Amazon.com: Viva Adventure Anthology: Software

13 Reviews

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

Average Customer Review

2.8 out of 5 stars (13 customer reviews)

Share your thoughts with other customers:

Create your own review

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Overall Good Collection, June 24, 2010

S. Clark "geekalicious" (Virginia, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)

This review is from: Viva Adventure Anthology (DVD-ROM)

This is a pretty good collection of classic adventure games. I will review them separately.

Syberia II - a continuation of the story line of the first Syberia which, along with the Longest Journey and Myst games, is one of the best in the genre. Gorgeous graphics, great music, dreamlike atmosphere, compelling story, intuitive games that fit the setting. The second half of the series is not quite as breathtaking as the first, but still better than anything else out there. A must play!

Paradise - also from Benoit Sokal (Syberia I and II) with similar gameplay, but not quite as good in terms of gameplay and graphics. The map layouts are a mess in many of the areas, and the controls can be frustrating (esp in the big cat scenes). The story is interesting, and a bit disturbing at the end. Overall, a good game.

AGON - included is actually 3 parts out of 13 intended. Currently there is a 4th out for separate purchase (Sword of Toledo, I believe). Bumbling British academic searches out ancient boardgames from around the world. Each section has 2 parts - one typical adventure style search for the board game, then the playing of the boardgame (except for the 1st section, which has no boardgame). The adventure bits are well done with good puzzles, though the controls are a bit difficult to get used to - not a standard point and click, but 360 environments. The boardgames are, in my opinion, the best part. They are interesting and fun to learn - each involving their own strategy. You can replay the games against the computer as often as you want from the main menu.

Physicus - I loved this one. It reminded me a lot of Myst (one of my first ever video games). All the puzzles are based on the principles of physics, and interactive lessons are included. The puzzle will inform you as to which chapters of which lesson are needed to solve them. The necessary chapters are a tiny part of the information included, and the lessons on their own would be a fantastic resource to students in 6-12 grade science. Beware though - there is a LOT of back and forth involved, which can become very frustrating. It is hard to know which area you should go to next to make progress.

Riddle of the Sphinx - this game, like AGON has 360 environments, but is a bit easier to navigate, especially with the help of the warp option. The game saves files directly into a Windows folder, so you can label and store your saves however you want. YOU CAN DIE IN THIS GAME, so save frequently. The concept and storyline are really interesting - tying together several ancient and mysterious civilizations. Beware the TERRIBLE acting by the one other character than yourself. He slips in and out of an awful (British?) accent. Lots of back and forth between locations - that warp really comes in handy. Also - really important - to put an item in the inventory - click on it to pick up, then move it over the backpack and click again.

Omega Stone - sequel to ROTS. Same controls, better inventory management. Same TERRIBLE actor, only know he plays like 4-5 different people, all with different accents, all horrible. Whoever hired this guy should be shot. The connection between the ancient civilizations is explored further and you get to visit each one! Not quite as much back and forth, each location is pretty much contained within itself (with a few exceptions). Some items/clues cannot be taken with you, but you have a camera, so take lots of pictures of these. For the books with multiple pages, it may be easier to create a save so that you can just load it whenever you want to look through it.

*NOTE* Amazon offers a collection with the 3rd installment, titled Riddle of the Tomb. It is NOT this pack, so if you want that game as well, buy the bonus edition.

Black Buccaneer - this game is very different from all the others. It is more of an action adventure game (think Tomb Raider) where you must control the character and fight enemies. I am not particularly dexterous, but I managed to get through it alright. I was skeptical, but it ended up being a pretty fun game. There is no manual so I will tell you the controls: WASD to move, mouse to look, spacebar to jump, left shift to interact, L and R click to use sword, Q and left click to use gun. Everything else will be explained within the game. Use ESC to access menu and F2 and F3 to scroll for special attack instructions, quests, and maps.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Report abuse | Permalink

Comment Comment

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars GREAT!!!, October 14, 2009

Bobby (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Viva Adventure Anthology (DVD-ROM)

If you're into adventure games, you really can't do much better than this deal. This is an excellent collection of games for the price. I checked out some of these games at a store in town, and many of them were right there on the shelf, being sold separately for the same price as this collection!

This bundle is billed as having eight adventures. However, one of the games, AGON, actually includes 3 separate adventures. So you're not getting eight adventures, you're really getting TEN!!

A friend gave me a copy of Benoit Sokal's Syberia some time ago - and I that game was amazing . When I saw that this collection included two of Sokal's later games, Syberia 2 and Paradise - I had to snap it up and give them a try. And neither diappoints. Syberia 2 was even better than the first - simply a masterpiece! The game blew me away with its realism, amazing graphics, and incredible script. Paradise, though not in the class as either installment from the Syberia series, is still worthy of strong praise with it's story of an amnesiac trying to unravel the mystery of her identity in the fictitious African nation of Maurania - great acting and incredible graphics.

I'm really into lore of ancient civilizations so Riddle of the Sphinx, Omega Stone, and Riddle of the Tomb certainly grabbed my attention. Riddle of the Sphinx is a very good puzzle game, with a challenging mixture of easy and difficult puzzles. Omega Stone picks up where Riddle leaves off and is a stunning game visually, with beautiful 360-degree graphics. Riddle of the Tomb offers loads of puzzles to solve. Some are easy and some are difficult and the graphics are again excellent.

Product is billed as having eight adventures. However, one of the games, AGON, actually includes 3 separate adventures. So you're not getting eight adventures, you're really getting TEN!!

I haven't played Physicus or the Buccaneer game yet, but even if I never get around to them - I've already got more than my money's worth with this purchase. I would highly recommend to anyone

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Report abuse | Permalink

Comment Comment

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars You Get what you pay for!, July 28, 2009

Ron (OKC, OK) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)

This review is from: Viva Adventure Anthology (DVD-ROM)

Some of the games loaded and played well, others absolutly refused to load or run in Vista, even in a compatibility mode.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No