Back in the mid-80's there was a genre of play that defined a generation, and that was the adventure game. Primarily released on PCs the adventure game was an one part problem solving, other part choose your own adventure. These games would push the limits of sound, programming, and design for all that was thought impossible at the time. They were smart, funny, and well written with stories of pirates, tentacles, and mystery. But then one day, they just disappeared. Seemed as thought with the rise of the console market and the advent on such games as Sonic and Mario it was just too much for the market to bare.
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| What? Never seen a Fairy Godmother before? |
Nowadays the adventure games market is a very small nich and is only ever filled my indie devs looking to reignite the flame of yesteryear. One such developer is Realmforge Studios with their title, Ceville. Ceville is the story where you (Ceville), are a dictator that gets overthrown and must now reclaim your former title and get revenge on all those that stand in your way. Many games in recent years have tried to revive elements from the adventure genre by merging them with others. Such as in the case of Psychonauts or the Metroid Prime series. But Ceville is a pure adventure game through and though.
Ceville is one of the best adventure games I've played as far as a story that was charming and funny. Much like in the old days of the LucasArts games when everything was good. The setting is that of a fantasy word with elves and dwarves, but also a fairy tale world with Alice (from Wonderland) and the fairy godmother. Which makes a good mix with the curl humor of Ceville, making it all the more satisfying. The game is also full of little references to other things such as books, movies and other games. Some form other popular adventure games as well.
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| Totally not a reference to anything. Moving on. |
All those nice things said who would I be if I didn't tell you what the bad was all about. First off I found that if at any point you might do a layover of the screen, such as the world map or the option menu, the game would stall on it. I had to restart the game whenever this happens and it happened about 9 times. The other problem that I had was that I could not see the cut scenes between chapters. I could hear them, but that was about it. I did look them up on YouTube and they were nothing but transition scenes that added nothing to the story, so no real loss. For the most part I think that that problem was something on my end. Also running never worked the way it should have and I was half way thought the game before I found out that by double-clicking you can teleport to something in the area instead of waiting for them to walk to it.
The game took me about 9 hours to beat and has a lengthily story that helps convey that there is no such thing as a perfect system and that maybe things don't work as they should. If you want a good time and have the $10 for it I would have to say that this is a must buy for any fan of gaming.
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