Windows

Chronicles of Mystery: The Scorpio Ritual

Chronicles of Mystery: The Scorpio Ritual es una aventura gráfica de gran calidad, donde su mayor defecto es lo excesivamente obvio de su linealidad. A nadie le gusta conocer su futuro tan de antemano, menos aún en un videojuego. Además, su planteamiento es sencillo, lo que no evita que nos veamos rodeados por rompecabezas y enigmas complicados. Sin lugar a dudas, uno de los mejores representantes del género en los últimos años.

Overall, I really enjoyed Chronicles of Mystery: The Scorpio Ritual, but I was shocked by how quickly it ended. Indeed, I felt that I was only halfway or less through the game when the credits rolled. The game should have been at least a few hours longer so to bring the ambitious story to a more satisfying conclusion. Nevertheless, I would still recommend this game to adventure game fans, especially fans of ancient mystery and history.

Hardcore adventure fans might want to get this game, but only if you are looking for another DaVinci Code-story clone. If it is intriguing and unique puzzles you are looking for, you might be disappointed. Other gamers who only dabble in the genre, on the other hand, should enjoy The Scorpio Ritual a lot more, and as long as you can get past the occasional translation issue, you should give it a chance.

With an intelligent heroine and variety of exotic settings, The Scorpio Ritual reminded me at first of my favorite adventure games like Syberia and The Longest Journey. If only it could've sustained the comparison! The web of danger was drawing me in, the mystery was getting thicker, I couldn't wait to see what would happen and then...the game ended. So abruptly in fact, it felt like the development team ran out of time and was ordered to wrap up multiple unresolved narrative threads via cutscene in two minutes or less. Ultimately the end failed to live up to the game's initial standard of quality and that's not only a disappointment, it's unfair to an otherwise excellent title.

Chronicles of Mystery may be lacking in the excitement and action departments, but it’s and otherwise well-constructed adventure. Though the ending works, many players who enjoyed the tense sleuthing leading up to the game’s climax will find it disappointingly anticlimactic. Still, players who’d rather flex their brains instead of their trigger fingers should derive a solid amount of enjoyment from this mystery.

Um ein nach meinem Geschmack sehr gutes Adventure zu sein, dafür ist das Vermächtnis einfach zu kurz und zu „mainstreamig". Ich bin nicht mal sicher, ob es in dieser Ausformung Genre-Neulinge anfüttern könnte. Das brave Vermarktungsrezept für dieses Spiel schien zu sein: Man nehme eine hübsche Protagonistin, eine Prise Mystik, einen Esslöffel biblisches Leitmotiv, fünf Gramm Tempelritter, professionelles Artwork in Sachen Grafik und Synchro, eine solide Programmierung – ach ja, und – beinah vergessen – ein Kistenschieberätsel! Zack, schwarze Zahlen!

The Scorpio Ritual has all the features that a good adventure game should and ties them all together with a great presentation. If the idea of an adventure-bound archaeologist searching for mysterious lost treasures sounds appealing, well, look no further; this game has all that and more. Just don't expect a great ending.

Me, I don’t mind the occasional nice, easy adventure. And ultimately I think that’s a fitting description of the game as a whole: nice and easy. Pleasant while it lasts, but very, very short. While The Scorpio Ritual doesn't overtly hint at a sequel, there are certainly plenty of story opportunities left to explore, and I for one hope we’ll get to see Sylvie again in a longer adventure.

Chronicles of Mystery The Scorpio Ritual is a good game for a few hours of adventure game fun. Players in-between games at the moment may want to pick this one up and play. Best for people who don’t require mind-boggling conundrums and who enjoy exotic locations.

Mamy więc do czynienia z przygodówką, która miała szansę być naprawdę fajnym, wciągającym tytułem i taka jest – pomijając nieudolne zakończenie i krótkość gry. Jeśli więc przymknąć na to oko i nastawić się na to, że zabawa długo nie potrwa, to można zupełnie przyjemnie spędzić czas z Rytuałem Skorpiona.

I haven’t yet played City Interactive’s other recent game, Art of Murder, but on the strength of this I certainly intend to. There is nothing startlingly different in The Scorpio Ritual, but it does everything pretty well and provides a solid (if perhaps a little brief for some players) gaming investment.

Despite how it is resolved in the end, Chronicles of Mystery's rocky start doesn't mean that Sylvie's adventures are over, and as a budget title, it might be an ideal introduction for newcomers to the adventure genre. Chronicles of Mystery: The Scorpio Ritual manages to partly succeed in introducing the world to a clever and adventurous character in Sylvie Leroux, and while she's got a long way to go before she can catch up to Niko from Revolution's Broken Sword series, there's enough potential for future installments to see her on a much longer episode of hidden secrets and ancient mystery.

Mogę wiele wybaczyć twórcom, ale jeżeli przechodzę grę i nie wiem na końcu o co chodziło, ani właściwie po co ta cała przygoda miała miejsce, to coś jest nie tak. Nie mówiąc, że gra jest regresem w stosunku do poprzedniczki. Gorszej jakości filmiki, słabsza animacja, mniej postaci, zagadek i wątków fabularnych – to wszystko sprawia, że Rytuał Skorpiona może zawieść nawet najwierniejszego fana przygodówek. Do tego dochodzi skandalicznie krótki czas grania. Niecałe trzy godziny to stanowczo za mało. Co prawda większość osób przejdzie grę raczej w czasie pięciu, sześciu godzin, ale i tak przy ośmiu Art of Murder to zdecydowanie za mało.

City Interactive’s talent – as well as an appreciation for the genre – is evident in the graphics, in the structure of the game and in the attention paid to puzzle construction, but it is lacking in the attention to small details that most often separate the ‘must play’ adventure titles from those soon to be languishing in the bargain bin. But if you can’t get enough of the Knights Templar - er Hospitaller -if a visit to the Vatican is on your virtual agenda and if you don’t mind a sense of déjà vu while adventuring, then grab yourself a copy of Chronicles of Mystery and hunker down for an evening of entertainment that will feel like a blast from the past.