Sentinel: Descendants In Time

by The Adventure Company / Detalion

Product Features

• Search for the truth on a dangerous quest for riches
• 20+ mind-bending puzzles with various degrees of difficulty
• Beautifully created, colorfully rich 3D environments
• 8 brilliantly inspired, diverse worlds; built-in hint system
• Non-linear style of game play

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0002YIUNS
• Item Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: November 15, 2004
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #18,744 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

The Tastan civilization succumbed to extinction many years ago; their o nly legacy being the mysterious Tastan Caverns. Some believe the caverns hold a n invaluable treasure, while others say great wealth is attained through the kn owledge and technology left behind by this advanced race.

Take on the role of Beni and search for the truth as you enter the caverns on a dangerous quest for riches.

As you begin your strange and perilous journey, a female sentinel, a holographi c image with advanced A.I., positioned there by the ancient Tastans to guard th eir sacred caverns, awakens. She appears throughout your quest with a sometimes benign purpose, but other times with calculated intentions. You will soon real ize that behind the mask of illusions, the sentinel is much more than she appea rs to be--her dark purpose will threaten your very existence.

Features:

• From the developers of the best-selling adventure games: Mysterious Jour ney and Mysterious Journey II
• Over 20 mind-bending puzzles
• Various degrees of difficulty: easy, medium, and difficult puzzles
• Eight brilliantly inspired, diverse worlds
• Includes a built-in hint system
• Non-linear style of game play
• Beautifully created, colorfully rich 3D environments--from snow-capped moun tains to a land of hot active volcanoes

Product Description

The Tastan Tombs...Descendants in time...in therelies the SentinelProduct InformationThe legacy of the Tastan tombs has long held some of the most profound secretsof an extinct race of people.  Some believe the tombs hold a fabuloustreasure others say wealth is in the knowledge and technology left behind bythis advanced civilization.  You must now search for the truth as you enterthe tombs on a dangerous quest for riches.As you begin your strange and perilous journey a female sentinel a holographicimage with advanced A.I. left by the ancient Tastans to guard their sacredcaverns awakens.  She appears throughout your quest as a guide with asometimes benign purpose but other times with calculated intentions.  Youwill soon realize that behind the mask of illusions the sentinel is much morethan she appears to be - her dark purpose might threaten your veryexistence.  What truths will you uncover.The door opens once in a lifetime.  That moment is  now.Product Features 8 brilliantly inspired diverse worlds Unravel wondrous mysteries More than 20 mind-bending puzzlesWindows Requirements Windows 98SE Me 2000 and XP 1.0GHz processor 128MB of RAM 24X CD-ROM Drive 64MB DirectX compatible 3D Video Card DirectX compatible Sound Card and Speakers 1.6GB free Hard Disk Space Keyboard Mouse DirectX 8.1Recommended Requirments Windows XP 2.0GHz processor 256MB of RAM 24X CD-ROM Drive 128MB 3D Video Card with DirectX compatible Driver DirectX compatible Sound Card and Speakers 1.6GB free Hard Disk Space Keyboard Mouse DirectX 8.1 or higher

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

74 of 74 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must for Puzzle Lovers, July 6, 2005

By 

wysewomon "wysewomon" (Paonia, CO United States) - See all my reviews

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Sentinel: Descendants In Time (CD-ROM)

Once upon a time, the dominant culture in the world was the "Tastan Civilisation," a people so technologically advanced as to seem godlike to the ones who came after. The Tastans are gone, but they left behind them a number of tombs, which subsequent cultures take delight in exploring and often despoiling. All, that is, except for Tomb 35. This particular tomb is guarded by a "Sentinel:" an artificial intelligence defense programme that doesn't take well to folks barging in on her territory. Only one person has done so and come back to tell the tale. But now your sister is being held hostage by a crook who will only release her if you bring him something of the tomb's treasure. Can you go in, face the Sentinel, and get out again?

_Sentinel_ is the third game from Detalion, the company that brought us _Schizm_ and _Mysterious Journey 2_. And they just keep getting better and better. They've learned from some of the mistakes they made in the previous 2 games, and what we have here showcases many of their strengths and offers very few of their weaknesses.

As always, the graphics are amazing. A first person, MYST-style game, _Sentinel_ takes the player through eight distinct worlds, inclcluding a glacier-covered land of islands floating in the sky and an undersea realm. There is more animation present than in any game I've seen (except Myst IV). I especially liked the undersea realm for this; I spent quite a lot of time just watching the sea turtles and other creatures float past the windows!

Navigation is free-choice, 360-degree, as it was in MJ2. Some people had real problems with the cursor movement giving them vertigo and/or nausea. I didn't experience this, but the cursor WAS very touchy. It helped to moved very slowly. You can navigate with the mouse or with a combination of mouse and keyboard (w,a,s,d keys). The developers recommend the latter, but I used the mouse almost exclusively and had no problems. In some "go anywhere" games it's easy to get lost or confused, or not to know where to go next. _Sentinel_ handles this in two ways. First, in most of the realms a traveled path is evident, so that although you might go anywhere you're likely not to stray too far. The realms themselves are sculpted to ofer a logical explanation for limited access, with convenient tree limbs or cliff edges keeping you from wandering off. Second, when you get near a puzzle, an arrow appears near your cursor to indicate that there's something nearby. This was actually kind of annoying, particularly in areas where you might be standing between 3 or more puzzles and arrows pointed off in every direction. Fortunately, I found that when I zoomed into a puzzle and then backed out, all the arrows for that realm vanished. Don't know if that was meant to happen or not, but it worked for me.

Though _Sentinel_ offers the bones of a story, this is essentially a puzzle-lovers' game. Through your encounters with the _Sentinel_ you learn that she has some purpose for sending you to all these dream-like realms and that she has some task in mind for you. But the story is not very well-realised and is, frankly, kind of annoying in its presentation. As in MJ2, it is clearly an excuse for going from puzzle to puzzle. Gamers who like lots of story will probably not like this game as much as I did. But the puzzles are some of the best I've seen in a long, long time. There is no inventory. There are no sliders, mazes or math puzzles. There are no timed puzzles and you can't die. But there is a large number of mechanical puzzles, including one of the most complex I've seen since _Riven_. There are two things you'll want to know before you buy, though. Number one, a good third of the puzzles are sound puzzles and several of these require the gamer to be able to distinguish between sounds that are only subtly different: the same note played on different organ stops, for example. If you have ANY hearing problems, this will not be a good game for you. Number two, this game also requires the gamer to take a huge amount of notes, make maps and draw diagrams. A couple switch puzzles could only be solved by keeping track of the variations and using a logical process of elimination; you will never stumble across a cave painting that hands you the answer, even in disguise. A tolerance for a certain amount of busy-work is a must here.

For the rest, the game ran very smoothly and the interface was excellent. There are an unlimited number of save slots. Also, the game auto-saves at each new location and every time you exit. Load times caused a slight delay, but not too much. There's a built-in hint feature, but I didn't use it so I don't know how that works. Music was minimal. There was some conversation in cutscenes. The dialog was pretty terrible. The woman who voice acted the sentinel was okay, but Beni was awful. He also had the habit of making random comments from time to time--mostly along the lines of, "I'll save you, my sister!"--and I wished he'd get a grip.

I finished _Sentinel_ in about 15 hours spread over the course of about a week; though I liked the game a lot I found I could only play a couple hours at a time. Then I had to give my brain a rest. For gamers who love complex puzzles, this game is a must.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Pretty Good, March 31, 2006

By 

Gamer Gal (USA) - See all my reviews

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Sentinel: Descendants In Time (CD-ROM)

I enjoyed this game a lot better than Schizm. The graphics were unbelievably good (check out the volcano in one of the worlds!). You have the choice between using your mouse or keyboard for navigating - I found using the mouse much easier. The game didn't leave you lost on where to go next or what to do like many newer adventure games do. The characters could have been done a bit better and I wasn't too thrilled with Bennie's dialog throughout the game. Also, the ending was a bit disappointing (why this didn't get a higher rating). Overall though, it was fun to play even if a few of the puzzles needed an online hint. Good job Detalion!

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great game except for last world............., February 4, 2006

By 

saintmichael666 (Pennsylvania United States) - See all my reviews

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Sentinel: Descendants In Time (CD-ROM)

Me and my girlfriend really loved this game until the last board. The puzzles are very hard at times which is good and the music is the best I've heard since Riven.(A+) The only let down was the last world. In the game itself, it should of been earlier and they should of used one of the other worlds to end it. That's my only complaint. I liked the last world but after seeing all the previous worlds and how amazing they are, it felt like they rushed the last world to make a deadline.
Highly reccomend this game if you like Myst games.........