Reviewed by Mr.
Bigglesworth on 10/26/00
Article
Discussion Forum
First
Impressions:
"What
is this? And what have I gotten myself into?" That was first. What
I got was a CD shrink wrapped in its jewel case. After opening it,
I got a CD in its jewel case with a liner note that was only printed
on the front side. My expectations of the game pretty much dropped
through the floor at that point. The game managed to rebound fairly
well, though, as I loaded the CD. The first options you get are
to check and see whether or not your system is updated enough to
play the game. After loading the newest version of Direct X, I was
able to play the game directly off of the CD. That was a first,
for me, as there really weren't any significant performance issues
in doing so, largely due to the design of the game.
The basis of the game is to solve puzzles. Lots of puzzles. If you
like puzzles, you will probably like this game. The puzzles range
from almost impossible to figure out to easy enough for a child
to work. The author of the game touted it as a game that could be
played by any member of the family, with the only exception being,
maybe, the family pet.
Graphics:
Depending
on what you are looking for, the graphics were both stunning and
breathtaking or nothing much to look at. The functionality of
the game worked such that you move through the game over top of
a series of still photographs taken in the Australian rain forest.
This is also known as a first-person 2D adventure game, not unlike
Myst. So, if you enjoy nature scenes that don't move, you will
really love the look of this game. Each background is highly detailed,
and the pictures were taken on an excursion to Alligator Creek
Falls Park in Australia. If you don't like still photographs,
and you find that in order for a game's graphics to be considered
good there must be all sorts of texture mapping, and motion and
good use of light on computer generated characters, etc., then
you will probably be somewhat disappointed with Xiama.
I liked the graphics. The pictures of Alligator Creek Falls were
very nice, and the detail of the pictures was great. Each scene
also included some background sounds that would be inherent in
the particular setting, so that helped to draw you into the game.
Sound/Music:
The
sounds were not outstanding, but the use and/or placement of them
was. All of the sounds in this game were drawn from the wilds
of Australia, or perhaps the zoo? Nevertheless, the sounds were
very appropriate for whatever you were doing. If you were standing
near water, you would hear water running. If you were walking
through the woods, you could hear birds of all sorts cawing, cooing,
whistling and wooing. The sounds were very appropriate and added
to the game.
Gameplay:
As
mentioned earlier, the style of Xiama is a first-person two-dimensional
adventure game. This just means that you are not in a 3D world
moving around, rather, you see a static picture of a scene that
has hot areas on it for interaction. The puzzles in the game are
very enjoyable and interesting. I enjoyed all of them, even the
ones I didn't fully solve. There are several different kinds of
puzzle to play. There is a part where you have to reassemble a
song from its parts. Another puzzle involves reassembling a broken
camera. In total, there are 24 puzzles to solve. The gist of the
game is that you are meeting a friend at Alligator Falls, and
that friend has gone on ahead and has left some puzzles on the
ground along the way for you to solve. So, as you traipse through
enjoying the scenery, you come across this puzzle and that puzzle.
Some of these puzzles come in the form of a visible object, like
a card table, and others come in the form of a glowing point on
the board.
Overall, the style of play for this game is good. The puzzles
are spread out across the landscape of the game, and they proceed
in no particular order of difficulty. There is also a book which
can be accessed from within the game that monitors your progress
within the game, letting you know which puzzles you have completed
and what degree of success you have achieved, measured in points.
About the only nuisance to the game comes from the fact that every
time you load the game, even if you have saved your progress,
you must start back at the beginning of the path to get back to
the puzzle that you are working on. Fortunately, it doesn't take
too long to do so. As I stated before, I was also playing the
game directly from the CD. It is possible to load the game on
your computer and play from there, which might also increase the
speed of travelling through the game.
Enjoyment:
I
liked this game. I like puzzles, and the puzzles in this game
are not too difficult to figure out, as far as what you need to
do in order to solve them. The scenery was also an added bonus,
if you like pictures of nature and natural settings. This is a
good all around game.
Multiplayer:
This
game has no head to head multi-player component.
Overall
Impression:
A
good all around puzzling game. It had many different types of
puzzles to choose from. There was little documentation included
with the game. None, actually, but it wasn't hard to figure out
what to do and how to do it. Also, there is a website contained
on the CD that provides information on controls and commands.
It is the same website available on the internet, although the
internet site has grown from that which is available on the CD.
Marketing
Efforts Towards Women:
There
are no marketing efforts either for or against women in the game
Xiama.
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