Summary
Nevada Smith goes from ancient pyramids to the Arctic
The Good
Arctic Adventure is the sequel to
Pharaoh's Tomb, a game where we see Nevada Smith discover the legendary tomb. Now six months later, he goes on a new journey, traveling across the Arctic to find four pieces of a map that a band of Vikings tore up, mainly due to their distrust in each other. When all map pieces are put together, it will lead Nevada to their cave containing their hidden treasures.
Nevada starts his journey by walking around an “Arctic Map”, consisting of twenty caves, all of which he can enter. The concept of entering levels this way is similar to those from early Apogee games like
Crystal Caves and
Secret Agent. But what is different here is that some of the caves are among locked passages, requiring keys to open. Furthermore, a boat is needed to travel across water that can lead to more caves.
Upon entering each cave, players must go to the exit, but it is not a matter of just going to it. You see, the exit is blocked by ice-blocks, and the only way to break them is by using a pickaxe. The path that players need to follow just to reach one is often difficult. There are a wide variety of hazards to worry about, and players need to avoid them at all cost. Like in the last adventure, players are equipped with a gun that can used to eliminate certain creatures. They can also be jumped over if the gun's bullet count is nearing zero. Nevada has unlimited lives, so there are are heaps of opportunities for the player to try not to make contact with them and successfully complete each cave.
Although
Arctic Adventure contain primitive CGA graphics, they match the game's Arctic setting. Each character and hazard is well animated, and the blocks that form the layout of each cave look good. I like the hidden messages that
George Broussard left in some of them, like the initials that he left in one bonus cave. In a later cave, he hinted what the secret cheat code is – by using blocks to write it.
Each of the four volumes only has text for the story and conclusion. I don't have a problem with this, as by reading the text I can picture what's happening in my mind. I knew what Nevada and his surroundings would look like. I did the same thing when I was reading the text in
Pharaoh's TombThe controls are easy to get used to. All players need to know is how to move Nevada left or right, how to jump, and how to fire his weapon. There are three different keyboard configurations to choose from, but if players aren't happy with each one, they can just use the arrow keys to control Nevada's direction and use the keys Z-M to fire.
There is no music in the game at all, and the sound effects are quite basic. However, I believe that for a primitive game like this one, some sound is better than no sound, even if it is basic for doing basic stuff like jumping or firing your weapon.
The best part of this game for me is jumping into blocks that are above me to see how many points I can rack up in each volume, and therefore outrank my previous high score. I also like in some levels Nevada has the opportunity to go down pipes leading players to bonus areas. It's a bit like
Super Mario Bros. all over again.
The Bad
In
Pharaoh's Tomb, players could save the game in up to nine slots, so that they can save at different points in each of its volumes. In
Arctic Adventure, however, players can only save to just one slot, giving them no opportunity to save at different points. And there is no “Are you sure?” confirmation message, just like that one that appears when you are about to leave the game. What if players mistakenly hit the key used to save the game, rather than load the game instead?
The Bottom Line
Arctic Adventure consists of four volumes. Players are presented with an “Arctic Map”, which they use to direct Nevada to a cave. Some passages leading to a number of caves require keys to unlock, and some caves cannot be reached without riding a boat through Arctic waters. Upon entering caves, players must go to the exit blocked by a series of ice-blocks, all of which can be broken using pickaxes. There are several hazards to worry about, and as mentioned earlier, the player is most likely to just walk on a platform without thinking of these hazards and get themselves killed when they are so close to the exit.
The graphics consist of a blue-and-white combination, matching the theme of the game. The sound effects are basic, but they get the job done. The controls are easy to get used to true, as there are only three keys the player needs to press.
Arctic Adventure is a great little game that fans of Apogee should play.
