Journey to the Center of the Earth

by Viva Media, LLC

Product Features

• Explore an unknown world hidden beneath Earth¿s surface
• 3D adventure game on PC with 30-40 hours of game play
• Interact with 30 characters in real-time 3D
• 300+ different views, 200+ objects, and 100+ puzzles to solve
• Unique atmosphere enhanced by original soundtrack and sound effects

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B0000ULBI0
• Date first available at Amazon.com: October 23, 2003
• Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,146 in Software (See Top 100 in Software)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

The IRISPen Express is the fastest most accurate pen scanner on the market. Hold it like a highlighter—just slide the pen over the printed text and figures you need and the pen will instantly insert the scanned data into any Windows application. This small, light, USB powered scanning pen easily connects to your laptop, computer, Pocket PC or Tablet PC. With an accuracy rate above 99%, the IRISPen Express is the perfect tool for home, business, or school.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Among the best, November 5, 2003

By 

birgitta lindsey - See all my reviews

This review is from: Journey to the Center of the Earth (Video Game)

Our heroine,Arian,who is a photojournalist,falls through the crack in a volcano while out covering a story.She stumbles upon a hidden world in the center of the earth,and becomes a hostage to her new environment.Eager to return to the surface once again,she meets many interesting characters along the way.It seems everybody wants a favor from her,before she can proceed on to the next area.There are dinosaurs,giants,floating islands,submarines,blimps,suspended bridges,jungles,diamond mines,and the list goes on.The graphics are breathtaking-reminiscent of "The Longest Journey" and "Syberia",two of my all time favorite games.I'd have to put this one among those very few,rare games,that will not let you down.Though there is only one CD,don't let that fool you.It's quite a lengthy game,and Arian travels a very long way.I would have liked to have had a location icon in the inventory...it would have lessened the tedious distances.Also,the hotspots were hard to find at times,especially when she went from room to room,or progressed onto the next screen.It was tricky sometimes,I had to click in the farthest corners to find them.There are just enough puzzles in this game to keep it interesting,although a few were so difficult,that I needed a walkthrough.
The storyline is rich and engaging,and the laptop computer that Araian uses is priceless.There are two different endings to this game.You can choose to end the game about 3/4 of the way through,or play it to the end.The cut-scenes are wonderful,the sounds of birds chirping,the seagulls,the water rippling,all add to the beauty.Although I would have preferred the musical score to be played more often,it serves it's purpose and is quite satisfying.I was very pleased with "Journey To The Center Of The Earth".For true adventure gamers....it is a must have.

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Doesn't Live Up to its Promise, February 22, 2004

By 

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

This review is from: Journey to the Center of the Earth (Video Game)

In Journey to the Center of the Earth--a game only loosely based onm the Jules Verne Novel--you play Ariane, a freelance photo journalist on a trip to Iceland. While there, an accident separates her from her helicopter and pilot. Trying to find a way out of her plight, she falls, like Alice, down a hole and discovers a whole new world. While trying to find a way back to the surface, she explores this world and uncovers a mystery.

As others have stated, JTTCOE is a third person game much in the tradition of The Longest Journey or Syberia, with a strong female protagonist on a quest that isolates her from everything familiar. As such, JTTCOE could have been a really good game. I expected it to be a really good game. There were some good things about it, even some parts that were quite enjoyable. But as a whole, it didn't please the way its predecessors did. There were too many glitches that made me think it had been rushed into release without being tested thoroughly.

I wish I could say that where JTTCOE is good it's really good, but that's not the case (except in the opening and closing animations, where the helicopter flying over the ocean is indistiguishable from film). Mostly, things were...okay. The graphics were pretty but not stunning. The animations were adequate. The voice acting and story were all right. So there wasn't much greatness to make up for the fact that a lot of this game is kind of boring. The one savng grace is that there are no timed puzzles and you can't die.

The puzzles range from the incredibly simple-minded to the abysmally incoherent. Most are typical third-person inventory puzzles--give so-and-so this item so that he gives you something you need to give to someone else. These were the easy ones, although it was difficult not to become irritated at all these characters just sitting around letting Ariane do their chores for them. Except for a few, the NPC's were without personality, so it was a little hard to feel sympathy for them.

Conversational puzzles were more difficult, usually because the alleged conversational clues didn't actually contribute anything, or were actually misleading. There were several places where you were given deliberately wrong information, which I find unforgiveable. But that wasn't so bad as the several mechanical puzzles. I usually can get through anything without a hint or walkthrough, but the puzzles in JTTCOE were so abstract and incoherent that even WITH a WT they didn't make sense. Plus, often solving a puzzle meant running around through the entire gameworld--which was huge--looking for some unlikely inventory item in some unlikely place. The world was so big and the navigation was so bad and time-consuming, that it was easier just to get the answer and not waste your time.

Did I say navigation was bad? It's about the worst thing about this game. There is no warp function and there are lots and lots of screens to move through, some of which don't have much other purpose. Sometimes your movement cursor doesn't appear, so you have to kind of randomly search for it. Sometimes you simply can't get there from here and have to go around, and sometimes Ariane evinces a kind of virtual Tourette's syndrome, where she twitches and shuffles around in place for no apparent reason. This was really irritating, the more so because it could have been corrected with a little attention.

JTTCOE has two endings. This in itself is not unusual, but one of them occurs substantially earlier than the other (I suppose in case the player just can't take any more) and provides quite a different outcome. You're given plenty of warning what's coming, so it's easy to save in the right place and go back and view the other ending later. If you choose the extended ending, the game actually picks up and the puzzles make a little more sense--or maybe it's just that by that point you know what to expect, I'm not sure.

It took me about 25 hours to get through JTTCOE and that was with several WT consultations when I couldn't take it any more. I didn't find it absorbing; in fact there were times when I got through a puzzle and thought, "I don't want to do this any more." I ended up being pretty disappointed in it. I think I would have done better to wait for the jewel case release, or trade someone for this game; it just didn't live up to its promise.

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great buy!, October 24, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Journey to the Center of the Earth (Video Game)

I didn't know what to expect with this game but after seeing the demo decided to give it a shot, and was very pleasantly surprised. The graphics are impressive, the story is gripping, and there is a heck of a lot to see. It is a long game that kept me busy for nearly 50 hours.

Not only that, but more importantly, it was really fun. There is something very playful about the really colorful, vibrant colors that make up the palette of the settings, and there are lots of characters. This is not a lonely Myst-like game where you wander alone. You speak to many of the other characters, and interact with them. Lots of puzzles, most of which tie into the story quite nicely.

I recommend it highly! For 20 bucks, why not?