Anachronox as well as being the name of the planet where good Boots professes his private detective, is the title of the new game developed by Ion Storm for Eidos (remember DeusEx? Behold them!): Needless to say, this union would be futile to expect less than a masterpiece! But let's start from the beginning.
THE US-JAP RPG
That Anachronox is a RPG (role playing game) is beyond doubt: in it, in fact, we will be committed to guiding the various characters (seven of which Boots is only the first and unequivocal character) through the many environments, solving puzzles, arguing fighting, communicating with the people around us, making choices, engaging in mini-games such disparate yet to overcome the many obstacles that separate us from the rest of the plot. But as the most "navigated" gamers certainly know (and others I say) there are two main schools of role-playing video games: American and Japanese. The first has the characteristic of having a graphic as similar as possible to reality (limited to the setting choice, of course) and to keep the action always on the same graphics engine, both this isometric, 3D or else; also, under the -quests are usually designed as completely independent from the main plot, and therefore entirely optional (Daggerfall, and Baldur's Gate, by their sheer size, are typical examples).
The Japanese school, however, as sometimes the graphics related to reality (FinalFantasy8), tends to be full of games "superdeformed" or "Manga", and which were inspired by the comics and the cartoons, and provides for a drastic change of screen in the presence of fighting, the sub-quest also disrupting the characteristic of the structure of the game while remaining an integral part of the main quest, or extend along the whole adventure in extensive research super-fragmented (FinalFantasy7 with Chocobo racing on or the search of MasterMateria is the most obvious example).
Since Ananchronox (finally back to talk to him ...) an American game 100%, it would be logical to think that part of the first line, but the ION Storm have once again demonstrated their genius in devising a game that brings together if characteristics of both strands. So we will always have the same graphics in the games "normal" during the fighting, but during the latter will change the game interface (I come back to later), the characters and environments are so well designed that it seems real, but at the same time so absurd as to seem out of a cartoon than those that are broadcast on Pay-TV at 4 am, the main plot and the management of sub-quests will look like Japanese, but in every situation the setting will be typically Hollywood ...
In short: Anachronox can be defined exclusively (and honor) as the first US-JAP RPG, since successfully combines the characteristics of both philosophies.
SCI-FI OF ALL KINDS
The setting of the game draws heavily from the largest and most acclaimed works of literature and / or the American cinema. Aggirandomi crime in the streets of the planet Anachronox full of drug addicts, policemen and data-terminal armor, I could not help but think back to Gibson, Sterling, Dick and their cyberpunk novels, while discussing on a par with the strangest alien races seemed to be in a bar in Federation Space conceived by Roddenberry for his series StarStrek, and still traveling in hyperspace I was the star of a masterpiece of the "master" Isaac Asimov.
But despite all this, no one takes from the head to which the author most of all story-boarder were inspired by both Douglas Addams: this brilliant English writer and volcanic, unfortunately not too well known in our country, has captured the same references in its cycle of "the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", but added humor and madness in doses that make his novels among the most fun I've ever read. In Anachronox there is all this comedy (after all, the game must maintain a certain seriousness to be really interesting), but be prepared, however, to charge dall'esagerata humorous scenes, and to find more manic that you have ever seen in a video game.
CHARACTERS
The characters of Anachronox are seven, each specializing in the use of only one type of weapon and has special abilities. It can carry around only three at a time (early even less), but depending on the situation you may be forced to overcome an obstacle, to go back to the meeting point and change your Party, since their skills are absolutely unique .
SLY BOOTS is the protagonist of the story, and the first character that you will use (and that you will be forced to use for pretty much the whole story). When not too busy getting drunk is a skilled thief, and in combat uses futuristic guns and rifles. I forgot: looks a bit like '(... a bit' much!) Harrison Ford in the film BladeRunner.
GRUMPOS MATAVASTROS is a research scientist low, sturdy and long hair and beards ... In short: if you say it's a dwarf Fantasy novel you are not totally wrong! His ability to chatter will allow you to distract, confuse and exhausting more pedantic individuals with their own weapons. He fights with a long stick on which mounts spikes and blades of different sizes and malice.
PAL-18 was originally the android toy Boots, but his master did later change so that he could fight with his clawed hands and that he might interface with security systems, in order to be able to obtain information or simply bypass them. At the beginning of the story is in the office of Boots with dead batteries, but will not be long before you have to reactivate it.
RHO BOWMAN is a doctor branded as "heretical" by the scientific community for his revolutionary theories ... in fact his brain and his ability analysis (which used to solve mathematical puzzles typically) do not have equal in the known universe. But I do not think it's a pantofolaia: in case of danger will fight with great experience using the most advanced technology weapons.
THE FIFTH PERSON who will join the group will be a real surprise, and it will be "someone" absolutely unimaginable. The instruction does not mention at all, and also I have already ruined the surprise too: otherwise I will only say that fights with Laser long-range and that will have a tractor beam that can be used to pick up objects otherwise unattainable. Enough: I said too!
ANYWAY STILETTO is a mercenary, an expert in fighting with knives. His ability to "Launch Precise" will be very useful to activate sensors and switches are too far away to be able to put their hands. Once he had a tender relationship with Boots, but it was a long time ago ... When Fatima (see below) was still alive ...
PACO "EL Puno" ESTRELLA Finally, a superhero with tights and red cape fire ... or rather it was before the publisher went bankrupt and its Krapton comics would stop being published. Fighting through "techniques of heroic combat" (a cross between fight and wrestling, I'm afraid) and has the ability to break down the barricades with his "Super Fury". Unfortunately, he seems to have forgotten how to fly ...
FATIMA
Fatima Doohan (the "zeroth" character) was the very efficient secretary Boots, before his young life was cut short in fact is not reported. Boots, at that point, he scanned his brain matrix and had a transplant in Cordicom Lifecursor, ie a kind of arrow-shaped airplane that follows him wherever he goes, giving advice and providing information on things to which it is aimed. Said in earthly language, Fatima is our interface with the game.
Now is therefore the time to talk about what we can do and how.
EXPLORATORY PHASE
It is the phase of the game "typical". In this, we moved our group in the world through a visual semi-subjective. The character chosen as the "leader" will be followed by the camera, at an adjustable distance, while his companions follow him a short distance away and may actually perform a few actions: in addition to running to the right, left, forward and backward and turn on itself (using the mouse) will not have any other commitment. When will we stop running from one side to the other, appear here next to us the true Fatima (or better: the mouse pointer) we can move at the various objects with which we want to interact, such as doors to open, items to collect, people to talk to and so on (move the pointer close to the edge of the screen will still allow you to rotate the picture), activating ciccandovi above. Where in a given juncture bisognasse use a special ability (see below) will be required, once it is set as the leading character with that ability, combined with the pressed CTRL to mouse click by so doing you will enter the sub-game related the possibility of success or failure of the skill. The type of sub-game, of course, will vary from character to character, while its difficulties (normally the time available) will depend on the situation.
FIGHTING
When our road is crossed by a group of mortal enemies, characters and opponents will have in the intersections of a "virtual grid" in the place of the meeting and there will be a fight, while everything around us will continue its racing as if nothing had happened. This takes advantage of the now tested method of "shifts in real time" in essence, each character can perform an action each time TOT, TOT, which will vary depending on its features.
To symbolize the state of "ready" or "not ready", each character will appear around the icon of a ring that gradually fill with red: when it is completely full will turn green (symbolizing the "ready") and simultaneously appear to passage of Fatima, the icons with the possible actions you can perform. Among these we mention the simple attack, the shift to an adjacent node of the grid, the use of an inventory item, the activation of any levers or other mechanisms present in '"Arena" (rather rare event) and finally the 'Using a MysTech (see below) or ability to fight (I still see below).
The flight, in this game, is not covered: so be sure to be able to sustain a fight before wading into the fray: if not, you should take care with appropriate objects or even find a point where you can rest and "recharge".
NRG, SHIELDS AND MYSTECH
The NRG is an energy reserve that each character can be used with shields or MysTech. A shield equipped will provide additional points of damage at the beginning of each fight, but in return it will "lock" a certain amount of NRG (all shields are still adjustable).
Points NRG applied to the shield will be the "battery" we will draw energy to activate the MysTech: These are organisms minerals of unknown origin (apparently come from the future ...) that if sprayed NRG will have the effect that we can safely define "magic". The interesting thing is that NRG can be used both in attack and in defense, for example, the fire will burn MysTech the enemy or extinguish the flames of an ally. CAUTION: beginning of the game you will not find any MysTech, because it will take some (highly unlikely) event before these devices have some utility ...
The amount of NRG consumed for each use of MysTech is lost: it will be necessary to re-establish resting (in hotels, inns, etc ...) or restore it using the Glodents (= Glowing Rodents: Rodent sparkling, for the truth, NRG is right for Neutron-Radiated Glodents ... basically not charging NRG with Glodents, substituting the Glodent connected to the shield or MysTech with a new one ...)
ENABLE 'SPECIAL
Each character, as already said, has its own special ability that can be used in certain junctures. In these skills, however, will simply be "trained", and will not be able to counter the most challenging obstacles until they each find a mentor that will take them to the degree of "Masters". In addition, each character has the ability to "battle", that can only be used during a fight.
These skills (the first of which will be available soon found the character) will have many different effects on enemies, allies and the advantage of not consuming NRG, but it will take a long time to recharge, periods that increase with their effectiveness. New battle skills will be acquired with the increase of the level (see below).
MENU 'AND EQUIPMENT
From the menu of the game, the holographic projection of Fatima will allow us to display the current mission, to examine general information about the various places that will explore and, of course, to manage the equipment of various characters. Each character can use a weapon, a shield, a MysTech and two accessories, which may enhance its features, or giving him special immunity to various forms of attack. From the menu, also, you can examine the various characteristics of the character (attack, dodge, etc.) and experience points needed for the next level. These points (I'm sure you already know) you earn by defeating enemies and completing tasks and missions, to the achievement of certain thresholds, the character will level, improving its features and gaining sometimes new abilities to battle.
GAMES AND SUB-SUB-QUEST
As I have already mentioned, you will sometimes have to face in the game: for example, the simple use of a special ability equivalent to a mini-game, and in almost every bar of the galaxy is some kind of video- game (Sender Station, for example, there is a middle ground between "Pong" and "Arkanoid") to arbitrarily where you can spend all the time you want. Other sub-games will be made obligatory, such as moto water sewers mined or escape from the planet in the shuttle explosion. In all cases, the sub-games will make you forget to any previous interface, explaining how to act from time to time. Be prepared for many different things ...
With regard to the sub-quest, I saw just a little bit, but enough: there are special objects scattered in the universe, if all collected and taken to the right person, we will have new equipment, and this is a push to play with more attention, especially considering that some areas are explored only once, also many secret areas. It must be said also that have not reached the end of the game (... it's LONG!) So I can not say if further the structure of the sub-quest changes, my experience suggests, however, that many areas can be back through at will toward the end of the game.
GRAPHICS
The game uses beyond belief OpenGL support (make sure your graphics card supports these libraries!), Giving us a work meal graphically huge and beautiful. It is simply indescribable beauty of 3D models, maps, textures and effects of light and dark (especially dark ... I'm afraid to properly appreciate some screenshots you need to increase the brightness of your monitor ...).
I only noticed two problems: the first is the choice of only two resolutions, that is 640x480 (I personally find it too poor) and the "Double" 1280x960 (even too: So far I used the maximum 1024x768 ...), which can force a user "medium" (say, a PC than a couple of years) have to choose between dramatically beautiful graphics and smooth ... Fortunately, the fact that the fights are not real-time means that we can boldly opt for the high resolution, the second drawback is some BUG disparate typical graphics engine "new": simply put, once (and A ONCE) I've a character s'incastrasse with another model and then fell into nothingness, planting system ... it happens to the best: nothing is free from defects!
SOUND
The sound effects are top quality, because, very humbly (and slyly) programmers are "recycled" some sound banks of the beautiful DeusEx, and frankly I would not blame them (who played and especially HEARD DeusEx understand why. ..).
The music is typically atmospheric, very well done, relaxing during the exploration and pressing during the fighting. The only problem (again, there is only one ...): every time you load a zone (quite frequently), is also loaded on the sound track, regardless of the possibility that the previous area had the same .. . This causes a feeling of repetition in the ears, but I'd say it's more of an "oversight" of programmers. Sin.
LANGUAGE
The game is completely in English, on the contrary: in American Slang tight. And it is for this reason that it has not been translated, some puns are so "colorful" as to be virtually impossible to translate, or otherwise lose much of their verve if transposed into Italian. While this may not be a problem for the Americans, it will certainly be for those who do not have a firm grasp of the English language, written at least ... grin!
The characters are voiced only during the animated sequences (as in DeusEx no "Movies" but only "Animations"), probably because the dialogues are really a lot and the space requirements of both HD and CD would have increased dramatically, but I can ensure that the voices are nothing short of fantastic! With the help of the subtitle (optional) just seems to "hear with their eyes" what's going on!
GAMEPLAY 'AND LONGEVITY'
There is also need to talk about it? At this point I think he realized that the game is really beautiful from anywhere you turnarounds, and will keep you glued to the screen passionately for several hours.
In addition, there are three difficulty of the game (which only affect the fighting and the ability to save anywhere or less), so that newcomers will appreciate the power without going crazy, while those who want to replay could feel new emotions to the maximum level (and who knows what also does not change anything in the game itself ...).
LATEST dutiful CONSIDERATIONS
DeusEx was the "Game of the Year 2000" ... will this Anachronox aspire to the title of best game of 2001? I must say that the charisms necessary gave them all, but it is also true that there is already stiff competition (such as Black & White), and that before the end of the year are no other large outputs (one on all the colossal Morrowind).
Personally, right now I would vote!
You, meanwhile, buy it! Then will you let me know ...
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A year after the publication of "Game of the Year 2000" DeusEx, the combination Eidos-ION Storm returns to the assault with this new, sensational title. Abandoning the philosophy of Shot'm'Up 3D in favor of an interface that blends in styles if American and Japanese RPG, Anachronox draws on Anglo-American authors such as Asimov, Gibson, Sterling, Roddenberry, Dicks and especially Douglas Addams. The result is a fantastic RPG Offering guests with an excellent plot, surrounded by very interesting ideas and that pinch of Humor which is not bad at all. All at a technical level stunning. Certainly occupy a place among the top three games of 2001: do not miss it for the world!
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