Windows

Road to India: Between Hell and Nirvana

I can honestly say that Road to India is the best adventure game that I've ever played. Of course, I rarely play adventure games, and most of the others are The Legend of the Prophet and the Assassin and The Mystery of the Druids, so that's not saying much. Nevertheless, Road to India: Between Hell and Nirvana accomplishes my most important personal goal: logical and reasonable puzzles and sequences. The story is pretty good as well, featuring a twist and then another. So, if you like adventure games (or even have a passing interest in them), Road to India is a smart choice. I just wish that the game was longer, because I actually had a good, entertaining time playing it. Too bad most adventure games aren't as good as this.

All in all, Road to India spins a good yarn, it looks nice, and it's fun to play ... but it is most assuredly too short and too easy. I would like to see the same team come up with another game that has more meat to it—they could probably produce a gold star effort next time around. Road to India is a recommended title for you first-person point-and-clickers, or you first-time adventure players, but don't pay too much. It amounted to about $10 worth of entertainment. For that price, it's a little jewel.

Road to India is geen foutloos game, maar het sleept je desondanks moeiteloos doorheen enkele fantastische locaties en verhaalmomenten.

While the story of "Road to India" plays in a period of 3 days, it will take the experienced player probably hardly more than 6 hours, beginners won't need more than 8 hours. That is fewer than few and there is in no relation to the price you pay. More and more you find this tendency in game developing circles to wake the appetite of the player on a complete menu and then leave him with only a hors-d'oeuvre, even if tasty.

Road to India faisait partie des jeux que j'attendais le plus car il faut bien avouer que le genre aventure n'est pas très représenté sur PC ces temps-ci. Malheureusement, le jeu est à l'identique de L'Amerzone : c'est-à-dire beau, prenant et intéressant mais à la durée de vie beaucoup trop courte. A réserver aux débutants.

There are a handful of problems with Road to India that, depending on your patience, may or may not annoy. The cursor moves at a less-than-speedy pace, with no option to adjust, and attempting to alter the mouse speed setting from within Windows did nothing to improve things. This is a no-no in my book, and there is no excuse for it. There were slow, and somewhat frequent load times between scenes, which I can only assume had to do with the 3D characters, and transitioning between “hubs” took a fraction of a second longer than it should have. I can imagine people with a slower computer than mine having further trouble.

Road to India has its share of ruts and potholes, but it will take you to truly memorable places. The story won't win a Pulitzer Prize, especially with its melodramatic ending, but for a game it's entertaining, thanks to its exotic setting and the emotional "hook" of trying to rescue a lover. The puzzles usually provide plausible challenges without becoming frustrating, though some may seem a bit too simple. While the game isn't very long (somewhere around 10 hours) and doesn't offer much replay value thanks to its essentially linear progression, it's a fine example of old-school adventure gaming with a modern presentation.

In general, I enjoyed playing Road to India, primarily because it moved along at a pace that sustained my interest in a story with a fair amount of tension, excitement, and historical interest. Although Road to India is clearly not a historical adventure in the manner that some of the Cryo or Index+/Wanadoo games are, it has a built-in historical reference: the legends of the Thugs and the goddess Kali. So for those of you that like an adventure that has a historical foundation, Road to India will add value to your game-playing experience.

So soll’s sein: Ein Render-Adventure, das mir von Beginn an sagt, warum ich die zig Rätsel lösen muss. Road to India hat eine klare, aber dennoch spannende und sich entwickelnde Story. Ein sympathischer Held und interessante Nebencharaktere, die Wichtiges zu sagen haben, machen das Geschehen lebendig. Dazu gibt’s ansprechende Szenerien und gut inszenierte Videosequenzen. Leider ist Road to India ziemlich kurz geraten und bietet geübten Knobelfreunden gerade mal Unterhaltung für einen Tag.

The best part of the game are probably sweet action-packed cut-scenes. Sounds are quite good too, though music seems to be very well done only during the cut-scenes. The game is extremely easy to play, unfortunately also extremely short - only 3 - 4 hours of gameplay :( Road to India is quite nice done adventure game, but also the shortest adventure game what I have ever played, that's way overall ratio is so low...

Während viele Wege nach Rom führen, präsentiert sich die Straße nach Indien als lineares, wenig aufregendes Render-Adventure. Sie suchen Ihre Verlobte, die im Land der Maharadschas von mutmaßlichen Anhängern des Kali-Kultes entführt wurde. Per Mausklick hüpfen Sie dabei von einem statischen Bild zum nächsten. Die landestypischen Kulissen, etwa Neu-Delhi, Taj Mahal oder der Tempel der Kali, sind ganz nett, die Bildqualität ist aufgrund von Unschärfe und niedriger Auflösung nicht optimal.

Despite my complaints, however, Road to India isn't a bad game at all - I quite enjoyed it. Though it's fairly simple it's no more simplistic than other recent releases such as Egypt II, in fact it's more difficult. Maybe it's just me, I'm wishing for a game with some complex problems to sort through, where I have to make decisions on how to progress so that things don't unfold so effortlessly. Road to India didn't provide this depth of challenge and I can only hope that the next title from Microids will be more meaty. In the meantime check out Road to India for an easier ride, because of this it's particularly good for new adventure game players. India is certainly a fascinating place to have an adventure.

Though Road to India is to be commended for presenting a different and welcome culture to gamers, it is also a game that can easily be completed by experienced adventurers in one afternoon. Even a newbie though should be able to fly through this game in under ten hours. In today's marketplace, you should not pay more than $20 for this game if you are to get any entertainment value for your gaming dollar.

Les Thugs sont une sorte de société secrète ou de secte apparue en Inde aux environs du 13ème siècle et normalement éradiquée vers l’année 1840. Leurs membres assassinaient sans aucune pitié les marchands et les pèlerins pour les détrousser, grâce à leur « roumal » (écharpe sacrée) dont ils se servaient pour étouffer leurs victimes. Leur action n’avait pas seulement un but lucratif mais aussi une connotation religieuse puisqu’ils commettaient leurs forfaits au nom de la déesse Kali, déesse cruelle de la guerre et de la mort. Kali à ne pas confondre d’ailleurs avec Khali, également indien certes, mais catcheur de 2,21 mètres et 185 kilos !

Fühlt man dem Adventure Road to India eingehender auf den Zahn, so bleibt leider nicht allzu viel, was einen Kauf rechtfertigen würde. Lediglich die leichte Bedienung und die schönen Zwischensequenzen, sowie vielleicht gerade noch der teils stimmige Sound sprechen dafür. Allenfalls Einsteiger in die Welt der Adventures können hier zugreifen, wenn ihnen vergleichbare Games noch zu schwer erscheinen. Gegen das durchschnittliche Road to India spricht aber auf jeden Fall eines: Das Spiel verheißt uns, die unvergessliche Stimmung Indiens in unsere tristen Hütten am nördlichen Rand der Welt zu tragen. Genau das kann es aber nicht einhalten, zu eindimensional, öde und leer wirkt Indien oft innerhalb des Spiels. So bleibt die Faszination des Orients fern und wir Nordlichter müssen wohl doch eines Tages selbst dort hinfahren.

In Road to India: Between Hell and Nirvana, players are thrust into a story of human sacrifice accompanied by great graphics and sound but, unfortunately, the experience is much too brief. While the plot is well thought out, no adventure game should be finished in less than four hours. Road to India was too quickly completed for it to be anything less than disappointing.