Customer Reviews

Dead Reefs

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

 

 

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.

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.

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.

I must admit that when I first began playing "Dead Reefs" I was really frustrated with the set-up of the controls, as I am used to the general "point & click" type game & this is definitely not that! However once I re-set the controls to something a bit easier for me to remember & spent time getting used to them, I became instantly engrossed in the story line and had a great time solving the mystery of Dead Reefs.

In this game you play Sir Amadey Finvinero, an investigator who was sent to Dead Reefs to determine the true cause of death for the Baron's son - was it really an accident or was it murder? And if this young man was murdered, who was behind it and why? Could it be related to the curse - a curse the locals believe was put on Dead Reefs due to its' past, when pirates would lure passing ships onto the reefs and loot their cargo as the ships & their inhabitants would sink to their deaths?

In order to solve this mystery you'll find yourself exploring mansions, underground passageways, crypts, grave-yards, old ships and more.

Overall, I thought the story-line & graphics were great and, other than the frustration with the controls, I found this to be a really fun and engrossing game to play. I would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys mystery/adventure games - once you get used to the controls, it is definitely a worthwhile game to play.

Do yourself a favor and skip this game. I installed it on three different recent PC's and could never get it to play correctly, even after downloading and configuring a suite of codecs. If you press the spacebar multiple times on the introductory blank screen, you eventually get to the game. The keyboard controls are crude and will rapidly try your patience; the mouse is not supported!!! There are too many great adventure games on the market for you to waste your time and money on this one.

I tried to run this on a vista pc and it wouldn't even install. I tried to run on windows xp and it installed but would not run. I wouldn't buy this game because there is a good chance it won't even run!

To date I have been unable to play this game with XP or Vista. Though my systems meet the requirements, I have had major issues with the graphics that make the game unplayable. Certain layers of the graphics white out so that I cannot ever see the full scene for more than a few seconds. I searched for a patch to correct this but have found none. Otherwise, I think I would have really enjoyed this game once I got used to the navigation. Seems like it would be great if only I could see it.

After reading a review (not on Amazon), I had great hopes for this game. Those hopes were dashed with the failure of the software. There was no way to lift the board on the porch if you did not follow the correct sequence of the game. Even going back to a saved game did not help as I was unsure how far back to go. Also in the hallway, my character failed to go into a room as I did not get the sequence right again. This game was deleted from my system, UNFINISHED, which irritates me after spending almost $30 for it. But the biggest let down was the failure of anyone at their website to take responsibility to answer my emails for help. With the varied game interfaces available today, this type of mess is exactly why people are going to other video options. So my advice Dreamcatcher is get it together and produce quality games. I cannot believe that your beta testers let this one off the bench. For the money, Sierra was the best and I still own many of their games because with all the new technology, they still rule. If anyone wants to play some great games get Shivers 1 & 2, Lighthouse:The Dark Being, Torrin's Passage and Rama. They play as good now as they did about 10yrs ago.

Underrated game due to terrible controls and buggy graphics. If you can get past that, there is a really good game here, easily worth the cheap price it is going for (even more so if you get it in the Adventure Anniversary Pack that comes with four other decent games - Keepsake was great).

Although the title suggests that this is some type of pirate game, it is more of a third person murder investigation in the 19th century by a British officer who looks suspiciously like an older version of Johnny Depp (similar to his role in From Hell). Some of the music is amazing, especially the intro that also plays when in the main village. The graphics are good, when you can see them. Unfortunately for me, there were several scenes that took place in a white wasteland, such as the very beginning and the very end, because some of the images wouldn't load. There is even one place, when trying to activate a bridge, that I could not see the puzzle and had to complete it with a walk through using trial and error. Additionally, the final solution may also require the assistance of a walk through since some versions of the game apparently have the wrong solution at the end (no joke).

As for the controls, it is all through the keyboard. And though it gets easier as you go, it can still be a pain to maneuver. In general I would give a game like this a bad review, but it really seems like someone put a lot of effort into this then got screwed by budgeting in the end. If it wasn't for this, Dead Reefs would be up there with the best adventure games offered in the last few years.

I liked this game,what little of it I could play. I did not have any trouble installing it on Windows XP. When I started to play the game at the beginning the graphics were so messed up that all I got was flickers of a white screen. I countinued to try to play and finally got my character to the mansion where the graphics was good the whole time until the scene switched to the cliffs then the graphics were so bad I could not even see the character to move him where he was supposed to go. I tried installing on Windows Vista. It installed find but could not play after install. I would still like to finish this game but I just gave up on it. I thought I had a defective CD until I read some of the other reviews. I think the company should do something about this game which I have e-mailed them three times and no answer as of yet.