AMBER: Journeys Beyond

The Good
The creepy, haunted house atmosphere that this game creates is very effective. Most of the QuickTime FMV cut scenes are very well shot and well acted. Contains some very cool scripted sequences.

On a technical note it is worth mentioning that this game was developed entirely in Macromedia Director, which is a tool frequently used to make interactive business presentations. This may not sound impressive now, but when this game was released in 1996 Director was a far less suitable tool for game making than it has since become.

The Bad
Due to the inherent limitations of the game engine (i.e. Director), the transitions seen as you move about the game world are extremely choppy.

Like almost all first person perspective adventure games of this type, there are no characters to interact with in the game world. After a while, you start to feel a little lonely.

Puzzles are mostly of the variety that require you to root through your inventory until you find the correct item to use.

The Bottom Line
Worth a look if you loved Myst or you managed to play more than five minutes of Temujin without hurling your mouse out the window. Well written, engrossing story accompanied by mediocre gameplay.