| ★ AMSTRAD CPC ★ GAMESLIST ★ LES PASSAGERS DU VENT 2: L'HEURE DU SERPENT (c) INFOGRAMES/GLENAT ★ |
| AMSTAR | CPC Revue | TILT | Popular Computing Weekly | Schneider CPC-Welt |
After the hysteria generated by a scandal-mongering Sunday paper over certain elements in Passengers on the Wind 1, I imagine that there is sufficient material in Passengers 2 to create a similar furore. Someone drinking the blood of a dying chicken spurts to mind. Passengers on the Wind 2 takes the five main characters from the previous adventure along with fifteen others to the shores of Africa. Unfortunately things aren't rosy after the escape from England and France John has gone mad(i), and Hoel has been secretly poisoned by Viaroux, because of a bet he had that he could seduce Hoel s friend, Isa. While Abbot Forissier corresponds with Saint Quentin in France about Isa's nobility which if proved would enable Isa and Hoel to return to France safely, Isa leaves Mary in charge of Hoel and goes off with Viaroux, Montaguere and Captain Doisboeuf to the Kingdom of Dahomey, to see King Kpengla, in the hopes that a cure may be found there (how she arrives at this conclusion is never explained) Confused? You will be As the party approaches Abomey. the site of the King s court, you take over the proceedings and attempt to garner help from the ugly bugger without offending him The screen is split into three mam sections with the general scene taking up the top two thirds. This section contains a panoramic view of the surrounding area mostly very well drawn. The bottom third is split between a snapshot of the current active character, switching and confirmation bars, and a panel for descriptive text and conversation. Occasionally blow-ups of characters In different poses appear on the mam screen to add variety or imply certain feelings that they may have and there are more interactive elements further on in which you control events on screen more directly. The game operates by swapping between characters who say or propose to do things, which you may or may not want to confirm If a character offers more than one opinion you can pick which one to go with, and suffer the consequences there- This is in essence, a multiple choice, graphics adventure. So, there are numerous endings besides the happy ones anticipated. Problems arise with this format when the subject of long term playability comes to the fore. The mid and end game situations can retain some freshness for a number of plays but the opening scenes rapidly become tiresome.
There are seven individual episodes all told, so if you haven't got a disc drive, oh dear Episode two is even shorter than the first. The conversation progresses in the usual confusing manner, Viaroux in a drunken stupor tries to assault Isa and is roundly condemned, there is a brief altercation over a slave girl and then it's back to the disc drive for episode three. And so it continues. Passengers on the Wind is based on the enormously popular French cartoon series, by Francois Burgeon, which has won numerous awards in its own country, and has been translated very well Rather loo well. I think, to the detriment of the game aspect A little more attention to gameplay instead of simply on the splendid graphics and style would have been appreciated As a side point, the cartoon series is a lot more risque than anything that appears on screen, undoubtedly why WH Smiths refused to stock the hardback book Still, if you are interested in rather an unusual graphics adventure, then Passengers on the Wind 2 presents an intriguing, entertaining, and occasionally frustrating, experience. PS, David, you owe me a drink for this. Duncan Evans, PCW |
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Page créée en 070 millisecondes et consultée 7818 fois L'Amstrad CPC est une machine 8 bits à base d'un Z80 à 4MHz. Le premier de la gamme fut le CPC 464 en 1984, équipé d'un lecteur de cassettes intégré il se plaçait en concurrent du Commodore C64 beaucoup plus compliqué à utiliser et plus cher. Ce fut un réel succès et sorti cette même années le CPC 664 équipé d'un lecteur de disquettes trois pouces intégré. Sa vie fut de courte durée puisqu'en 1985 il fut remplacé par le CPC 6128 qui était plus compact, plus soigné et surtout qui avait 128Ko de RAM au lieu de 64Ko. |
