Paradise

List Price: $19.99 Discount Price: $9.99

Features:

• A benchmark in art direction: Benoit Sokal, creator of the award-winning Syberia series contribute
• Unique Storyline: Ann Smith, estranged daughter of an African dictator, loses her identity and must
• Unique Setting: First Adventure game to feature landscapes of Africa as a backdrop
• Play as the leopard: When day turns to night, players become the leopard and move in real time, clim
• Puzzle solutions are seamlessly embedded into the story: For example, players must find a way to spe

Accessories:
PC Gamer (1-year)	Games for Windows: The Official Magazine

Customer Reviews:

Dark & Gruesome Story with Average Puzzles [Posted on 2007-03-10]
This game definitely has a dark story, rife with death. There were several things about gameplay that were frustrating. First, there is a lot of talking, and sometimes, characters will keep repeating the same thing to you for a given topic instead of considering the topic "closed". At the same time, the game will not allow you to skip over the dialog--you have to listen to the character speak it in full each time. Also, movement was a bit tricky at times. I would click on the right side of the screen and Ann would turn and move left! I also do not like games when you need to walk to the edge of the screen to find out that the scene will scroll horizontally instead of using the cursor to indicate that part of the scene is off the screen. Note that there is also a bug that can cause a crash during part of the game, so be sure to download and install the patch from Ubisoft.

Very interesting [Posted on 2007-05-17]
The game is absolutely well done. The scenes are great. You will go through a different Africa. With different animals and it's kind of spooky. But I really enjoyed. Specially visiting the Tree People. The character, Ann Smith is very smart and beautiful. No, it's not a free will game like some I played before where you can go anywhere and get lost. It' click and go. The story is very strong. A girl princess who comes back to Africa after so many years and lose her memory. And she has to go around many things to get where she needs to be. With no memory. Just information people give her around the places. The leopard is fun and pretty, if you decide to play with him. It's like a movie, but you move the character to find out the answer of the plot. And the end is like a movie... enjoy. It's a great game, with a good story, and different characters. The end... you judge it.

Stay away [Posted on 2007-07-05]
If you're looking for a new game to play, go buy Syberia instead. Or Syberia II. Or just put your money on the floor and set fire to it, because that's effectively the same thing as spending it on Paradise.

The other reviews are spot-on--while the graphics (particularly the pre-rendered backgrounds) are luscious and the story is interesting, the gameplay itself is terrible. Playing in the third person as Ann, you are reduced to pixel hunting over and over again because of glitches; sometimes you can find the hotspot, sometimes not. Even with the patch, my game hangs, freezes, and crashes with depressing regularity. Conversations are jerky and for some reason I repeat the same questions to certain characters endlessly. I never could play as the leopard.

Bottom line...while I loved Benoit Sokal's earlier games, this one is a dud.

Terrible - full of bugs, puzzles are stupid [Posted on 2007-07-07]
I can't believe Ubisoft put out something like this. It's terrible. From the same company that put out Myst games, this is what they've come up with???

We played this game and got so frustrated with how buggy the game was that we almost quit altogether - but if we had quit it would mean that the game beat us, and our egos kept us going.

Example of a bug: At one point we were talking to one of the characters and accidently terminated the conversation earlier than we had intended to. At that point we were stuck, it wouldn't let us talk to him again and he needed to give us an object to continue. We had to go back to an old saved game to even continue.

Another example: If you don't do EVERYTHING in order, including talking to the right people at the right time, you can mess up the flow and get yourself stuck.

It's terrible, it was like it was debugged by my 4 year old. And that is almost an insult to my 4 year old.

Skip this one. Seriously.

Not Up To Benoit's Standard [Posted on 2007-07-27]
The only clue that this is a Benoit Sokal game is the sketch book like the one in "Amerzone." Otherwise you would think that this is a creditable first time effort by someone. The graphics are average. The plot is cumbersome and tepid. The dialogue is pointless.

The first rule of a storyteller is to get the attention of the audience. Here, that is not true. The game starts off with several hours of puzzles which serve no purpose. Imagine congratulating yourself on solving some five or six puzzles only to find out that they were totally unnecessary. Not an auspicious beginning to a game. When the story finally starts, it is rambling and uncertain. You wonder exactly what this game is about after all. This is completely uncharateristic of a Sokal game.

There is a black leopard in the game. Here, Sokal is at his best. The representation is amazing. However, that is the only interest in the game. It is my belief that all the effort was directed to the sketch book and the leopard, and then a game was tacked on.

This is not a bad game, but it is one that you will find easy to put down.

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