Shivers Two: Harvest of Souls

The Good
Shivers: Harvest of Souls, while the second in the series, is not a sequel to the first game. It is a completely different adventure with a new location and totally new characters.

There are a few things that the two games have in common, however. For one, the sense of suspense and intrigue. As you explore the now vacant town of Cyclone, eerie clues are left behind which develop the characters and the story. The town has plenty of buildings to investigate and each has its own mysteries. The in-game map is a great time-saving feature and lets you travel instantly to places you have already visited.

In addition, there are oodles of interesting and unique puzzles of all types. Just finding them is a challenge. Some will frustrate you beyond belief, while others you will solve in a flash. It is great to be able to solve those puzzles at your own pace, mainly because the game is non-linear in nature. If you get completely stumped, the game will “auto solve” a puzzle for you, which is another nice feature (with a reduction in points received, naturally). The most memorable puzzle for me is the Chinese Checkers puzzle which kept me busy for days!

An unusual method of providing clues is used in Shivers 2. Because you are a member of a rock group, you will turn to the musical videos to find the most important clues to the puzzles and other problems you’ll be solving.

The Bad
I really liked the whole game, although some of the graphics were not as elaborate as some of the other games released the same year.

The Bottom Line
Overall, I liked the first Shivers better than this one. Standing on its own, though, Harvest of Souls is a very good game with turns and twists, varied endings, and changes in puzzle solutions. It took me a long time to finish, and I felt it was well worth the retail price.

The Good
Great graphics and panoramic navigation system. A good deal of all kinds of difficult puzzels. The music is simply the best of the genre, very atmospheric and moody. A very Dark premise and American Indian mythologies. The plot behind the game is actually quite deep. A lot of high-quality MTVs. An automatic puzzel-solving feature for the not-too-hardcore fans :)

The Bad
The puzzels are a bit too difficult, and they do not merge into the gameplay well. This game can be very frustrating if you do not want to use the auto-puzzel-solving... And it's just that classic Myst-like puzzel-solving game with not much innovations gameplay-wise.

The Bottom Line
An overall good classic Adventure game with a lot of difficult puzzels. The graphics and music quality is top-notch and the automatic puzzel-solving feature is welcome. If you are not a really hardcore puzzel-solving maniac, you may also want it for its MTVs... ;)