Review Nikopol: Secrets of the Immortals Developer: White Birds Productions Publisher: Got Game Entertainment Genre: Adventure Release Date: September 2008 Platform: Review by Robert Washburne October 17, 2008		Buy this game at Trade for this game at:

This is not a Benoit Sokal game.

Let us make this clear right up front. It may have been produced by White Birds Productions, but this is not a fantastical romp through breathtaking lands of eye candy.

The story and artwork come from Enki Bilal, a graphic novelist (think comic books for grown ups) and filmmaker. It is the work of Mr. Bilal we are reviewing here, and not the production house which implemented his vision.

So, having said that, just how good is this game? I personally did not care for it. But neither do I care for Blizard’s World of Warcraft and there are millions of people who disagree with me on that one. So let’s take a look at the game and see if the things I didn't like are just the things you look for in a game.

First, let’s take a look at the graphics. It is immediately clear that this is not Sokal's style. This is futuristic cyber-punk. This is a grim Paris run by a religious dictator who rations food and keeps armed guards between the unwashed mutant masses and the beautiful people. The imagery is effective at conveying the poverty. It is professionally done with no hint of tiling textures or replication. But there is nothing special about it. The style is not unique and I never experienced the desire to just stop and stare in wonder. This is solid B territory.

One nice effect, however, were the animated scenes between the chapters. They are a montage of boxes just like you would see in a comic book, ermmm, graphic novel, with the animation jumping from cell to cell. This was a very nice way to remind us of our graphical roots and raised my score to B+.

You will note that I have only taken a few screen shots from the very beginning of the story. Yes, I played through the game, but I don't want you playing the game feeling like you have already seen it all. This should be enough to give you the feel and leave the rest of the game for you to discover.

What about the story? There is a lot of potential here. Paris is under the heel of a ruthless dictator when all of a sudden a mysterious floating pyramid shows up filled with Egyptian deities. Then your father somehow escapes from prison and vanishes into the night. The gods appear interested in the local government, but are they here to liberate or to conquer? And what about the ancient prophecies?

Plenty of material here to write a full novel. Unfortunately, almost none of it makes its way into the game. The plot is set up for you in the beginning. You then spend the entire game fighting your way out of one building, then across town, then into another building where the game wraps up. Then several of the mysteries are explained in the closing scene. In the game itself, about the only revelation is that the gods are getting involved in the local politics. Sorry if that was a spoiler.

I give the story a B- for being a potentially great story, but only being given a bit part in the game.

How about the puzzles? They are split about half and half between inventory based and twiddly/logical. The inventory puzzles are nicely incorporated into the game and are medium-to-advanced in difficulty. The logical puzzles frequently feel forced into the game and are definitely for the advanced player. Unfortunately (for me), many of them are timed puzzles – you only have so long to solve them before the soldiers crash through the door. I do not like timed puzzles. How about you?

I give the puzzles a B- for being professional, but a little forced in places.

And what of gameplay? Ahh, now we get down to it. The game boils down to one large puzzle solving marathon with the army breathing down your neck. There is little exploration and the story is revealed before and after the game itself. You solve puzzles to be given a timed puzzle which you survive so that you can be given the next puzzle.

Now, I normally like puzzles. I love the Rhem series and they are nothing but puzzles. But Rhem has the type of puzzles which allow you to sit back, think about and finally deduce. Nikopol is a lot more of pixel hunting for the smallest detail, trying to figure out what can be used with what or frantically trying to prevent yourself from getting killed.

And you can die frequently in this game. The good news is that the game automatically restarts you at the beginning of the fatal puzzle. The bad news is that, for me, nothing kills the immersion or any sense of magic like getting killed and having to re-do a sequence over and over. Sorry, but I am no longer in the mood.

That is the crux of this game. It is professionally done with good graphics, good voice acting and challenging puzzles. The only question is whether you prefer to solve your puzzles like Sherlock Holmes while puffing on a couple of bowls of course shag, or like Jack Bauer while dodging bullets.

System Requirements (Minimum):

• Microsoft Windows 98/SE/ME/2000/XP
• 1.7 GHz Pentium 4, AMD Athlon, or equivalent
• RAM : 512 MB (1024MB with Vista)
• DVD-ROM 16x or faster
• 3 GB hard drive space
• 128MB DirectX 9.0c compatible graphics card ATI Radeon 9600 / NVIDIA 6 series or higher
• DirectX 9.0c compatible sound device

System Requirements (Recommended):

• Windows XP/Vista
• 2.4 GHz Pentium 4, AMD Athlon, or equivalent
• RAM : 1024 MB (2048MB with Vista)
• DVD-ROM 16x or faster
• 3 GB hard drive space
• 128MB DirectX 9.0c compatible graphics card ATI Radeon 9800 XT / NVIDIA 6600 GT series or higher
• DirectX 9.0c compatible sound device