Ripley's Believe It or Not!: The Riddle of Master Lu

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Description

In this game, you control a historical character, Robert Ripley (1893-1949), a famous traveler and collector of rarities. One day, during a travel in Egypt, Ripley was attacked by mysterious Chinese assassins. The trail leads him and his Chinese girlfriend Mei Chen to the Forbidden City of Beijing. There he becomes involved in a mystery that will take him to exotic locations all around the globe.

The game plays like a traditional puzzle-solving adventure. Ripley will have to talk to various people, searching for information, but the main emphasis of the gameplay is still on puzzles, mainly inventory-based. The game features live actors filmed over pre-rendered backgrounds. Cut scenes are often presented as full-motion movies shown in small screens with close-up on the actors.

Screenshots

Promo Images

There are no promo images for this game

Alternate Titles

• "Ripley's Croyez-le ou non ! L'Enigme de Maître Lu" -- French title
• "Ripley's Believe It or Not!: L'enigma di Master Lu" -- Italian title
• "Das Rätsel des Master Lu" -- German title

Part of the Following Groups

• Live action cut-scenes
• Setting: City - New York
• Setting: Interwar

User Reviews

Proof that infamous word "video trash" doesn't have to mean bad games	DOS	Hannu Siivonen (18)
A underappreciated romp into the life of a real life Indiana Jones!	DOS	sultan12 (6)

Critic Reviews

PCMag.com	DOS	Nov 13, 2001		100
PC Action	DOS	Apr, 1996	90 out of 100	90
Computer Gaming World (CGW)	DOS	Jan, 1996		90
Quandary	DOS	Jan, 1996		90
PC Games (Germany)	DOS	Nov, 1995	90 out of 100	90
Power Play	DOS	Dec, 1995	87 out of 100	87
Adventurearchiv	DOS	Mar 04, 2005	80 out of 100	80
PC Player (Germany)	DOS	Dec, 1995	80 out of 100	80
OK PC Gamer	DOS	Feb, 1997	80 out of 100	80
World Village (Gamer's Zone)	DOS	1999		80

Forums

Topic	# Posts	Last Post
William Lee	5	Terok Nor (26887) Jul 03, 2013

Trivia

In the metal dealers alley in Peiping there's a sign with Chinese writing on it. It's a clue suggested by Richard Hescox (background design), and translated by one of the programmers, who was from China. The clue is "sekops eht esu" (spoiler, so written backwards).

Related Web Sites

• A Sequel To The Riddle of Master Lu? Believe it or Not! (Interview with Lee Sheldon about a sequel to Master Lu that didn't make it past pre-production.)
• DOSBox Setup (Inferno explains how to use DOSBox to play this game on your Windows system.)
• Game Nostalgia (Provides extensive background info for The Riddle of Master Lu, with pictures of the cast and examples of voice-overs, full credits with shots and info about the design team, a demo of the game, specific details about the game, various goodies, all musical themes, shots of every location in the game, saved games, a list of reviews, including a "nostalgic "review and tech specs. )
• UHS Hints-Page for the game (The Hints-Page on UHS)