Dead Reefs

by Dreamcatcher

Product Features

• A fascinating and mysterious adventure that takes place in the 18th century and spreads over several decades, combined with an absorbing murder investigation
• Play as a detective and defy unnatural events, solve challenging riddles and risk your life to defeat a vicious killer
• Truly non-linear gameplay in which your actions determine unique outcomes and endings
• Full 3D environments using Virtools technology
• Stunning graphics, real-life characters, and gorgeous animations

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000GCA5NY
• Item Weight: 4 ounces
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: June 26, 2007
• Average Customer Review: 2.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #23,150 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

Product Description

The island of Dead Reefs was infamous for the wicked pirate inhabitants that would lure passing ships into the reefs slaughtering their crews and looting their cargo as the ships would sink. One stormy evening while on a fateful mission to a neighboring island an ancient order of monks decided to set anchor on Dead Reefs to take refuge only to fall victim to the vile pirates led by the corrupt island ruler Baron DeSantra. After murdering the ship s captain and searching his body the Baron would discover an old relic far more evil than any of them could ever imagine!Since that fateful night a horrifying madness has been infecting the minds of the island residents resulting in a murder every nine years. Believing that the massacre of the monks had cursed their island the residents ended their pirating ways but the deaths continued! Days before the anticipated 11th death was to occur a descendant of the wicked Baron DeSantra mysteriously died. You are the ingenious investigator Amadeo Finvinero and you have been sent by the King to discover the source of all the evil plaguing the island of Dead Reefs!FEATURES:Dynamically evolving events will keep the player entertained for hours Player choices will affect the advancement and outcome of the game Unique devices and contraptions used for traveling within the game Atmospheric sound music and visuals will immerse gamers into the story Characters have real-life personalities and unique mannerisms System Requirements:Platform: Windows 98 / Me / XP / 2000 Media: CD-ROMFormat: WIN 98ME2000XP Genre: ENTERTAINMENT Rating: T UPC: 625904522504 Manufacturer No: PCO52250MB

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

89 of 90 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Whatever happened to point and click?, July 8, 2007

By 

Kostya_2000 - See all my reviews

= Fun:2.0 out of 5 stars 

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Dead Reefs (CD-ROM)

WARNING: You cannot use your mouse (or a joystick) in this game at all. The game's navigation is strictly keyboard-driven, and it can be really awkward. If you play adventure games because you dislike action/arcade games where the emphasis is on finger dexterity, then you may want to avoid this one.

My biggest disappointment with this game was that I spent more time correcting my own navigational errors than I did solving puzzles or figuring out next steps. It was especially irritating when the scene contained many objects, like barrels or crates or lampposts, because they would stop me dead in my tracks if I was too close to them. I can't tell you how annoying it was to have to turn 90 degrees, move forward past the object, then turn again just so I could start moving in the direction I really wanted to go.

The game defaults to pressing "W" to move forward, "A" to move left, etc., but at least you can change these settings if you're not comfortable navigating with your left hand. I ended up setting mine to use the number pad, since I couldn't use the up/down/left/right cursor arrows. The cursor arrows are reserved for manipulating objects, accessing the inventory, and talking to other characters. (Not allowing your keyboard's designated movement keys actually to be used for the purpose of movement -- yet another frustrating and senseless bit of game design.)

Another aggravation was that the game had default perspectives that it would jump to after I stopped moving. It would swing around dizzyingly, in order to reset my view of the scene. What was annoying about this was that, all too often, the view was reset to a perspective that had me looking down at the back of my own character's head, blocking out everything else so I couldn't immediately see where I wanted to move next. Eventually, I sort of got the hang of it and was able to move more quickly, but it was always awkward and inefficient.

Unfortunately, the problems with the keyboard interface weren't only related to navigation. Whenever I had to interact with objects, I couldn't do it unless my body was in exactly the right spot and turned in exactly the right direction. Some of the hot spots were so sensitive that if I even twitched in the wrong direction, I was unable to interact with the object in question. For this reason, I had to use the game's search function almost continually. The search function allowed me to see all of the objects I could interact with in an area. Without it, I would have missed many objects because, even though I stopped right next to them, I still didn't manage to trigger the hot spots. The problem with using a search function, though, is that it takes away some of the challenge of the game. Much of the fun of adventure games comes from observing the scene and trying to figure out what's useful and meaningful. Using the search function pretty much hand-feeds you the clues.

As far as game play was concerned, there were only a few puzzles and they were pretty simple. More emphasis was placed on figuring out where to go, whom to talk to, and how to use the inventory. The conversations with other characters were usually short and relevant, and when I did have to speak to someone again, it wasn't too bad, because there was an interactive map that allowed me to jump between locations quickly. The graphics weren't impressive -- not even close to games like Syberia, Aura, Longest Journey, Still Life, etc. -- and the music would swell into a clashing, horror-movie score at the oddest, most inappropriate times. The story itself was engaging enough...an 18th-century murder mystery with supernatural elements (ghosts, witches, demons) and a bit of alchemy thrown in. Near the end, the game was affected by the choices I made (e.g., the game continued for a much longer time depending on whom I declared to be the murderer). It was very easy to die in this game, and there was no recovery, so it was necessary to save often. Also, the ending was heavily affected by how the final puzzle pieces were placed.

A final comment regarding the game's difficulty: One thing that surprised me was how much hand-holding there was. For example, I would go into a new area, look around, find some clues or useful objects, and then decide to go elsewhere. But when I tried to leave by the same door/path, my character would say to himself, "I should stay here and investigate more...perhaps I missed something." The door wouldn't open again until I had seen all possible clues in that area. Frankly, I thought this made the game too easy. However, you might appreciate it if you generally find adventure games too difficult or if you rely heavily on walkthroughs.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Controls, July 24, 2007

By 

S. Sullivan - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:2.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Dead Reefs (CD-ROM)

I love adventure games and when I saw this game I had to have it!! There are few adventure games out there and you look forward to any new releases,but this game disappointed me. The overall game play was fine but the keyboard controls ruined this game for me. I have been unable to finish it because of this reason. I have spent more time trying to move my character around then actual game play. You try so hard to maneuver correctly that you lose out on the joy of playing! The set up for the key control does not even make sense. The camera angles that are used do not help either. Why they chose keyboard controls I will never know. If they could fix that the game would be great. So if you are use to a mouse this game is not for you.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars They need to play test this one a bit, December 29, 2007

By 

Kevin Kammueller (Shakopee, MN United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Dead Reefs (CD-ROM)

Got this for Christmas....even then I think I paid too much. The graphics are very nice and the music fits the game very well as do the incidental sounds. Thta's about all that is good in this one.

The keyboard controls are okay. You can set them to your own settings if you want, but no mouse control in this one. People in Russia must not use mice. Being an older gamer, I still remember games like this, and I just set the controls to my Doom settings and it was no problem. Others not familiar with this type of movement will take a little while to get used to it, but it isnt that bad.

The real problem with the movement is the camera angles. There are many places in the game where the perspective given makes it almost impossible to find what you are looking for. Sometimes you can move the character around and get a better perspective and sometimes you can't. This gets very annoying.

There are also the usual problems where I found myself walking on the bottom of the ocean, and walking down a hallway and suddenly finding myself on a lower of higher floor. This is pretty normal for computer games, but there seem to be a lot of these.

The game play also has some problems. The team that wrote the game are Russian, and i am guessing they had a couple problems with the translation. One puzzle tells you to make a table "stronger" when in fact you really just want to make it "heavier". The solution to the final puzzle also makes no sense. If you do what the clues tell you to do, you do not get the right answer. Maybe I missed something there, but following the clues in this game usually leads to a desired result, but not in this case.

Overall, the game is relatively easy to understand and follow along with. There were only 3 places in the game where I was left with no idea what to do to solve a puzzle. The graphics are beautiful. The sound is nice. But, it is all the intangibles that make this one a mess. No mouse control. Terrible camera angles combined with awkward keyboard controls. Sloppy programming where clues do not fit puzzles and verbal clues are just misleading.