Customer Reviews

Journey to the Center of the Earth (Jewel Case)

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

 

 

I wanted to like this game, the story line is decent and the graphics are good but navigating the screens is painful. They have taken what could have been a good game and ruined it by not paying attention to some basic navigation problems. The cursor indicates that you can move in a direction by showing shoe prints when you hold the cursor over a hot spot. But in this game the hot spots are tiny or in a lot of cases missing. This makes something that should be simple, moving around the screens, very frustrating. In one screen after 5 minutes of searching I couldn't find any hot spots that would allow me to move forward into the market area, even though it was evident that it was where I needed to go. So I gave up and started randomly clicking in the screen, which eventually allowed me to move forward, but again, no hot spots to indicate where I could move to from that position. So more random clicking to try to get to one of the booths in the market. After having to do this to move several times the screen finally changed to show the market from a different angle and at that point I had navigational hot spots again. The tiny hot spots also caused a problem with figuring out what items I was supposed to pick up or look at. It caused me to miss several items in certain screens. And in a few cases the hot spot was completely off the item altogether, causing some confusion as to which item I was to pick up or look at. Another annoying problem was that often my character would stand right in front of what I needed to look at or touch. So I had to keep clicking the screen around her to try to move her out of the way in order to get to the item in question. So unless you have an infinite amount of time and patience, try some other game.

I love adventure games like Syberia, The Longest Journey, Aura, Return to Mysterious Island, etc....and had thought this game would be close in perspective. Actually, the story line is good, the graphics ok, the scenery and music alright....but this game has so many BUGS, HOT SPOT errors, and programming problems that it makes it extremely aggravating to play. It's a true shame because the game had promising appeal, some fun characters, and a nice feel to it overall. Still, this game will leave you plundering so many times, that you'll have to use constant hints or walk throughs to find out why you seem stuck. Most of the time, it's because you cannot navigate to find something, or haven't found a hot spot that isn't indicated at all (it was left out of the programming). For example, to get to the Pharmacy, you have to go off to the left side of the screen in order to move right, and it may flash to the pharmacy or may not sometimes. Also, the hardest puzzle is the totem pole sound puzzle, because if you make ANY error, the game does not reset. So this game has to be saved prior to that puzzle even being started. There are other buggy things, like near the end when you're supposed to have a certain item and you actually have it but it's not seen until you speak with a character that has nothing to do with that item at all. All in all, it's a shame the game was not tested thoroughly before dispersing to the public. If they had made the fixes, it would have been a great game and possibly rated between 8.5 and 7.5. Right now, it's a low rating at 3 just because of the errors.

I am a big adventure game fan - thought this one might be along the lines of Syberia - WRONG! This game had an interesting premise but was absolutely painful to play even when consulting a walkthrough every other minute. The character was hard to navigate, the puzzles completely non-intuitive (who would think to get rid of a t-rex, you had to mix a leaf, twine, paint, and blackened pear to make fireworks which then you had to launch out of a hollow log???) AHHHHHHH! Also because of the super rigid gameplay, you would be unable to do one thing without completing some other menial task, so you would be hunting like crazy for the one little thing you didn't do - and this is after following the walkthrough verbatim. Please play only in the event of a pandemic and you are trapped in your house for weeks and have no other means of entertainment.

I bought this game because the title and genre intriqued me. However, I found it to be a challenge, too much so, for my taste.
Even with the "Walkthroughs" to help me, I still had problems with getting from one puzzle to the next, and Im not a brainiac,
but Ive been playing computer games enough to know, this one is too perplexing to finish. Im not a fan of point and click, and I wish more people would clearly state in theyre reviews wether or not a game is, but the graphics and idea of this game won me over. Controlling the game was another issue. The keys I was to
push over certain items would not budge the item, and I have 4 computers, so it wasnt my keyboard!

I usually don't play these type of adventure games, but it did sound interesting. However, I found out very early on in the game that you have to print out the manual to start the game moving forward. The cursor with the hand that is suppose to allow you to collect items, did not work all the time. I was unable to understand what I was suppose to do inside the caves since none of the items were working.

Very disappointed in the game. I think that the maker of the game should try having people play this game before releasing it to the public, or at least test it and make sure that it works.

I enjoyed this game at times, but it aggravated me to have to rely on the walkthtough for some of the puzzles. Those I had help on would have taken weeks to figure out and the final answer so obscure that it would simply have been trial and error, no logical outcome. Also some of the items you had to combine to do stuff did not seem logical either. If you already have a knife, why would you have to combine 2 or 3 other things to do what the knife could do? Dealing with the cursor was difficult also for the same reasons mentioned in the other reviews. I would recommend this game to someone who doesn't mind relying on walkthroughs and has infinite patience. The story was interesting but loses a lot when it's so hard to play it out yourself.

Although a newer game, the interface is similar to the early 1990's adventure games where nothing can really be figured out. Dont waste your money on this!!! take it and go buy the movie (several old versions) or pick up a copy of Rick Wakeman's Journey to the Center of the Earth - Its much more satisfying!

Don't waste your time and money on this game-it's not worth it. The story idea is interesting but it's hard to navigate (it's easy to miss a location) and a lot of the tasks you're required to do don't make sense (I couldn't have made it past the opening scenes without the walkthrough, embarrassingly enough)I got bored a third of the way through and quit. It's a good idea, but it didn't turn into a good game.

there were some cool graphics here, but other than that, it was the worst game ever. i agree with one of the other reviewers when they said "have the creaters of this game people ever played a game before?" Put it this way- i had to use the walkthrough for every single move i made. i solved the puzzles on my own, and some i thoroughly enjoyed, but the puzzles alone were not worth it. if you do decide to get this game, find a walkthrough online immediately and just use it to guide you to the puzzles (if you are like me and just enjoy tough stand-alone puzzles). But if you want a good story line and good game play, this will be your worste nightmare. navigations is unbearable at times. i got stuck numerous times as well. had to go back to a saved spot. it crashed on my a couple times too, and i lost everything because i forgot to save. stay away from this one. seriously. the gameplay and story is horrible.

I quite playing this game when I realized I had run up against a glitch in the game that made it unwinnable. I also got sick of the random illogical puzzle. Save your money and just read the walk throughs. They are more fun than the actual game!