Customer Reviews

Nikopol: Secrets of the Immortals

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

 

 

Preface

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Well I am not exactly sure. On the one hand, Nikopol is an interesting game, set up in the future, in which a combination of scientific , political, metaphysic and various other events get mixed. On the other hand, the game's overall introduction, plot and presentation overall indicates that the creators themselves got bored quickly from this mix and wanted to get finished as soon as possible. Are you curious already? Read on!

Scenario

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You are Alcide Nikopol, a painter, living in Paris, now ruled by a mighty dictator. Your father, an astronaut, is supposed to have died years ago in space, but now he can be alive and act as a middleman to help the Egyptian Gods to take over the city. A mysterious pyramid is floating over the sky. Is your father really alive? Is he helping the secret agents, including the mysterious cemetery chief leader? What is the background behind this evil battle?

The scenario is interesting, but somewhat far from being a reality. 2023 is not that far away to fully justify that story. Perhaps they should set it up in 2103 or something - it is rather unlikely that, by 2023, creatures like those in the game will actually co-exist with humans. And the really short introduction does not fill you completely in the details, leaving some gaps to be explained (?) later.

Graphics

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The graphics of the game, while not being exceptional, are very good. Running at full screen, they will raise the game's overcall score. There is nothing ancient to them or Egypt - related ; all the stuff is modern.

I didn't see any actual human except Nikopol and his father. The rest of the supposed human beings , like guards, are more like robots.

Sometimes the background is dark and you will have difficulties (for example, at the metro entrance I had trouble opening the gate), and there is no option to control the lighting. However there is no pixel hunting and no special items to control ; What you have to control or see, is generally clearly seen.

Sound

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The overall sound is a good background theme. The voices are accurate and clean, and the speech of the creatures seem realistic (although I am not sure if the creatures like the one in Chapter 1 would be able to talk entirely).

What the sound lacks is interesting effects. If this game is supposed to be a mystery or a horror or a science fiction or whatever, then the sound won't support it. This makes me thing that they tried to create a nice theme all right, but failed to combine it with the actual plot. It is like "something in the background" ; For example, at the moment you find your father I would expect a more thrilling sound effect. Certainly a more precise work had to be considered for the sound element.

Control

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The game is a first person mouse - controlled creation. The game allows rotation but you are not allowed to go everywhere you may want, but your movement is fixed to certain areas of the screen.

When you want to interact with an object, simply click it. If there is something to do, it will be done.

Pressing ESC will show you the inventory. Fortunately, you won't be carrying many items, and once you do not need an item, it will be automatically disposed. Also, you cannot combine items, but simply pick an item and use it at a screen object.

Pressing ESC twice will get you to the save/load/new/options screen, reminding me the great 1996 Ripper world. There is some strange thing about the saving mechanism - apparently you can save many times but when restoring, not all saves are visible, but only the last ones - or there is a hidden scrollbar ? I can't know! I didn't restore more than 5 - 6 times!

Note that saving is not always an option, for example, when you are trying to hide from a guard. Fortunately the game will give you another chance if you get killed and auto-restore it back to a position that you can proceed successfully.

There is a bug in the game that might happen when you ALT+TAB to another window. I don't know if this is an issue in my x64, but sometimes the game will be vanished from the alt+tab, making it impossible to switch it back to it even if it is still running.

Atmosphere

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This is the reason you must buy the game , if not persuaded not to do that because of it being that short. Although there is no real sound effects support, this game is highly atmospheric. The portraits painted (at Chapter 1), the scientific riddles, the tower mini - labyrinth, the faces of the creatures, and generally all items will enhance the world of the game.

Riddles

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The good thing in this game is that the riddles are innovative. I liked very much the wall - breaker, the pass generator, the mobile phone ring, the metro crash, the cemetery puzzles and the painting. Apart from the awfully old get - the - key - by - putting - a - paper - below - the - door riddle, everything else is new and good.

Action/Plot

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This is where the game will fail. The plot and the total game is so small that a relatively experienced gamer will finish it within a day. There are 5 chapters, and almost all of them small and easy. I do not know the reason, but if the scenario wouldn't allow them to expand the plot, then the scenario should have been change. The game is really short and the time you will spend on it is almost entirely spent to solve the few riddles.

In chapter 1, you are in your house, trying to escape from a monster.

In chapter 2, you are found in a really weird cemetery (!) , and your mission is to install a security system. Hey, does this look like a cemetery at all?

In chapter 3, you are trying to enter a restricted yard by using an abandoned metro station.

In chapter 4, you are trying to find your way in the tower your father is kept.

In chapter 5, which is the most interesting and at least one that you won't finish immediately, you explore the tower section, trying to kill your father's enemy (XB2) and release your father from captivity.

All these chapters have one or two easy riddles only; In addition, the game is linear, so you will not be able to visit a place before you are allowed to, making it even more easy.

Overall

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Nikopol is not a bad game. And because the adventure games released nowadays are generally bad, this one is worth your time and money. But be prepared to understand that it took me longer to write this review, than actually getting through the game itself.

Like others have said, great game, but way too short. The graphics are very nice, a few of the puzzles stumped me for a bit, but I completed the game in under two hours, and for the price being asked by most places, I'd say it's not really worth buying. If you can borrow it from someone who has it already, or find it cheaper or used somewhere, I'd suggest that.

Overall the game has a good atmisphere and the controls are ok. The number of places is too small and the game is over too fast. Translation problems from French to English might ruin it for people who do not speak French.

This could have been a very good game but was terminated much too soon. Took only a few hours to complete. Graphics were good and story-line was also...just much too brief.

If you liked a game called Myst then this is your game. Its alot of puzzle solving with scenes in between each puzzle. I enjoy this game but warning you will get stumnped with the puzzle solving. God knows I used a game walkthrough for this. As a matter of fact I havent beaten it yet. But the storyline is awesome.

Not only was it an incredibly short game, but it played like a sketchbook draft of the story. The plot holes were immense, and I kept wondering if I had somehow only installed part of the game thus missing out on the rest of the story. It was artistic but not engrossing. If you like a storyline that leaves most of the plot disconnected, requiring imagination to create the story itself, then maybe you will like this game. Otherwise, it is a frustrating waste of time. If the creator decides to actually flesh out the story, then maybe I will play the game again. Until then, I wish I had never heard of it.

Finally figured out how to load this game onto my 64 Vista. Glad I did. Good puzzles; good storyline; futuristic theme. Sad when it ended.

As a fan of adventure games, I have to say this is among the more boring ones I have played for quite a long time. Where the puzzles are not easy, they are frustrating due to a timed element (e.g. figure out how to block the door before the creature comes in...figure out how to escape before the guards shoot you). or just a lack of logic, making it difficult to progress your way to a solution. There is a plot but it is rushed and (for me) failed to be an immersive experience due to various distractions and the rushed nature of the game. The english translation and grammar/spelling was HORRIBLE. This also created distraction. Control in the game is such that the mouse cursor that allows you to interact with the environment is always at the center of the screen. This is great for those who insist on joystick control, but using a mouse to scan a room to see what is there quickly becomes an exercise in motion sickness. (I have 4 or 5 games from Europe that I have purchased in the past year which are like this. I wish it would stop.) Overall two stars. There are fair graphics and voice acting. This isn't completely rotten, but there are enough problems with it that it just failed to entertain me.

There is very little plot. Guy looking to stop a conspiracy. The guy had no personality so I didn't care what happened. Too many timed puzzles, avoiding guards. The game was just plain boring.

Amazingly great work for the price. Wonderful graphics, great story line, and price thats rare for this time and age.

J