Anachronox

by Eidos

Product Details

• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B00003OPEQ
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: June 27, 2001
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #15,953 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

The developer that gave us Daikatana, the Ishtar of PC games, makes up for that atrocity with this fine sci-fi role-playing game. Unlike most PC RPGs, Anachronox features extremely user-friendly gameplay, mostly due to its console influence--the developers readily admit that they borrowed heavily from games such as Final Fantasy VII. The game follows the adventures of Sylvester "Sly" Boots, a down-on-his-luck detective trying to repay a hefty debt. Taking a simple assignment as a bodyguard, Sly finds himself caught up in much larger events, and the fate of the universe is placed in his unlikely hands.

Gameplay consists entirely of two elements: point-and-click adventure and turn-based combat. The early part especially requires you to click on every object and person you encounter. Battles are classic turn-based encounters, with combatants lined up on two sides taking turns attacking. Unfortunately, these elements are far from balanced. The first half of the game gets a little monotonous with an overabundance of pointing and clicking, while the second half contains too many battles. The former problem is exacerbated by uneven storytelling. Although the dialogue and characterizations are great, the early part really drags. The writers tried to mimic the pacing of FFVII's story, but weren't nearly as successful. While the cutscenes are very impressive, the in-game graphics are quite blocky, and you can tell that the game was based on the old Quake II game engine.

Despite these technical and aesthetic flaws, Anachronox remains a charming game. Its blend of sci-fi and humor gives it a tone akin to an edgier Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. This, combined with its console-like gameplay, makes it appealing to a much broader audience than your typical PC RPG. --Raymond M. Padilla

Pros:

• Excellent dialogue and story
• Strong characters
• Simpler gameplay than most PC RPGs

Cons:

• Blocky graphics
• Dreadful pacing
• Unbalanced gameplay

Product Description

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars NOT Daikatana! This is a great game!, July 11, 2001

By 

Chris Peters (Austin, Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Anachronox (CD-ROM)

For the merely curious, Anachronox is a wonderful game, much more like Deus Ex than the disaster Daikatana. In fact, Anachronox is shaping up to be one of my favorite RPGs ever. It plays like a traditional console RPG - explore a large world, fight lots of monsters in simple, turn-based combat, and a wonderful story. The characters are pretty much "pre-generated", meaning you will have less control over creating their skills and strengths like in Balder's Gate, but instead you are rewarded with a wonderful, tight story, with each new party member adding something very interesting to the game.

Anachronox is an awesome RPG where it counts - awesome story, strong characters, a huge and fascinating world, and irrisistable charm. There is so much personality in every inch of this game, even humor. (Like Wackmaster Jack's, "Where the Elite Meet to Beat.") I can tell already that this is a game which would be fun to play a 2nd or 3rd time, because much of the story is told through the environment, and there is simply too much to see the first time through.

Granted, Anachronox uses an outdated graphics engine, and you can tell. There are blocky characters and low-res textures everywhere. However, the sheer size of the levels quickly made me ignore these faults. No other 3D RPG has cities this big, with skyscrapers towering in all directions, each of them available for exploration. Each alien world is distinct, imaginative, and instantly recognizable.

This is one game, I hope and pray they make a sequel for.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great game -- like being in a Saturday morning cartoon, July 11, 2001

By 

bayou_hannibal "bayou_hannibal" (West Virginia, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Anachronox (CD-ROM)

I love this game! I just finished it, and I think that this one is going to be a classic. I like it about as much as Deus Ex, another Ion Storm title. It starts off a bit slow, but it picks up intensely about a third of the way through, and it has an ending that knocks you out of your chair like the movie "The Sixth Sense".

This is a unique blend of quest-fulfilling, role-playing, and puzzle-solving. Instead of controlling one character, you control up to 7 characters, and combat is turn-based (like in a D&D game). When you're in combat, you are exploring the universe, solving puzzles, and fulfilling little game quests (yes you know that routine). Each character has special abilities and combat moves, which are gradually developed throughout the game.

The story and the animation in this game are wonderfully engrossing. The plot is filled with great cutscenes that will have you laughing out loud. The combat in this game is a lot of fun too. The game has a special animation effect for every combat move, for every character, and every creature. This animation is rich with great sound and eye candy, like an episode of "The Superfriends". Playing this game gives you the feel that you are in the middle of a Saturday morning superhero cartoon. Actually, it's a cross between a Saturday morning superhero cartoon and an episode of the Simpsons.

One drawback to this game are that a lot of the puzzles are too darn easy to solve -- the answers are basically spoonfed to you, and all that you have to do is talk to everyone in the area and click on each object until you complete the quest. Another drawback is that there is no flexibility in advancing your characters' levels. This is unlike most other RPG's, where you earn skill points in some way and then assign them to develop your character as you like. Plus, a lot of the dialog exchange in this game is done by text (only the cinematic scenes are voice-acted)

The game can be buggy, but when you get it running -- it's worth it!!

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sleeper hit of the year..., June 28, 2001

By 

"speedy3d" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Anachronox (CD-ROM)

This game couldn't have come from the same ION storm that created Daikatana could it? Truth be told, after playing this game for a couple of days now I can safely say that I have been sucked into the world that is Anachronox. From the begging it is evident that this game has been brushed with the paint of a masterpiece. This game has a story line, which meets, if not exceeds that of Deus Ex but it is also full of gorgeous environments (who would have thought this was the quakeII engine?!

I took a risk in buying this game as there has been very little press coverage, and zero reviews as of now, however if you are into deep story lines, and intriguing sci-fi role playing action you owe it to yourself to pick up this game.