Byzantine: The Betrayal

by Interplay

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00003IEG5
• Media: CD-ROM
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #32,903 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

GameSpot

I am of two minds regarding Byzantine: The Betrayal. Initially, the fuzzy photographs, lousy acting, and mediocre writing turned me off. And the game's gimmick - in which you must tour virtual reconstructions of historical locations - seemed a bit weak. But as I continued my way through this murder mystery with its hi-tech angle and foreign intrigue, it began to grow on me. Not enough to get an unqualified endorsement, but enough to recommend it to those looking for a challenging and informative adventure.

You play a journalist who travels to Istanbul to help a college buddy solve a potentially dangerous mystery. You arrive only to be met by local police who say your friend is not as innocent as you think and that by implication you are under suspicion of smuggling valuable archaeological artifacts out of Turkey. The cops let you off with an admonition to keep your nose clean and out of their business which, of course, you ignore by immediately rummaging through your friend's apartment.

Gameplay takes place in a collection of connected 360-degree photographic panoramas. You navigate using the mouse - a la Zork Nemesis - but the image quality is not up to the high standards seen in other games of the kind. Typically there are a few hot spots and inventory items in each location. Most are simple to find and apply, but there are a few truly convoluted, illogical, and marginally unfair problems in Byzantine, like a door keypad combination, an ordered arrangement of artifacts on a collection of circles, and the final escape from secret ancient underground passageways.

That virtual reality element is critical to the gameplay and storyline. Within the storyline, the VR program analyzes ancient objects and "extrapolates" information from them to create virtual versions of ancient monuments, temples, and other significant locations. It also predicts where undiscovered artifacts, believed by archaeologists to exist, can be found in unexplored areas of these ancient locations. As the story unfolds, it becomes apparent someone is using that information to unearth those objects to sell on the black market. They then erase them from the computer's memory so no one knows of their existence.

As a gameplay gimmick, you get to move through renderings of several fascinating ancient structures. As you wander you find objects which you use to solve problems and open more unexplored areas. This is where the puzzling gets problematic. For instance, it's clear you need to create a virtual version of an ancient hoist to lift a heavy block, but assembling the hoist parts in the proper order is darn near impossible.

Between your virtual journeys, you encounter many Turks played by, we're told in the news release, "professional famous actors." They may be famous in Turkey or, more likely, in their own minds but, in reality they're substandard. And the dialogues follow the standard interactive adventure game click-on-question-listen-to-answer process with virtually no interactivity or true branching.

To complete Byzantine you'll need to travel to multiple locations within Istanbul and speak with several dozen characters. Knowing where to go or to whom to speak would be a problem were it not for all the built-in coincidences. Just going to locations as they open on the map usually means you'll encounter people critical to gameplay who are having loud conversations in English that you happen to overhear.

Istanbul's clash and blending of Muslim and Christian religions with modern and conservative cultures is fascinating, and the game captures some of that, though it could have gone a bit further to develop the atmosphere. While it suffers many problems of its genre, the story is fascinating and it holds numerous challenges - and you can't help but come away from Byzantine with an appreciation for Turkey's critical role in the growth of civilization and its unique place in modern society.--Jeff Sengstack
--Copyright ©1998 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of GameSpot is prohibited.

Product Description

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars makes you feel like you are in Istanbul, December 10, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Byzantine: The Betrayal (CD-ROM)

I am from Istanbul and I found the interactive aspect of this game to be very successful. It made me feel like being at every one of these locations in Istanbul. The display of architecture, the introduction of customs and values and the interaction with the folks on the street was very well done. Also the plot was very skillfully interwoven with many challenging puzzles.

I specially recommended this game to those of you who are interested in going to Turkey and visiting Istanbul. It does bring the adventurous tourist experience to you as well as giving you background information about various civilizations and historical eras in Anatolia, such as Roman, Byzantium, Ottoman while introducing you different aspects of the daily life in today's Istanbul. In that respect, it is also great fun for people who like archeology, history and mystery.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I want more!, May 24, 2001

By 

Lynn S. Hendricks "Wordmama" (Carson City, NV USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Byzantine: The Betrayal (CD-ROM)

An excellent game, and a fine way to tour without jetlag or bad food. This is one I play repeatedly without getting tired of it -- there's a lot to see and do. It really does make you feel like you've actually visited the sites, something I (as a woman) wouldn't be allowed to do in real life. And the story was believable, exciting, and engaging, with lots of human interaction interspersed with object puzzles. Wish there were more in this series! though I suppose they must be incredibly expensive to make.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars travel,learn,and be a detective, June 28, 2003

By 

Richard H. White (hilton head island, s.c.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Byzantine: The Betrayal (CD-ROM)

Byzantine/Betrayal is as good as it gets. The locations are accurate (I've been to Turkey several times) the local colour is authentic and the actors (most of whom appear to be Turks) do a fantastic job.
The story rivals anything you'll find in Gabriel Knight, The Longest Journey, Zork or Myst. And those games have been my favourites by far and... I think Byzantine may be the best of the lot, overall.
One becomes truly immersed in the atmosphere, always mysterious, slightly threatening. While uncovering the mystery of the murder one also uncovers many mysteries of the ancient civilizations which preceeded today's Turkey. Much (accurate) historical/archeological information to be gained along this marvelous, mysterious trip.