Adventure at the Chateau d'Or

Rating:
Summary: Not worth the time (or money)
Review: Due to the original description of this game, I was expecting a little more than I got. The graphics are good (not great, but good), but that is all I can say about it. The puzzles are simplistic at best and few and far between. Most of the storyline appears to be concerned with French history. This would better be served by marketing the game as an educational tool, not pure entertainment. There are many games available with more difficult puzzles, intriguing plots, and more hours of entertainment than this one for the same price. Unless you are interested in a superficial overview of French history, don't waste your money.

Rating:
Summary: Great game for kids
Review: I bought this game for my 10 y.o. nephew as a Christmas present and he really loves it. I was a bit hesitant due to some of the reviews here, but I bought it because his mother had lived in France and I thought they would have fun playing it together.

What a surprise! the 10 y.o. loved it and he got through the "learning part" (which is really a funny, multiple choice, question and answer) with no need for help at all. I suspect that the people who keep calling this a learning or educational game may be "learning challenged" if a 10 year old (granted a very smart one) has no problem at all with that part. Here at amazon.com, I think people are probably familiar with reading books (which some may call learning) and should not have any problem with the game.

For the rest, the graphics are beautiful, the music is tastefully deployed and it's great to see an adventure game where logic prevails rather than some bizarre notion of reality. In other words, common sense gets you through this game and you don't need a hint guide to tell you that pouring wine on a floor at midnight burns a hole in the roof (no that doesn't happen here, but i wouldn't be surprised to see it in some games!).

All in all a nice game that takes about 12-15 hours to play. I'd like to see more games like this where you can have an enjoyable experience without spending hours on one road block that prevents you from moving forward.

Rating:
Summary: I wasted my money; don't waste yours!
Review: I had such high hopes for this game & am bitterly disappointed. Download seemed to go well, but when starting actual gameplay, the action was either choppy or totally blacked out. The audio clues cut out in mid-sentence. Repeated emails to the developer, Karma Labs, went unanswered. The historical information (when I could see or hear it) was great, but I'd sure have liked to have seen it all. I had expected a great adventure game, and received an exercise in frustration, which, from the beginning of the game to the final resolution, took only one day. Terrible disappointment!

Rating:
Summary: I wasted my money; don't waste yours!
Review: I had such high hopes for this game & am bitterly disappointed. Download seemed to go well, but when starting actual gameplay, the action was either choppy or totally blacked out. The audio clues cut out in mid-sentence. Repeated emails to the developer, Karma Labs, went unanswered. The historical information (when I could see or hear it) was great, but I'd sure have liked to have seen it all. I had expected a great adventure game, and received an exercise in frustration, which, from the beginning of the game to the final resolution, took only one day. Terrible disappointment!

Rating:
Summary: BEAUTIFUL VISUALS BUT TOO STATIC
Review: I looked forward to this game as there had been alot of hype about it. It is visually beautiful (the chateau reminds me of Versaille) however, the game is low tech, very static and the player is extremely limited in movement and objects that may be picked up. This is dissapointing and spoils part of the enjoyment of the game (adventure gamers love to handle objects and explore every corner). The technology has come a long way since Myst began the craze but the people who created this game don't seem to be aware of this.

Rating:
Summary: too short, too boring
Review: Most of it is trivial, and an average gamer can finish it in just a few hours. Spend your money on something a little more challenging.

Rating:
Summary: Technical problems
Review: THe major flaw of the game was that after reading the books about the history of France, the information was NOT encoded in the player's knowledge and thus, the player could not proceed with the game (could not answer the duke's question). THis was very annoying, particulary after you spend time learning the (superficial) history of France. In addition, the controls were difficult to maneuver and static and the puzzles were not inspiring. THe graphics were good but it gets boring when you have to spend your entire time on the castle grounds...it felt like prison after a while. THere was no creativity in this game. I would not recommend it. UNfortunately, there are few very good adventure games. Even the Longest journey, which I had problems with, is superior to this game.

Rating:
Summary: An entertaining game
Review: This game was a welcome change to a lot of adventure games and I think that IS the creativity of it. It gets really boring after awhile when all games are variations on the same themes. Otherwise, I don't know why people are talking about books. In Adventure at the Chateau there is only one book, which I only found after I had finished the game when I went back to explore the palace some more. So apart from that book, which you don't need, I guess the so-called "books" are the short video sequences that you see in the library. These are about people and events. You can call that history if you want, but it's not any different than a lot of games where the stories are fictional people and places (myst and company come to mind...and in Myst you really DO have to read) I experienced no bugs or malfunctions, so I was able to explore the palace and was not limited to talking about the small part of the game that I was able to see...and in fact there is a prison...or dungeon...and that was one of the coolest things in the game! All in all this game is a great deal for the price. Even if you just want to watch the videos

Rating:
Summary: Just a Great Time!
Review: This has some great graphics of a French chateau that allowed me to imagine I was in a special place. A good game for casual gamers, with a little bit of French History. Lots of fun, and not too difficult to figure out.