad game, as adventure games rely heavily on the creativity of the puzzles above anything else. The graphics and sound do the job, but it does nothing to enhance the experience. The low system requirements would enable players who would want a game that can be easily loaded to play (except for the long title screen).

Closing Comments
If you’re looking for an engaging storyline and cutting-edge technical innovations that take advantage of DirectX 10, you won’t find here. It looks like a game that came out in 1993, so as long as you (and your computer) can handle that, then by all means take a stab at it. However, since it is 2008 and technology has come a long way, there are some standards that should be met - at least make it look like it came out of 2003. This is an old-school adventure game that will challenge that gray matter between your ears if nothing else. The non-linear gameplay and complex web of puzzles will keep you busy for days and if you’re the type who likes to torment/challenge yourself, this is the game for you.

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Tags: PC by Mikey
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This expansion sticks to the old school C&C formula almost to a fault.

You’d easily be forgiven if you experience a case of déjà vu while playing Kane’s Wrath. Yes, the expansion to last year’s Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars packs a fair amount of new content. At its heart is a 13-mission single-player campaign, along with six new subfactions and a slick new global conquest campaign. Despite this, it feels eerily familiar. Kane’s Wrath doesn’t just feel like you’re playing Tiberium Wars again, but the nagging feeling that also haunted C&C 3 returns. Replace the 3D looks with 2D graphics and swap the high-res HD video with lower-quality video and the gameplay is virtually indistinguishable from its original progenitor of more than 15 years ago.

Kane’s Wrath hews closely to the standards of the series. There are fast, brutal real-time strategy battles that are intercut with live-action cinematics and cutscenes. Joe Kucan reprises his famous role as Kane, leader of the evil Brotherhood of Nod. Since this is an expansion, the rest of the cast isn’t as large or as varied as it was in Tiberium Wars, but it’s still pretty respectable with the additions of sci-fi veterans like Carl Lumbly and Natasha Henstridge. They play lieutenants of Kane who each have their own agenda.

The single-player campaign feels disjointed, mainly because it jumps all over the Command & Conquer timeline to fill in the gaps. Things start off just at the end of the Second Tiberium War, and every few missions the campaign leaps forward a decade or two. As such, you don’t get much of a cohesive story. Instead, you get glimpses of the back story. While prior knowledge of the previous games isn’t necessary, it would certainly be helpful in understanding what’s going on.

Meanwhile, there’s the standard selection of RTS mission styles in the campaign. Most of them have you begin with a construction unit, which you use to construct a base. That includes a refinery or two to start harvesting tiberium, some power generators, and a variety of infantry or vehicle factories, along with support buildings that unlock special powers and abilities. The formula in these is usually build up your forces till you’re strong enough to go on offense, and then attack and repeat until you’ve worn down the enemy. Then there are a handful of non-building missions, where you control a small group of units and must navigate around the level without losing too many of them. Here the trick is to save early and often until you get through the level.

The entire campaign takes place from the perspective of the Brothehood of Nod, so you don’t get to play as the Global Defense Initiative or the alien Scrin. Those are reserved either for skirmish, multiplayer, or the global conquest game. You do get to mess around with the two new Nod subfactions, the Marked of Kane and the Black Hand. The idea behind the subfactions is to inject some variety into the mix, though the differences between them seem a bit too subtle and slight. There’s a bit more variety between the Scrin subfactions, as one of them plays entirely unlike anything else due to its dependence on mind control.

The battles are fun, especially when you’re finally bulldozing an opponent over. After all, there’s always something thrilling about stomping all over a foe. The lack of growth in the series is noticeable though, especially when things like AI and pathfinding are basically unchanged from the original C&C. Units can jam up on little obstacles, while the AI will send a steady stream of units at you regardless at how effective that tactic is. Things like that are especially glaring considering the features found in modern RTS games, such as intelligent squads that know how to use cover effectively on their own. As a result, the combat in Kane’s Wrath feels like pure math; instead of tactics or maneuvering, the only thing that matters is how much damage your units can inflict per second.

It isn’t until you hit the global conquest campaign mode that you encounter something very new and different for the series. This is basically an overarching strategic layer to tie real-time battles together, but unlike the campaign modes found in earlier EALA real-time strategy games, the one in Kane’s Wrath does away with the idea of distinct provinces or territories. Instead, the global map allows for very fluid battle lines as factions struggle to carve out territory or corrupt cities and so on.

Multiplayer remains extremely fast-paced and fun; though depending on the skill of your opponent you might get wiped in minutes. Still, we managed to get in some nail-biting tug-of-war struggles. The addition of new superunits certainly helps to break the stalemates that occur, and it’s cool to see a massive tank or insect-like war machine rampaging on the battlefield.

Closing Comments
Ultimately, Kane’s Wrath is something that old school RTS fans and die-hard C&C veterans will enjoy. There’s enough here to keep them busy for a long time. Those looking for a more modern RTS experience should look elsewhere, though.

source: click here

Tags: PC by Mikey
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