Customer Reviews

Chronicles of Mystery: The Scorpio Ritual

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is a point-and-click adventure. It is set in the Mediterranean island of Malta. During the game you visit the sister island of Gozo as well as Istanbul and Rome. As a visitor to Malta, I can confirm the setting was spot on.

The game installed fine, it needs the DVD in the drive during play. Control is entirely mouse-driven and worked well.

Graphics are well done, with many animations throughout. A more recent graphics card is required to get the best advantage (shadows etc.) My old FX5200 could not manage the latter, but the game played otherwise without a hitch. Cut scenes were well done.

Puzzles were reasonably well integrated and logical. Most are inventory orientated with the odd manipulation. There were no sliders or mazes. Difficulty level is easy to medium. A walkthrough was not required. [ I did need to do a screen grab to enhance the graphics on one of the puzzles (lower fireplace), I believe the cause was my monitor which is too dark. Subsequent examination of a walkthrough shows a much clearer view on a different monitor.]

The story is perhaps the weakest link. A touch old hat, never-the-less it carried one through the game. Niece arrives in Malta, uncle missing, start exploring. Ancient artifacts, temples and documents lie before you.

The sound side is well done, both ambient sounds and background music.

The game is not conversation heavy.

The company that released "Art of Murder" is responsible for this game too. Whereas in that game the lead character is slightly annoying, saying "that was stupid" when clicking an incorrect object, in this game a more friendly "trial and error method they say" is the response.

The game is linear and controlled so that you do not leave an area before all the puzzles have been resolved.

Playing time is roughly 15 hours, which is a tad short. A couple more locations, or expanded existing locations would have been welcome.

Overall a nicely made game, enjoyable to play.

A few days ago I discovered this game was the next installment from City Interactive, the same company that gave us The Art of Murder. Having made that discovery I immediately ordered the game. I played The Art of Murder not too long ago and overall I did enjoy it, but I honestly have to admit it was a typical game today that can be catagorized with the analagy to movies released directly to DVD rather than to the big screen. The more important reason behind this 'impulsive buy' was to answer the question, that is, do game producers listen to their critics?

I suspect that most of you who are taking a few seconds to read this probably didn't bother with Art of Murder. That's OK, since you probably read the reviews on this and other AG sites and have been able realize the consensus.
Well, I've been playing The Scorpio Ritual for a few hours now, long enough to make a few comments of comparison to Art of Murder, in no particular order of course.

The main character Sylvie: The first time heard her speak I thought, OMG that's Charity James from GK3 (which I recently finished almost) It turns out it's not but the voices are virtually identical. The talent far exceeds that of Nicole from AofM. Gone are the condescending sneers like "what would Nate do," or "that was stupid" when you make an incorrect inventory choice. Replaced by encouraging "no can do," or "think, Sylvie think." Games where you dislike the main character probably just don't sell. I have to say that Sylvie is a bit more err, feminine, I mean if you're going to use a young female character she should look that way.

The environment: Outdoor scenes are bright and sunny versus dark and gloomy. Although the quality of the graphics is average in both games, their is a huge increase in the level of detail in TSR. Lest I forget, the sound track is gorgeous, I have the sound level turned up higher than dialog on this one.

The story: Can't say yet but I hope they get that right too.
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I finished this game a couple of days ago and just wanted to add a few more comments lest this game and any future endeavors by the developer go unnoticed. Sorry, I should have gotten to this sooner. I never intended to write a review, I prefer to leave that to the Pro's, although I know what they are going to say.....low resolution (1024 x 768 should be the minimum in this age of graphics performance), lack of facial animation...

I have to say that TSR is probably one of the least difficult AG's I've played. I never even thought about a walkthrough for this one. That said, if you're trying to interest your youngster in AG's , or if you yourself are a beginner, or if you've just in the mood for something a bit less frustrating (GK3 comes to mind), than this game fits the bill. The story itself does move right along, although with a few side tasks added for good measure. Helping your neighbors does have its rewards.

Supporting theme background is based on a few historic events based on the era of the Knights Templar and the transfer of power to a new Order of Knights Hospitallier. You learn fairly early in the plot what you basically need to do to solve the mystery which I think is a plus in this case. Some documentation to examine/read will be found during the course of the game but not so much as to become a chore.

The puzzles are mostly inventory/logic based although there is one environmental manipulation and one timed sequence as well. Rest assured, they are manageable. Also, rest assured again, Sylvie can't be mortally demised, (although she is abducted, sort of). Now I hate to be nitpicky but I think it would be an improvement if the writers did one thing. Sylvie does a lot of things right and when that happens her statements of self congratulations are a bit long and sometimes a little corny. Something like "Excellent!" or "Got it" would be fine. Not a huge deal, but certainly something that could be smoothed over a bit.

The ending? Not what I quite expected but when does it ever?

Getting back to the beginning, if City Interactive can continue to improve their games this consistently, they could be on a role.

In Conclusion: If Sylvie ever goes on another quest, I'm sure I'll be
right by her side.


Enjoy

This game has an interesting story and fun to play. Great graphics (well done!) and good voice acting. Some humor, love the parrot. :) If you are looking for a mystery/adventure game without frustrating puzzles & mazes then this is the game to get.

No long or silly dialogues, no running around trying to figure out where to go next or what to do since you can't leave an area 'til you find every item & complete the task or puzzle.

Installation was fine, having antivirus program turned off. The manual & 'read me' file gives more information if anyone has trouble installing. This game functioned perfectly and if City Interactive continues to make games like this and Art of Murder (AofM 2 coming soon), I will gladly buy them.

Score of 4 only because it was a bit short but this purchase was one I did not regret. It's nice to find a game that was made so well and enjoyable to play.

The scene graphics are really nice, music score is good and doesn't become intrusive. I wish it anbd the sound effects were surround sound, I picked up a Logitech G35 surround sound headphone set and games like Mafia, Myst, etc., all are really amazing in surround sound mode.

Bad: Constantly going back and forth between different locations and between cities and countries gets really repetitive and boring. Even when you double click and get her to run, it just boggs down the game play... and they really use the same places over and over. Most of the conversations are good, but some get really corny. Most of the puzzles are logical and can be solved.. others get really frustrating and are way beyond a logical solution.. they are just frustrating and involve trial and error over and over to see what weird assortment of putting different objects together will result in, ie, taking a watering can spout and combining it with wire that must be cut first to patch some sort of fish net is just not logical, wouldn't work in real life and sort of stupid. The ending of the "movie" is very abrupt, non climatic and a let down, sort of a take off of Indiana Jones and it just doesn't work very well.

Great: For me, the biggest enjoyment is the beautifully done rendering of the city buildings with their small animations of birds, swinging signs, laundry, etc., and the excavation site with the waves crashing below is top notch.. they all give a wonderful sense of life to the environment and it's fun to just wander and look at it all.

This game is similar to Syberia, but just can't compete to Syberia which has better graphics and a much better, more interesting story line.

Bought this for my sister, who really liked the Longest Journey series. She liked this game overall, but felt it was too short, with not enough time for character development. She also wasn't raving about the ending. She finished it in two days with roughly three or four sittings.

Very nice graphics and musical score. The game is exceptionally easy to install and play. One of the most well made adventure games, technically, that I've ever seen.

Would recommend it if you want something easy to play over a weekend.

"Chronicles of Mystery: The Scorpio Ritual" is the first in the Chronicles of Mystery series, and it's a pretty good start to a hopefully long-running series. It contains a good story, awesome graphics, and decent voice acting. However, amongst these good points, there are a few things to improve on. Here is my synopsis of the game:

Story - You play as Sylvie Leroux who just received a call from her uncle saying that he discovered something that may help her in her effort to prove a theory that she is working on. She takes off for his apartment in Malta (an island south of Italy) in order to see what he has uncovered. Unfortunately, when she arrives, he is missing, and nobody has seen him in two days. Sylvie sets out to find out where her uncle is and what his immense discovery is.

Graphics - The graphics are fantastic in this game. Now, the cutscenes are very good in themselves, but the best part graphically is the backgrounds! They are vibrant with the perfect colors and shadows, and they display wonderful aspects of detail. The characters, on the other hand, aren't the best I've ever seen, but they are definitely good enough and work just fine with the wonderful backgrounds.

Sound - The music included with this mystery game isn't particularly exciting or interesting to listen to. It actually tends to be boring. Most likely, while playing through the game you won't notice it much. As for the voice acting, it is very well done. Some of the characters do tend to sound alike, but all the voice actors/actresses do a good job with the characters they are portraying.

Gameplay - This is a third person point-and-click adventure game. You, of course, control Sylvie as she interacts with objects and talks with characters. There are about four main locations in the game, and within in each location there are several places you can go to. There are about 15 characters that you will interact with overall, and while their conversations are usually not that boring, you do have the option to make the conversations go faster by skipping most of what they have to say. The puzzles in the game are almost always inventory based, and although they are usually simple to figure out, occasionally, there will be one that just doesn't make much sense. The only hint system in the game is the ability to put a question mark on anything that you can interact with in a particular scene, which can be quite helpful sometimes. As a final note, I just want to agree with the other reviewers that said that the ending was hasty and just thrown at the end. Without giving any spoilers, it just kind of confused the story and didn't give a definite ending to the game.

Length - It took me about 5-6 hours to complete the game, and I never had to resort to a walkthrough.

All in all, this is a really fun play that is relatively easy to play and finish. It has an engaging story (although not well wrapped up)and fun gameplay elements; I look forward to playing the next game in the series.

Slow moving third person adventure with interminable, meaningless, disconnected dialog. Not to mention, you have to click on extra things that have little to do with the game and listen to Sylvie's boring comments about them. You can left-click through the dialogs to make them go a little faster, but I never figured out how to skip through her monologs.

The graphics were stunning and the music was beautiful, if you could hear it through all the talking. Even when you are just interacting with objects - if you miss, or if you do something a little bit wrong, Sylvie has a bunch of stock lines to let you know you're doin' it wrong - "Think, Sylvie, think", "We need an alternate solution", "No can do", some nonsense about "the trial and error approach" and others. She just never shuts up.

Navigation was intuitive, but slow. You can make Sylvie run, but she's no Prefontaine. There was also a puzzle with a timed element that frustrated me because she was so slow to respond to my clicks.

All in all, it's not the worst game I have played, but it's a long way from the best.

unless you like games that you can beat in 1 day, without your brain ever getting warm, i would pass...the graphics are good ..the cut scenes are dull and short, nothing to go ooh and ahhh about...the music is louder than the dialoge ....the whole game consists of 4 locations...the puzzles are a joke... the game looks like art of murder..but shorter..easier puzzles..same old silly story of my uncle is missing and i must find this artifact thingy ... boring...been there done that ...unless you are totally desperate for an adventure game i would pass...i felt like i got ripped off...way too easy and short..not one puzzle that got my brain humming unfortunatly... there is much better out there...the game worked smooth, but there isnt much i will remember about this game...i would pass...this comes from an adventurer that loves games like tunguska, black mirror, dracula origins, jack keane, immortals of terra, etc..

I bought this game, and yes its fun, and the story is good. (yea, ther is a but a coming), BUT...it is WAY too easy. I started it lastnite, and played a few hours and I finished it tonight. the ending is abrupt and offers no satisfaction. If you are a beginner at games you will love it, but a mystery game lover who has been around a little while...way too easy. BUT...it is worth the money I spent, I just wish it would have offered me more.

I enjoyed playing this game and I wish it was a little longer. The ending was better than a lot of the adventure games I've played.