Though Atlantis may have never existed, the locale is still a fascinating setting to create videogames, particularly adventure games. From the 1992 classic ‘Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis,’ to the far too common awful Atlantis game, it’s safe to say that gamers and game makers are smitten with the fabled city. So, starting this game, I had very high expectations for what an Atlantis game should be, as well as a bad taste in my mouth from the other Atlantis games that I had suffered the misfortune of buying the last few years.

Atlantis Evolution is the name of the game, likely the first title in a new adventure series for the PC. This game follows the journeys and adventures of photographer Curtis Hewitt, who literally falls into an epic adventure on his way back from Patagonia. Without ruining the story of the game, which is actually quite good for a modern adventure game, suffice it to say his presence draws the ire of the local gods and he soon finds himself on the run from nearly everybody in Atlantis.

Gameplay
Adventure games in general have, probably since the release of the 7th Guest and Myst, been associated with static backgrounds and hours of intense pixel hunting as you search for some obscure item needed to allow you to solve an equally obscure puzzle.

Though Atlantis Evolution is a point and click adventure game, it manages to escape most of the tedious conventions people associate with this genre. For starters, this game is done in a more of a first person point-of-view, allowing the player to feel like a part of the game. In addition, you will find that the puzzles tend to be logical and the items, while hidden, are never so obscure as for you to not see them when you glance at them.

 

That being said, this game does make the mistake of having a few areas which are quite maze-like in their design. That, coupled with time-sensitive sequences, will have you swearing as you are constantly restarting your game. This brings me to my next point that in Evolution, you can and likely will die. AE features a decent enough interface: if there is nothing to interact with, you simply will have a normal cursor, but when you touch on a hot spot the cursor will change. While some will scoff at this as hand-holding, there are enough frustrating areas in this game to keep everyone challenged.

Most of the puzzles in this game tend to be of an arcade variety. In playing through this game, I came across a variation of Gunbound, Frogger and even Pong. I found these puzzles to be fun diversions and occasionally challenged me to renew my old school video game skills.

Graphics The game’s box boasts that it contains graphics akin to Pixar entertainment’s graphics used for movies like Toy Story and Finding Nemo. Oddly enough I am inclined to agree, as this game makes use of a very attractive graphics engine and it contains some amazingly rendered cut scenes, all of which combine to tell a very pretty story. The game features a series of very attractive pre-rendered backgrounds, most of which contain animations, such as birds, moving on top of them, that induce that the background is real and alive around you.

Given that I use an X800 pro, it’s probably no surprise that I suffered not one second of slowdown in this game, but still it’s nice to play a game without the usual visual hiccups that seem to plague PC titles. The pre-rendered background pictures are quite lovely and I found myself wandering around the beautiful screens just enjoying the sights. As mentioned previously, the items that you can pick up or interact with are fairly commonsense in their placement and the way they are pictured on the screen. Although I strongly recommend that any gamer playing this game spend time looking on the ground as many of the items are sometimes simply lying where you may overlook them.

Sound
The voice acting in this game is definitely on the campy side. Despite what others say, I found it had a very fun and authentic B-movie quality to it that managed to be intense and fun at the same time. The voice acting for Curtis was actually very entertaining to me. Curtis tends to be more of the wry, slightly self-deprecating type of humor guy. He is very similar in demeanor to Farscape’s character John Chrichton, giving the impression that Curtis is just an everyday guy, like the gamer who suddenly finds himself in an extraordinary situation. The music ranges between bland and majestic, depending on the area your character finds himself.

Although not on par with the excellent visuals of this game, the sound certainly never detracts from your gaming experience. Again, if you are not into slightly campy voiceovers, then keep looking as some of the voices in this game are laughably bad, while others, particularly the lead character, make this a memorable experience.

Replay Value
One of the biggest disadvantages to a game in this genre is that once you finish, there is usually no reason to play again. While this game is fun and the story is solid, once you finish it you will find no branching story paths to play through, significantly hampering your gameplay experience. All in all, without a walkthrough this game will take up around 10 hours of your time from start to finish, more if you frustrate easily (especially if you hate maze-like environments).

Overall
When I watched this game being demoed at E3 this year, I was blown away by the lack of standard static backgrounds, coupled with the full control first person perspective that this game offered. Being a fan of adventure games since the days of King’s Quest, I am pleased to say that this game manages to recapture the fun of the Adventure game genre, mixing character involvement with good graphics and a great story to make an immersive gaming experience.

Given the state of the adventure game genre itself (particularly those of the point and click variety), will anybody actually want to spend the time and money necessary to play this game? Or, will it join the ranks of the bargain bin adventure games, condemned to live out the rest of its existence as part of a value bundle in some Wal-Mart in the Midwest? For this Atlantis game, Evolution is a great moniker as this game has helped evolve the traditional adventure gaming genre entirely. Games like Atlantis Evolution prove that reports of the demise of the adventure game genre are greatly exaggerated. This game is definitely worth your time and money.