Hyper-Quest, Inc., 1994
Astronomica: The Quest for the Edge of the Universe is an excellent educational title guaranteed to enlighten your astronomy knowledge thoroughly. The single CDROM disc contains an extremely detailed reference encyclopedia of astronomy and space, a related trivia challenging game and a fine adventure game, which is currently under review. You play the game as Sara's best friend and she comes looking for you to help her in solving the mystery of her father, Dr. Mayer's mysterious disappearance from his top-secret SkyQuest Astrolab. Sara's father was a brilliant astronomer and a scientist who was working on a very high-tech computer called 'Astronomica' before he was disappeared.
As you start your quest, your first goal is to reach the place where Dr. Mayer disappeared, but the problem is that the secret Astolab is situated inside SkyQuest building, which is a high security zone. This is not an easy job, as you have to answer tons of security questions and solve many challenging puzzles before you are allowed to pass. Your second challenge is to reset all the exhibits in the building that were knocked off by a sudden power failure by avoiding a security guard that is well aware of your presence in the building. Accomplishing these initial quests and gathering clues eventually unravel the mystery about Astronomica, which is actually the beginning of this entertaining adventure game that will launch you on an unforgettable journey into the universe in search of Dr. Mayer.
Astronomica graphically entertains the players with realistic high-resolution pre-rendered 3D background images and stunning full-motion video cut-scenes and references of some famous historical scholars, such as Galileo, Einstein, etc. The interface is simply point & click and easy to learn. Music and voice acting is acceptable. While the puzzles are not so hard they are quite knowledgeable and can be solved with some basic knowledge of astronomy. In my opinion, Astronomica was aimed to introduce the facts and figures of astronomy to general audience, in which they quite succeed because I did learn some basic astronomy while playing this adventure game.
