Windows

The Ward

Thoroughly entertaining and challenging from start to finish. Highly recommended to everyone who likes science fiction and puzzle solving. Novice gamers may have trouble with numerous timed puzzles.

By far the best thing about The Ward is its storyline. Its better if you don't read it in the booklet but rather allow the game to unfold it for you. I don’t want to give anything away here but in the words of the creators “The final revelation will take your breath away”. While they're is plenty of conflict within the game fighting and conquering is not the goal. This makes the ward a departure from many of your standard science fiction games where the goal is based around the eradication of others. It is a game full of plot twists and ulterior motives. In the end one man will control the fated of the universe. The Ward is a game of discovery and I'm glad I discovered The Ward.

THE WARD, trzeba od razu przyznać, jest grą wysokich lotów. Nie widzę możliwości, aby produkt ten przeszedł bez większego echa. Nie twierdzę, że jest to gra roku, że na pewno w przeciągu najbliższych miesięcy nie pojawi się nic równie godnego uwagi. Staram sie zwrócić uwagę na fakt, że autorzy THE WARD odwalili naprawdę kawał dobrej roboty i oddali w nasze ręce produkt, który daje nam wiele godzin naprawdę wspaniałej i interesującej zabawy. Brak nudy gwarantowany.

De muziek daarentegen is wel erg spannend en sfeerverhogend en gelukkig houden ook het verhaal en de gameplay The Ward nog redelijk overeind.

Je kunt veel plezier beleven aan The Ward, maar je moet daar tegelijk wat frustratie om de verkeerde redenen bij nemen.

But what more would you ask of a budget priced offering? That The Ward provides several hours of fairly good entertainment for less than a twenty spot alone earns it two gnarled, muscular PC gaming addict's thumbs up. Whether or not this amusing yet visually outdated bad boy actually brings home the bacon for On Deck Interactive is another story entirely; horror, not sci-fi, mind you. Although the suits will surely scream bloody murder, the rest of us will benefit marvelously from the launch of their new retro style point n' click escapade. Besides, enjoy it while it lasts, buckaroo, 'cause any hopes for a sequel or spin-off of this sci-fi shenanigan will likely burn up long before they reach orbit.

Merkwürdige Welt: Woran liegt es, dass die Entwickler ansehnliche Rendersequenzen und atmosphärische Szenarien hinbekommen, während der Akteur agiert, als hätte er mehrere Stöcke verschluckt? Zumindest besteht der Rest des Spiels aus solider Adventure-Kost für den gemütlichen Feierabend – ohne größere Highlights, aber auch ohne unzumutbare Schwächen. Wer unbedingt mit Außerirdischen hantieren will, ist bei den Stupid Invaders allerdings besser aufgehoben.

Es gibt immer wieder Dinge, die ich nicht verstehe. Wenn Spieldesigner etwa den schweren Hammerteil gleich an den Anfang packen, um es danach lockerer angehen zu lassen, dann ist das etwas, das ich wohl niemals begreifen werde. Im Vergleich zum auch nicht ganz leichten The Longest Journey zeigt "The Ward" aber noch weitere Schwächen: Die Grafik scheint um mindestens eine Generation hinterherzuhinken, die Geschichte wirkt grob skizziert. Die streckenweise schlampig übersetzten und fehlerübersäten Texte tragen auch nicht gerade zu einem positiven Gesamteindruck bei. Und doch schimmert ab und zu Potential durch, das hoffen lässt: die durchaus vorhandene Spannung etwa oder die gut funktionierende Steuerung seien als Beispiel genannt.

There... With some more effort, especially in the field of graphics, this game might have been something much better... This way, The Ward remains a classical outdated adventure, which will have a hard time on the market. Hard-core fans are sure to appreciate it, but I guess the rest can just give this one a miss...

The Ward goes right back to such dead-on-their-feet classics as Beneath A Steel Sky or the more recent Sanitarium and In Cold Blood, going for a dark, brooding atmosphere, logical and unwacky puzzles and plenty of moments where the main character can get killed. The story is pretty unimpressive too: a mission to the Moon goes horribly wrong, all your crewmates are killed, there's a space station littered with bodies and crawling with aliens, the future of mankind is at stake, yadda, yadda, yadda. The interface is functional enough, but the whole thing smacks of being three or four years old and there is little incentive to blunder your way through the textbook puzzles. It's a shame the dialogue isn't voiced because, judging from the comical quality of the intro's acting, it would have been a laugh a minute in a way that the lamentable Arcatera was.

Die Bilder im Vorspann des Science-Fiction-Adventures machen Lust auf mehr: Eine Mission auf dem Mond geht schief, als eine unbekannte Macht sämtliche Crewmitglieder dahinrafft und David Walker als einzigen Überlebenden hinterlässt. Die anfängliche Dynamik verschwindet aber schnell, wenn Sie die Kontrolle über den Protagonisten erlangen und sich durch die Alienbasis klicken müssen.

I am sure there are adventure purists who will enjoy The Ward more than I did. It's certainly a breath of fresh air for those who think adventure games have gotten too easy. Those who enjoyed the baffling mysteries of Dark Side of the Moon; those who thought the puzzles in 9: The Last Resort to be too mundane and obvious; or even those who finished Drowned God in one day might consider The Ward a feast of challenging puzzle-solving.

Overall, The Ward was a competent adventure game with a wonderfully dark atmosphere that drew me into the game, and kept me there. While the story is poorly told, the puzzles are mostly well thought out, and the story progresses at a solid pace. The grammatical and writing errors aside, the clumsy box ignored, The Ward came bearing a fist full of real-smelling flowers. So when looking this game over, try not to be too afraid of the box. There’s more to it than meets the eye.

On the whole The Ward really didn't need to resort to timed sequences. The puzzles (yes, even the sliders) were interesting enough and some of them were very difficult - especially coming to grips with the gadgetry such as the 'memorizer' and working out exactly what you had to do. It's a shame that I can't be more positive about this game as I thought the first section was quite good and I was really prepared to enjoy the challenge and the exploration but too many frustrating timed sequences spoiled the experience.

The Ward est un jeu classique qui n'apporte strictement rien au genre des jeux d'aventure. La partie action n'est pas assez étoffée et la collecte d'objets finit par ennuyer profondément même le plus tolérant des joueurs. Avec sa réalisation d'un autre âge et l'incroyable médiocrité qui suinte de tous les pixels de ce jeu, The Ward est un titre à oublier. Espérons qu'il ne sorte pas en France...