Beyond Atlantis

by Dreamcatcher

Product Features

• Windows 98/95, Pentium 133, 16 MB RAM, 2 MB RAM Video Memory
• DirectX compatible, 4x CD-ROM Drive
• DreamCatcher
• PC

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00004T1MD
• Item Weight: 12 ounces
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: July 14, 2000
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (57 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #20,931 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Immerse yourself in extraordinary worlds as you journey through a timeless tale of intrigue and adventure. Assume the role of Ten, descendant of Seth, the renowned hero of Atlantis. Let wisdom be your guide as you travel through five fascinating worlds in search of the ultimate answer. Discover beautiful settings, challenging puzzles, and mysterious characters as your adventure unfolds and takes you Beyond Atlantis.

Product Description

Step into the land of dreams and legends in Beyond Atlantis. Immerse yourself in extraordinary worlds as you journey through a timeless tale of intrigue and adventure. Assume the role of Ten, descendent of Seth, the renowned hero from Atlantis.

See all Product Description

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

54 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beyond Extraordinary, June 29, 2000

By 

rw9 (Stony Brook, New York USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beyond Atlantis (CD-ROM)

NOTE --- I played the U.K. version of this game, which was released a few months ago under the title of "Atlantis 2." The U.S. version (the one available here) may contain slight differences.

PROS --- 1. Beyond Atlantis reminds me of Big Sky Country -- everything in it is larger than life, more fully realized, vaster than in the usual graphic adventure. The game takes you on a spectacular quest through three historical worlds, each complete with a can-you-solve-this dramatic dilemma, plus unexpected links to alternate dimensions full of mystery, plot twists and surprises.

2. The game has the largeness of spirit and the generous gameplay of "Riven," but spices up the environments with fantastical monsters and heroes reminiscent of a mythological movie epic (a bit like "Dragonheart" meets "Jason and the Argonauts"). Although at heart a traditional adventure, in some places Beyond Atlantis almost feels like an action game. In fact there are some action sequences, though you usually don't have to click madly with the mouse to control the outcome -- you've already established the way the action will end with your wits (or, um, lack thereof).

3. Both the graphics and the music are unforgettable. Ancient Ireland is serenely beautiful, with haunting pipe melodies playing in the background. And the Shambhala sky islands are as strikingly surreal as the floating palace in "Obsidian". Sometimes in adventure games I am surprised by the solution of a certain puzzle, but here I was consistently surprised by the imaginative colors, shapes, sounds, and creatures in the alternate worlds. And did I mention that the cut-scenes are dazzling? This game really goes all out to get absolutely everything right.

CONS --- 1. I encountered an autoplay bug that caused the Installation program to load whenever I inserted Disk 1. To get out, you just hit cancel and exit setup, and then you can access the game (I hope this problem is fixed in the U.S. version).

2. The character movements during dialog sequences are rather odd-looking. Also, a warning: you can't always trust the dialog icons. Occasionally, when the icon is greyed-out, there is still dialog available. If you are stuck, try clicking again on all of the icons.

3. Beyond Atlantis has its fair share of puzzles than can be solved just by messing with stuff (easy puzzles -- my favorites!); however, there are a few puzzles in this game that require close observation and/or inspired, creative thought. Some of the puzzles are especially innovative (the rainbow bridge, for example), which makes it hard to find quick solutions for them (unless, of course, you don't mind consulting a walkthrough). Further, the game really could do a better job of letting you know whether you are progressing correctly, or if you are pursuing a dead end.

BOTTOM LINE --- This is a magnificent game with tremendous breadth of appeal -- an instant classic.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Incredible games from Dreamcatcher!, August 19, 2000

By 

Herve Bronnimann (New York City, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beyond Atlantis (CD-ROM)

I've introduced my wife to computer gaming. She used to hate all the shoot and kill. I gave her a copy of Riven, and Myst, and her life changed forever. We had so much fun playing those. Now, we try a few games I thought we could like, and Beyond Atlantis is definitely one of those we loved. We've played Crystal Key and Lotus Spring, and Beyond Atlantis combines the best of both.

The graphics are stunning, Cryo's 3D engine (found in all the dreamcatcher games I've seen so far) is very good. One little regret: you can bypass the animation by clicking in the middle of it, but you cannot bypass the loading time with the cdrom. That prevents fast moving through sequences.

All the worlds in Atlantis are beautifully crafted, and the underlying story line (you have to perform good actions to tilt the balance between good and evil in the world) is very well rendered. You won't regret it, just for the story! And unlike Crystal Key which had such a disappointing ending (a screen of ``Congratulations''), the reward in Atlantis is high. Some ideas are so creative, you will be Alice in Wonderland. And the final sequence blew us away! Welcome to Paradise!

The puzzles are very challenging. Interestingly, we managed to pull through the Maya world without hints. But we did need a walkthrough in China, for the disc/bridge puzzle. Anybody who can explain the solution, please email! You should expect to be able to solve the whole game in a week or two. We got stuck on the rainbow bridge because we didn't know about rotating the tiles. It's not in the manual. So don't hesitate to try clicking everywhere. You will never die or be penalized. Everything can be reversed and replayed. All the sequences.

On the negative side, the manual is very skinny, and it's hard to know what we're doing wrong. The punchline in this kind of games is TALK TO EVERYONE ALWAYS. They sometimes find new things to talk about, after something happens (and you don't always notice, so you might assume you've already gotten all the juice out of them). Another subtle thing is that the game always tries to make some kind of connection so things don't turn random. But it's hard to notice, and sometimes the connections are very tenuous. When something goes wrong, you have to go back and try to make sense of everything. Little things like ``I could have helped you but..'' in a dialogue are supposed to let you know you did something not right a couple of steps before. Try and find out what! The game always allow for the brute-force solution (try all combinations) but it's always skilfully at the edge of impractical (granted, you could try 400 combinations, but it's faster to think!). Lastly, you can get some hints by the color of the cursor, but as another reviewer regrets, the manual doesn't tell you what the colors means. Simply be alerted by a change in the color of the cursor.

I am looking forward to probe into the Sacred Amulet, the latest Dreamcatcher. If you don't want to wait, Atlantis is yours! You must try it!

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars too few clues, November 5, 2000

By 

A Customer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beyond Atlantis (CD-ROM)

It's too bad Dreamcatcher Games' games all have the exact same gameplay. I think they're trying to re-create the style of Myst, but they don't realize that there is a subtle art to making a game like this. The first rule they violate is to make the game possible to figure out on your own. They provide almost no clues for any of the puzzles (It's impossible to figure out where to use the crystal ball in each place unless you try every single screen). They make it so difficult you pretty much have to use a walkthrough. I was able to get through Myst without any help, but I didn't last five minutes in Beyond Atlantis.

The only good part about the game is the way it looks. All the worlds look amazing (which is good, because you'll be spending a lot of time in each one).

Unless you like to spend countless hours trying to figure out puzzles with absolutely no clues at your disposal, you should avoid this one.