Humans have always longed to explore uncharted lands. The yearning for adventure and discovery seems to be at the core of our collective spirit. However, today’s sprawling populations have left us with few frontiers; certainly, none that are cost-effective for the average citizen. Perhaps this is why we find adventure games so compelling. They allow us to revisit exciting events in the past, travel to intriguing futures, and explore alternate realities, all from our desks (or even our sofas).
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Begin your adventure
Adventure games emphasize exploration and discovery. As you move around these new worlds, you’ll come across objects you can pick up or manipulate in some manner. It is your task to figure out the significance of these items and how they can further your quest. In some cases you’ll have to combine the items to overcome an obstacle. You might have to join a crankshaft to a pulley, for example, to raise a drawbridge. Other times, you may have to offer an item to someone (or something) to coax them to help you out. This can range from a mysterious book to a simple banana — in adventure games, the characters you encounter tend to have strange agendas of their own.
Modern adventure games spark our imagination without taxing our hand-eye coordination. Many titles feature simple point-and-click controls, allowing you to move about and examine objects with a few clicks of the mouse. This is markedly different from demanding action games that require you to hit an enemy exactly twelve times on the left foot while it attempts to smash you with an oversized mallet. In fact, a key facet of adventure gaming is the absence of health meters, medpacks, and defeat by death. Unlike action titles, adventure games are traditionally nonviolent quests where failure comes only through bad choices (and not by heavy artillery).
Entering new worlds
There are a host of adventure games available for the Macintosh, including the mesmerizing Myst series. Myst V: End of Ages (UbiSoft) brings the best-selling, critically-acclaimed series to a rousing conclusion in an adventure that offers not only stunning new Ages to explore but also new ways to play. Atrus’ daughter Yeesha and a mysterious newcomer named Esher help — and sometimes hinder — your journey through the mysterious underground D’ni city, where strange creatures roam.
Preparing for your journey
An enigmatic underworld also figures prominently in Penumbra: Black Plague (Frictional Games), a horror game with a physics engine that allows you to pick up just about any object and move it, throw it, attack with it, smash something with it, and more. The story stars Philip, who journeys to Greenland after receiving a package from his long-lost father. He soon finds himself lost in a mine, where scary creatures and even more frightening secrets lurk in the darkness. Philip has no weapons other than his wits and whatever he can find around him.
You’ll also need to keep your wits about you while investigating a mysterious murder among a cloistered order of medieval monks. Based on Umberto Eco’s classic novel “The Name of the Rose,” The Abbey tasks you with solving the crime and discovering why it happened. Main character Leonardo is a skeptic, but could whispers of supernatural goings-on in the library play a part in the answer? And what will happen when the Grand Inquisitor arrives to take over the investigation and accuses Leonardo of committing a crime?
Of Croft, Ankh, and Vampyre
Lara Croft returns to the Mac with Tomb Raider Anniversary (Feral Interactive), an enhanced remake of the original trendsetting game. You’ll find all of the environments you remember, but many of them feature new puzzles and other content sure to challenge both newcomers and long-time Tomb Raider fans. As you travel around the world, unearth Relics that allow you to unlock new outfits for Lara, a director’s commentary, and more.
Tomb Raider Anniversary’s many locales include Egypt, which is the setting for Ankh (RuneSoft), a game that borrows its sense of humor from the”Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” novels, the Monkey Island videogames, and more. A death curse sends Assil, son of a well-known pyramid architect, on a whirlwind adventure that includes a meeting with the god Osiris. The fun continues in a sequel, Ankh: Heart of Osiris, in which our hero wakes up in an alley, hung over and without his Ankh. Assil soon learns that his girlfriend Thara has left him, thanks to a suggestive letter from the Pharaoh’s daughter. Despite his penchant for making difficult situations even harder, Assil decides to reunite himself with the Ankh and Thara. By the end of the story, you’ll need to switch control to Thara and the Pharaoh to accomplish tasks.
Thara also helps her boyfriend succeed in Ankh: Battle of the Gods, which reveals that the Egyptian god Horus lives inside the ankh necklace. We also learn that Horus is the only god who can defeat Seth in the once-in-a-millennium Battle of the Gods. If Horus fails, Seth will plunge Egypt into chaos and darkness, so it’s up to that slacker Assil to save the day. Again. Solve new puzzles, meet funny new characters, and hope Thara is willing to stick with him to the bitter end.
If funny business is up your alley, be sure to also check out A Vampyre Story (Virtual Programming), which stars Mona, an aspiring opera singer who was kidnapped by Baron Shrowdy von Kiefer and turned into a vampire before he was killed. Mona desperately wants to escape Draxsylvania and return to Paris, but she’ll need your help solving puzzles, talking to other characters, and figuring out how to use the help of the bat Froderick.
The journey awaits
Adventure games don’t require exceptional hand-eye coordination or a lengthy commitment; instead, just a burning curiosity to explore the unknown. And once you immerse yourself in the lush beauty of an exotic world, you’ll realize that the journey truly is the reward.
