bleepnikPrivate Detective
Posts : 544
Joined: 13 OCT 2002
Location: US
Status : Offline | Technical Overview
My system configuration:
Athlon 1800xp, 512mb ram
ATI Radeon 8500
Creative Labs Soundblaster Live! Value
WinXP Pro
Installation was a breeze. I didn't encounter any technical problems at all while playing the game. The only thing i noted was that I created images of the CDs and mounted them with Daemon-Tools, a virtual drive application. I thought it would be faster, but I was wrong; when using Daemon-Tools, moving from one point to another was extraordinarily slow. When i used the actual discs, this problem was eliminated.
Gameplay
Road to India is officially the first adventure game I have played and completed. It's very different from games like The 7th Guest (my 'introduction' to the genre - but obviously just a puzzle game with a loose plot thrown in for good measure). Road to India really is an adventure-game-for-dummies sort of game. I'm a *terrible* puzzle-solver, but completed this game in a few hours. I resorted to hints a couple of times, but not because I couldn't've figured it out on my own had I persisted; rather, I was playing with a friend who was in town for a just a few days, on the single afternoon we had previously agreed to devote to gaming, and so I was more impatient than I normally am.
The interface, game-saving mechanism and inventory couldn't be simpler. In general, I was pretty impressed with the mechanics of the game. I didn't have to think about how to do anything; it was very intuitive. A pleasant experience.
Graphics
A mixed bag (due to a personal bias). The environment is quite beautiful. However, save for the few characters with whom you interact, the streets are somewhat desolate. I didn't feel as immersed in the world as I think I could've because of this.
3d people in games are still pretty horrible-looking. I guess if they were to approach a higher level of photo-realism, the game's system requirements would have to be raised considerably. I find the rather overly-fluid motion of 3d humans somewhat... ooky. My aforementioned personal bias for 2d people (err.. hand-drawn or computer-generated) aside, the characters in Road to India are done well.
Sound
Another mixed bag. The translation of the game from French to English wasn't all that bad, but the voice-acting was terrible. The music was pretty (some sort of fusion thing going on, me likes), but extremely repetitive. A little variety would've been nice.
Replay Value
None, really.
Final Thoughts
I can picture veteren gamers scoffing at this title. My only real gripe with it is that I was spoon-fed a little too much, and I'm a newbie. On the other hand, however, I'm very happy that this was my first real adventure game. Easily solving most of the puzzles gave me a nice little ego boost, and got me psyched to play the next game.
I'd pick this one up in a bargain bin. Pretty logical plot, nice graphics, pretty music, cool dream-to-real life thing goin' on, mostly easy puzzles. It was quite an enjoyable experience, albeit entirely too short.
.gita
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