The Sacred Amulet

Rating:
Summary: It's No Game
Review: I did not enjoy this game at all. I felt that I was back in school and had to cram before the final. There are 7 chapters of text in an encyclopedia format to study just to understand what is going on within the game. I'm sorry. A game should be just that - a game.

There was no "spellcheck" performed on the text or dialogue boxes, nor was it proof read for proper grammar. It was created by the French and translated (poorly) into English covering cryptic ancient Aztec language, history, geography, and culture. Wow! Did things ever get lost in the translation on this game.

After two days worth of play, I pulled the plug. I didn't even finish the came. Before they published this they should have cleaned it up and toned down the 50+ pages of encyclopedia entries.

If you want to study the Aztec culture, this might be a good buy for you (if you can get past the incredible number of spelling and grammar errors).

If you want to play a game, this is not what you want to buy. Although the graphics are lovely, they cannot compensate for the poor game play. The majority of puzzles within the game are not challenging. The "play" of the game mainly consists of your character going back and forth to different areas of the city and carting back different items. Quite a bore.

Thumbs down on this one.

Rating:
Summary: sacred amulet
Review: I thought this game had potential, but I was disappointed. Translation was clumsy, animation stiff . As with SO many of dreamcatcher games,controlling the cursor is frustrating.It's so fluid that it's hard to do a simple quarter turn; you wind up doing a 360!! Not many puzzles really, but a lot of running around. You want a great adventure game??? Try LIGHTHOUSE or TIMELAPSE.

Rating:
Summary: It's No Game
Review: OK, I admit: I've played a little bit more than regular lately. But with so many games by DreamCatcher, it's so much fun! Not all of them are that good though. So, thinking about playing the Amulet? Well, I heartily recommend it to those who liked The Forgotten (not much of a brainer), it will provide them with the next level of difficulty. But it's certainly not that hard. The puzzles are simple and we finished the game in not too intense two days. Riven-sequel seeker, beware.

But the game's strength lies somewhere else. First, the graphics and the sound are beautiful, and there is poetry sprinkled in a few beautiful sunset animated movies. Then you meet people all the time (unlike most of these games which look strangely lonely). You can actually die, but the game saves automatically (for one player, at every act, there are ten acts total) and you can also save manually on top of that (for several simultaneous players; my wife and I like to do it on our own at the same time, to help each other but preserve the pleasure).

The real bonus with this game is, you will learn about the Aztec civilization, through the encyclopedia (gathered with University professors, copious, with a lot of cross-referenced material). Each article is short, offers a picture. This is very suitable for younger players and adults alike (I'm past thirty). You are kindly linked with the encyclopedia when you click on the objects in the game. You can also play without bothering with the encyclopedia, so it's added value with no discomfort. I might play the game again just to learn more of the encyclopedia.

There are very few reasons not to like this game: if you are a veteran gamer, the puzzles will look too simple for you; for $15, you won't complain too much. The 3D engine is beautiful, but like Cristal Key, every sequence takes a little while to load. It is not as slow (or you get used to it, I can't remember :) Anyway, it's far from unbearable. One minor regret: the somehow anticlimactic ending (still a nice sequence, don't worry; no plain congratulations screen here). Overall, an excellent game, refreshing, enjoyable, inexpensive. Highly recommended along with Beyond Atlantis, SafeCracker, and Riven, my recent and all-time favorites.

Rating:
Summary: Great graphics, beautiful game!
Review: OK, I admit: I've played a little bit more than regular lately. But with so many games by DreamCatcher, it's so much fun! Not all of them are that good though. So, thinking about playing the Amulet? Well, I heartily recommend it to those who liked The Forgotten (not much of a brainer), it will provide them with the next level of difficulty. But it's certainly not that hard. The puzzles are simple and we finished the game in not too intense two days. Riven-sequel seeker, beware.

But the game's strength lies somewhere else. First, the graphics and the sound are beautiful, and there is poetry sprinkled in a few beautiful sunset animated movies. Then you meet people all the time (unlike most of these games which look strangely lonely). You can actually die, but the game saves automatically (for one player, at every act, there are ten acts total) and you can also save manually on top of that (for several simultaneous players; my wife and I like to do it on our own at the same time, to help each other but preserve the pleasure).

The real bonus with this game is, you will learn about the Aztec civilization, through the encyclopedia (gathered with University professors, copious, with a lot of cross-referenced material). Each article is short, offers a picture. This is very suitable for younger players and adults alike (I'm past thirty). You are kindly linked with the encyclopedia when you click on the objects in the game. You can also play without bothering with the encyclopedia, so it's added value with no discomfort. I might play the game again just to learn more of the encyclopedia.

There are very few reasons not to like this game: if you are a veteran gamer, the puzzles will look too simple for you; for $15, you won't complain too much. The 3D engine is beautiful, but like Cristal Key, every sequence takes a little while to load. It is not as slow (or you get used to it, I can't remember :) Anyway, it's far from unbearable. One minor regret: the somehow anticlimactic ending (still a nice sequence, don't worry; no plain congratulations screen here). Overall, an excellent game, refreshing, enjoyable, inexpensive. Highly recommended along with Beyond Atlantis, SafeCracker, and Riven, my recent and all-time favorites.

Rating:
Summary: A nice try...
Review: The Sacred Amulet is a game that takes place durring the time of one of the greatest empires in world history. However, the gameplay is very poor and there is no true 3d graphics. the graphics engine is comparable to Quick Time VR with 3d panoramic views. This just did not foster good gameplay. Also it was very tedious at times. The included Aztec encyclopedia was a very nice touch. It was not mandatory for game play, but the information is there in case you are interested. It does provide some insight into the culture as you play. The graphics themselves are alright although not 3D. I wouldn't recomend this game to those interested in the action genre or even anyone who engoys RPG games because it simply fails to entertain through its gameplay. However, the graphical content does succeed to allow one to see a small peak into the lives of the Mexica (Aztecs).

Rating:
Summary: Historical adventure
Review: This game is one of Cryo's edutainment games. It has a built-in encyclopedia, and a tour feature that lets you tour the ancient Aztec world without playing the game. The graphic quality is good, and the developers did a good job in recreating the environment. You can see homes of farmers, city people, the market place, the royal palace, and many of the temples. This is well worth the price of the game by itself.

The game has a nice story and the puzzles are interesting. The game world is quite large and there are places you see during game play that aren't on the tour. There are free walk-throughs online that you can follow to see the whole story and all the environments, if you don't care for puzzle solving, or if you're a parent or grandparent helping grade school kids play.

I'd recommend that parents of young children review the material first, before letting young children play, because, though it's handled very tactfully, the game deals with the ancient Aztec culture, aspects of which might be a little too gruesome for sensitive young children.

If you like to wander around and explore graphical recreations of ancient places and learn about how the people lived, you'll like this game. The system requirements are low, so it'll work on older machines. I think it's quite a bargain!

Rating:
Summary: Historical adventure
Review: This game is one of Cryo's edutainment games. It has a built-in encyclopedia, and a tour feature that lets you tour the ancient Aztec world without playing the game. The graphic quality is good, and the developers did a good job in recreating the environment. You can see homes of farmers, city people, the market place, the royal palace, and many of the temples. This is well worth the price of the game by itself.

The game has a nice story and the puzzles are interesting. The game world is quite large and there are places you see during game play that aren't on the tour. There are free walk-throughs online that you can follow to see the whole story and all the environments, if you don't care for puzzle solving, or if you're a parent or grandparent helping grade school kids play.

I'd recommend that parents of young children review the material first, before letting young children play, because, though it's handled very tactfully, the game deals with the ancient Aztec culture, aspects of which might be a little too gruesome for sensitive young children.

If you like to wander around and explore graphical recreations of ancient places and learn about how the people lived, you'll like this game. The system requirements are low, so it'll work on older machines. I think it's quite a bargain!

Rating:
Summary: Not bad...not really good either....
Review: This one was half good and half bad. I liked the storyline and the characters ...I liked the basic premise of the adventure, however, I cannot stand games that make you go back and forth from one place to another to bring things here to there to assemble something...etc. It was too much hassle and not much fun because of all the tedious travel. The "puzzles" (which weren't many) were easy and not much mystery was behind them. So all in all it wasn't terrible, but it could have been ALOT better.

Rating:
Summary: No walkthrough needed!!!
Review: This was the first game I've played that I didn't need a walkthrough. After playing Versailles 1685, Pilgrim and Paris 1313, I needed a break. The progression of the Sacred Amulet was logical and direct - if you are paying attention. After making adjustments to the extreme speed of the cursor, off I went. The amount of interaction between characters was just right. I found the graphics and music to be attractive and appropriate. The puzzles were interesting but not so difficult as to cause a migraine!! The puzzles were also logical and fitting with the situation at hand. There are lots of helps within the game in case you get stuck. There is a flower you must locate at one point that I just couldn't seem to find, even though I was in the only place the thing could be. I looked in the encyclopedia within the game to find out what the thing looked like and viola! I was standing right next to the flower I needed. In my gaming experience, I have found that most any game created by Cryo is top notch. Way to go Dreamcatcher for snagging the U.S. distribution rights! Keep 'em comin'!