Review Paradise Developer: White Birds Productions Publisher: Ubisoft Genre: Adventure Release Date: April 2006 Platform: Review by May 26, 2006		Buy this game at Trade for this game at:

In 2002, Benoit Sokal’s impact on the adventure gaming world was established with the release of Syberia. Most adventure gamers loved it - some hated it - but regardless, Syberia became one of the few games now recognized as a landmark in the history of the genre. Syberia II soon followed and now Sokal has returned, along with his newly formed company White Birds Productions, and their first release Paradise.

The game opens with an enigma. We witness an airplane shot down, and a woman waking up - after hospitalization and treatment - with no memory whatsoever. Even stranger is that she is now in the harem of the prince of Madargane, a city of Maurania, where she was brought in order to relax and regain her strength. Unable to remember her own name, she will be called Ann Smith by the women of the harem, who also return her belongings that were recovered from the crash site. Among these is a card from the University of Geneva, from where she probably came. But why would Ann fly all the way to Maurania? Was it for business purposes? And who is she anyway?

To unearth the answers to these questions you will have to lead Ann through the world of Maurania. Your first task will be to escape from Madargane and your journey will take you through native villages, mines and rivers in search of the truth. The imaginary world of Maurania is simply exquisite. The entire country has been designed as if it really exists, with its own inhabitants, cities, natives, flag and even its own website which you will find the link to within the game and can actually visit on the internet! A great and very original idea indeed.

The country of Maurania also features its own unique flora and fauna. A book found early in the game describes the life forms that make the game a feast for the imagination. Unfortunately, interaction with the numerous strange species that inhabit Maurania is extremely limited. The game would have profited by involving more of these fictitious animals, but instead one feels that the game doesn’t take advantage of their existence. The same can be said for a certain black leopard who will be accompanying Ann in her journey through Maurania. The leopard only appears for a short while, although it does have its own, optional, sequences where it is controlled by the player.

Speaking of involvement and interaction, those are two very important adventure elements which are sorely lacking in Paradise. Throughout the whole game the amount of empty screens to just cross outnumber the amount of screens where you can actually do something, such as talk to a character or solve a puzzle. The game’s hotspots are limited to only what is absolutely necessary: a few items here and there to pick up, as well as a couple of places to use the items, and some machines to operate. That’s the extent of non-character interaction in the game.

Searching for hotspots is not an easy chore in Paradise and it actually becomes seriously tedious. Not only is there a good amount of good old pixel-hunting, Paradise also introduces an entirely new concept: shadow-hunting. By that I mean hotspots that are exactly or almost exactly the same color as the background they are on, as well as hotspots that are just part of the background without any indication that there is something there, like a section of the floor that is exactly the same as the rest of the floor but it’s a hotspot. The color issue can be resolved by turning the monitor’s brightness to its maximum and then some slight color difference can be observed – if your eyesight is perfect. As a result, entering a new screen necessitates thoroughly running the cursor very slowly over every single pixel for when the cursor crosses over a hotspot, it doesn’t immediately change, but it rather turns into a little animation and if the hotspot is small and the cursor crosses over it too quickly then the animation never has the time to play so it seems like there was nothing there.

Character interaction drives story progression and solves several questions. Dialogs are performed by selecting from available subjects. There are though a few bugs in the implementation of the dialogs, such as subjects that, when selected, result in a totally unrelated response or even a comment on something that hasn’t happened yet! Voiceovers are very plain and Ann seems to have the rude habit to start some conversations by making a “huh” noise!

The mechanical puzzles are the only time when you will feel as though you have an active role in the game and are not just a spectator clicking the mouse. They can be divided into two categories: the ones that you can see what happens and the ones that you cannot. While working on a puzzle of the first category, it’s pretty easy to realize how a machine works and solve it. While working on a puzzle of the second category, trial and error will be your best bet, since not only can you not see what happens, but there’s no feedback from Ann whatsoever. Feedback is also non-existent on hotspots that need some item to operate. So when clicking on such a hotspot you will hear nothing or just a plain “tsak” sound. Then you must guess which item in your inventory you need to use or try each item that seems logical, especially when you can’t even see the hotspot. Good thing the inventory isn’t the size of the one in Discworld!

Paradise - following a negative trend witnessed in quite a few games lately - seems to have undergone practically no beta testing and is full of small and not so small bugs and imperfections. The majority focus on the game’s cursor, as well as Ann’s responses. Throughout the game the cursor experiences lag every now and then, making it freeze for a second and then jump to its final destination. This happened especially often on close-ups and made the aforementioned pixel and shadow hunting even harder and more frustrating. Also, there were occasions when the cursor would completely disappear, while the rest of the screen looked fine, but was now unplayable. I don’t know if it would eventually reappear since I “ctrl-alt-del”ed out of the game after a few minutes.

Ann’s response to this cursor nonsense is sometimes rebellious. There are instances when you will click left and Ann will go right and if she is right next to an exit she may refuse to go through it unless you first move a bit away from the exit. Similar cursor problems also appear when controlling the leopard. To finish with the cursor related bugs, if you have two different hotspots right next to each other, for example an exit and a talk cursor, the cursor may get confused and appear as an exit icon where the action is to talk and vice versa.

All of these cursor related bugs certainly interfere with gameplay, are frustrating and detract from a good chunk of a possible overall enjoyment. Other small bugs and imperfections include a reappearing jar, which Ann can take again and again, some generic comments that refer to female characters as “him” and a couple of inventory items bearing codenames such as “object###_itemname”.

All these bugs and imperfections apply to the American release of the game and it is not known if they have been corrected for the European release. If I play the European release I will update this review, but in the meantime, European gamers need to take heed. White Birds informed JA at the E3 that a patch is imminent, but frankly, I no longer care as I am fed up with half-assed beta testing just so a publisher can get a game on the shelf by a predetermined date. In Paradise’s case we are not talking about some obscure bugs, like the game freezing when you try to use the monkey on the mountain while playing the banjo – something that could elude any human beta tester. We are talking about blatant, in-your-face issues that even a 6year-old kid would notice. This, in my book, shows nothing but lack of respect for the gamer. Companies should start caring more for the hands that feed them and stop taking the apathetic “who cares, release it and we may patch it” way out.

For all the aforementioned problems Paradise has its wonderful graphics and amazing cut-scenes as some consolation. The cut-scenes are really a treat to watch, while the backgrounds, even though not stunning, provide a nice feast for the eyes. The characters are 3D and do not follow the same standards. Yes, they are nicely designed, but they are hindered with problems that one would witness during 3D’s first baby steps. Clipping is among the most awful I’ve seen in years, with Ann being practically a ghost that is able to run through everyone (not through walls thankfully). The animation is jerky and it seems like the characters suffer from spasms every time they do something like pick up an object or try to sit down. The characters also often find themselves misplaced when talking to each other and sometimes you may even see a character just slide around the screen, like being on roller skates. Overall, it is a really sloppy job in the 3D department which is not excusable in this day and age, especially with a newly formed company attempting to go mainstream.

Comparing Paradise to the Syberia series is unavoidable and the one thing that immediately stands out is the very similar gameplay: straightforward, minimal interaction, very few and very easy puzzles. The major difference being that Syberia had me hooked from the opening screen. Even though I don’t enjoy adventure games that provide little challenge, I enjoyed Syberia because the story and the main character’s development from a passive girl to a strong, self-reliant woman were riveting. On the other hand, although interesting in its concept, the story of Paradise was hardly gripping, while Ann’s character was completely indifferent at best. So, while Syberia kept me glued to my chair, Paradise flew by like something happening in the background.

Surprisingly though, Paradise has an ending that is simply fantastic. It is one of the best conclusions I’ve ever seen in an adventure game! Although short, it oozed with intensity and emotion and is presented with the superb quality of the game’s cut-scenes. I would like to talk about it more, but I will not do so to avoid any spoilers.

Overall, Paradise is the disappointment of the year for the adventure community. All of the fuss and hype was for nothing which is actually a shame, since its wonderful world was the perfectly fertile ground to create a fantastic exotic adventure, but unfortunately the opportunity was lost. Fans of Sokal’s art are mainly the ones that will get the most out of the game, as well as graphic buffs, as long as they ignore the 3D problems. Surprisingly, even though a very easy adventure, it is better suited to experienced adventurers as it can easily become confusing and create unnecessary problems to beginners or casual gamers due to its bugs and poor puzzle implementation – and if this is your first adventure game, please don’t think that this is how adventures play. I give the game a D, which counts all the aforementioned bugs, but even a clean, 100% bug-free version could barely go up to a C-. Unless you have played everything else, look elsewhere for your adventuring fix and if you want to check out Sokal’s work, go for the Syberias or, why not, Amerzone.

Final Grade: D
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System Requirements:

• Supported OS: Windows® 2000/XP (only)
• Processor: Pentium® IV or AMD Athlon" 1.5 GHz equivalent or higher
• RAM: 512 MB
• Video Card: 64 MB DirectX® 9.0c-compliant video card supporting 32-bit color
• Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c-compliant sound card
• DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (included on disc)
• CD-ROM: 4x or faster CD- or DVD-ROM drive
• Hard Drive Space: 2.5 GB free
• Peripherals Supported: Windows-compatible mouse and keyboard