
		Atlantis III aka Beyond Atlantis II
	Original Review by Sara, July 2002 Translated February 2003
	Grade 6
	The names of the games in the Atlantis series are a bit tricky. In Europe the games are simply called Atlantis I to Atlantis III. In North America the first Atlantis game did not sell too well so they decided to name the sequel Beyond Atlantis. To be consistent (?) the third part in the series was called Beyond Atlantis II. Well, enough about this and over to the game. In Beyond Atlantis II the main character is a young, beautiful, female archaeologist (are there any other kind?) who is looking for remains from the ancient Egypt. Little does she suspect that she really has been dragged into a search for Atlantis. There is a lot lacking in the logic of the story, but I think I will be nice and just establish the fact that in this game the story is not the important thing. In parts it is a bit freaked out, but none the less, the story offers an excuse to travel through a number of different environments that contains all the elements that adventure gamers love. The graphics are very good and the choice of scenery is, if not original, at least entertaining and interesting. The voice acting (in the Swedish version) is ok for a translated Cryogame. An odd thing though, is that everyone has a different dialect. To hear an Arab princess speak skånska (a dialect from a southern part of Sweden that many consider to be kind of corny), or a Tuareg that speaks dalmål (a dialect from a northern part of Sweden that - if possible - is even cornier) are things you have to have patience with if you want to play Atlantis III. A few technical problems are also a normality when playing a game from Cryo. That was the case this time as well, even after installing a patch. The puzzles are varying. You stumble on everything from pure inventory based puzzles via mystlike to arcade sequenzes (easy ones!!!) and of course the mandatory maze. The variation of the puzzles enhances gameplay substantially. If you die, which you do to and fro, the game automatically restarts at the exact point before you made the deadly mistake. This feature makes the gameplay easier because it means that you don't have to save, load and replay all the time, and can focus on the real problems instead. The game is played in a first person perspective while the video sequences are third person. To sum it up: This is a good game - despite the negative tone of this review. If you are able to disregard logical flaws in the story, a lot of different dialects and a couple of crashes to the desktop you will experience something that is a true adventure.					Screenshots






	Grade 6 Developer: Cryo Release: 2002 System specs Windows 98/2000 PII 333 8x CD-ROM 32 MB RAM 400 MB hårddisk Discuss this review at our forum