China: Intrigue in the Forbidden City

Cryo Interactive Entertainment, 1999

China is a very nice educational adventure title developed by Cryo Interactive, acclaimed software house and home to many adventure games including everyone's favorite Atlantis and Egypt series. The game under review takes place in the exotic China of late seventeenth century, when a chief eunuch has been murdered in the Forbidden City of Beijing. You play the role of Chief Superintendent Han Jing, who has been ordered by the Emperor Qianlong to investigate the crime done and bring the assassin to justice. As you investigate, you unravel a mysterious web of intrigues intertwined inside the royal quarters, which leads up to more murders. There are very few problems and slide-tile type of puzzles to solve and the game mostly depends on interacting with different characters in the game or visiting places or by chasing someone to some hidden place.

Travelling in the games has made simple by the help of a map but you can not reach a place if you have not explored it interactively, which means that you can only reach an already visited location by clicking on the map. As for the educational part, the CDROM has an encyclopedia reference section and the player can get a bit of information on many locations, things and officials designated in the historical Chinese palaces. The game interface consists of 360-degree smooth camera view with a point and click cursor. Collected items are placed in the inventory, which a right mouse button click opens at the bottom of the screen. Graphics are completely rendered in 3D and display a real life look of the city and the palaces. Typical Chinese music playing in the background is very nice and does add extra fun in the game. Overall, this is a must play game and I strongly recommend it to every serious adventure gamer.

Bad Mojo: The Roach Game

Pulse Entertainment, 1996

Bad Mojo is a very attractive and enjoyable graphical adventure game with a very unique story and gameplay. As the game starts, the intro sequence rolls the events that happen on this fateful evening when Roger, whom you will play in the game, tries to flee to Mexico to start a new life with all the money he has inherited along with his mother's picture locket but something strange happens and the locket casts a curse upon him and transforms him into a roach, yes, a common garbage roach with absolutely no idea or memory of why this happened to him. You start the game as this roach in a top-down view and explore the huge world of your filthy rented room situated above a run down San Francisco pub. Your quest is to find the cause that deprived you from your human form and restore your memory by avoiding a vicious roach-eater cat, spiders and other creatures, which populate the pub and the drainage system.

The game puzzles are generally very nice and easy with almost no interaction of any sort with any character. The game has multiple endings depending on the path you choose, which also means replay ability. The controls are limited to arrow-keys, which you use to move and push objects. Graphics are very nice and provide a true picture of a dirty bar floor. Music is very atmospheric with some creepy sound effects. If you love playing unique adventure games then this is absolutely one for you and I strongly recommend this game.

Xplora 1: Peter Gabriel's Secret World

Real World Multimedia, 1993

Xplora 1 is a very innovative and educational game presented by Peter Gabriel, a well-known and experienced figure in the exotic world of classical music. The game is divided into four sections: The Real World, Behind the Scene, Peter Gabriel's Personal Files and finally, About US, which explores Peter's musical album named US by means of full-motion video streams. The players explores and progresses into a rich musical world by solving puzzles and sliding titles, which unlock further sections of the game. The Real World section contains information on dozens of strange musical instruments used by many natives throughout the world, which the player can see and hear. Behind the Scene section offers numerous video events took place in the past, which are related to Peter Gabriel. The last section throws light on Peter Gabriel's personal life, his achievements, early photographs, videos, etc.

The game was first developed for Macintosh computers using the astonishing capabilities of Apple Quick-Time, but later ported to IBM PC compatibles on great demand from the PC users, but still it took almost two years to materialize after the initial Macintosh release. Well, later is better then never and the long waiting is not wasted as the title provides a lot of fun and I certainly recommend it to everyone.