China by Cryo does a remarkable, almost eerie job, of recreating The Forbidden City in Peking as it existed in the 18th Century AD. As you play the game you get a real sense of the city's vastness, its complexity, and its unity of design.
This unity, in fact, adds a great challenge in simple navigation. By that I mean that all of the buildings look very similar, and so you have to be very careful to figure out where you need to go. Thankfully, the game offers several effective resources to help in this regard, from detailed maps to "jump to" features to building indices.
Additionally, the game gives you a vivid sense of the way the royal court worked, politically, socially and ritualistically. The conversations are full of the rich formality of Chinese court speech of the period, and its authentic feel adds greatly to the immersive quality of this game.
In this first-person point and click game, you play a newly-promoted royal investigator who's assigned by the emperor himself to solve the mysterious death of a highly-ranking eunuch. The emperor gives you until sundown to solve the mystery - no pressure!
The storyline is actually quite intriguing, involving forgery, theft, blackmail and treason. The game is extremely linear, as your character follows a ribbon of clues left in various parts of the City.
Manufacturer's description:
ANCIENT WISDOM SAYS TRUST NO ONE
Experience everyday life in the Forbidden City in this 3D adventure game that takes you back the heyday of Imperial China.
It's early one summer's day in the year 1775. A terrible crime has just been committed. The Emperor - the illustrious Qianlong - wants you to find the assassin and avenge this insult to the Throne.
Startling discoveries await you amidst the splendour of the interiors and gardens, the deviousness of the eunuchs and the intimacy of the imperial concubines, as you uncover a web of treason that threatens the lives of thousands.
3 Ways to Experience Imperial China:
- Game
- Virtual Visit
- Encyclopedia
Features:
First person perspective
3D graphics
Cartoon graphics
Imperial China theme. |
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