Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5356 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Dreamcatcher
• Released on: 2001-08-10
• ESRB Rating: Everyone
• Platforms: Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows 95
• Format: CD-ROM
• Number of items: 1

Features

• PC for DreamCatcher
• ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
• Adventure/ Role Playing Game
• Discover the secrets of the Amerzone jungle and the mystery behind the legend of the "White Birds""

Amazon.com Review
Amerzone: The Explorer's Legacy is a first-person role-playing game in the style of Myst,. You're cast as a journalist on an extraordinary quest. Inside a lighthouse in France, you find a magical egg, the progenitor of a race of white birds who spend their entire existence flying--from birth to death, without ever landing. Valenbois, the old explorer who lives in the lighthouse, stole the egg from a Central American tribe in a country called Amerzone. Now dying, he begs you to return the egg to its rightful home.

Puzzle solvers looking for a serious challenge will love Amerzone. The game takes you above the rain forest and under water as you seek to return the lost egg. Play is as much about sensory experience as it is about unlocking the mystery, with 360-degree environments that bring the jungle to life with lush visuals and crystal-clear sound. Often the story line seems like an excuse to draw you farther through what is essentially an interactive art gallery. The only catch is that there is no guarantee you'll get to the next gorgeous scene--that is dependent upon solving yet another brainteaser.

Players with a low tolerance for frustration may not enjoy the slow pace of this game. Each scene must be patiently searched, and it is easy to miss important clues or helpful objects. The journey is worthwhile, though, so stock up on patience and allow plenty of time to enjoy the trip! --Alyx Dellamonica

Amazon.com Product Description
The game whisks you from France to the far-off land of the imaginary Amerzone, in Central America. The player personifies a young journalist who discovers the legend of the mysterious White Birds. According to the legend, the White Birds guarantee eternal life and prosperity and were offered to the Native Americans as a gift from God. These amazing creatures are born, live, and die in the sky without ever landing. However, years ago, an explorer stole the originating egg even before the birds could be born.

Since that fateful day, the tribe has suffered under a merciless curse and to finally put an end to it, it is up to you, the journalist, to return the egg to its rightful owners. Embark on an adventure that will lead you through the Amerzone and bring you face to face with the secrets of the jungle.

Customer Reviews

Awesome game
Amerzone is a really engaging game. If you liked Syberia, Longest Journey, Myst, etc. and want to play another game in the same vein, try this one.

The storyline is interesting and the tasks are fun, although not very challenging. The "puzzles" consist of having and using the proper inventory items and they are pretty logical so you won't have to consult a walkthrough, and pixel-hunting is minimal. The only drawback was really that the graphics aren't up to par with those in more current game, so it is a bit distracting at times. The video cut-scenes are really pixelated, but obviously the game was made a while back so the graphics won't be like those you'll see in more current games. Otherwise, the surroundings and artwork are very beautiful and interesting. The game goes by really quickly (my boyfriend and I finished it after playing it a few hours for 3 or 4 nights). I gave it less stars due to how short it was. I think this game would be perfect for someone new to adventure games.

Pros: Logical and engaging tasks, little pixel-hunting, beautiful artwork

Cons: Extremely short, pixelated graphics, puzzles not very challenging

ancient pc technology
I can't really rate the game because the game engine was terribly outdated. I'm running a state-of-the-art pc and video board and this game barely worked at all. It was apparently designed for Windows 95 or 98... but even a computer-setting of Windows 98 didn't help one bit.

Probably a good story, but... forget it... it doesn't like Windows XP Pro!

If you loved "Syberia," you'll be sadly disappointed by "Amerzone"
Let me say at the outset that I rate Benoit Sokal's "Syberia" as my all-time favorite adventure game, and "Syberia II" pretty close. If I hadn't expected "Amerzone" to be a worthy successor, I might have enjoyed it more, but for me, most of what made Sokal's earlier games captivating and memorable is missing from this one.

There is no music. There are precious few characters, and no choices to be made in interacting with them. The voice acting is overdone for all but one character, and she says only five or six words. There is little reasoning needed and no puzzles worth the name; most of the play is pixel-hunting for a small number of objects to make the devices work. And the interface is inconsistent; in at least two places where you need to pick up an object, the game shows the "work on me" cursor instead of the reaching hand. Overall, the play is dull, and more frustrating than challenging.

More's the pity, because otherwise Sokal's genius is on diplay here. The settings are beautiful, if less bewitching and varied than in the "Syberia" games. Sound is magnificent. The creatures are brilliantly imaginative and great fun to watch. The hydrofloat is a charmingly implausible contraption. And although the game failed to draw me into it, the story is plenty intriguing.

My last gripe is the graphics. The resolution of the scenery has been compromised to allow you to pan continuously around each scene, and I think it's a bad tradeoff. I'd rather see a finite number of sharp, clean views (as in earlier games) than an infinite variety of pixellated ones. I think "Schizm" sets the standard here, with seamless, intuitive panning among razor-sharp scenes.

I give "Amerzone" three stars overall because it's a decent game in its own right. It has an interesting story, nice settings, and great sound and animals, but it's light on puzzles, heavy on pixel-hunting, and the interface gets in the way. I give it two stars for fun, because I expected "Amerzone" to captivate me as "Syberia" did, and it failed utterly. There's just too little breadth or texture in this game to do the job.