Azurik: Rise of Perathia Review

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Azurik: Rise of Perathia

Review by Skinny MinnieFebruary 2002

There are some fine action/adventure titles for the newest generation of consoles. These games cause involuntary adrenaline surges as intense plot twists, unexpected attacks, and spoils of sparkling treasures for uniquely solved puzzles are served to the player.  These gems are so immersive that it is even worth discovering you are already half an hour late for work as your phone rings and your boss jars you back to reality … Unfortunately for Microsoft, Azurik isn’t one of these.

Not all console launch games stink. However, the only thing missing from the colorful plastic case that Azurik ships in is a clothespin for your nose. After getting both Obi Wan and Azurik, I am beginning to wonder why I spent $300 on a black and neon-green doorstop. I have a right to grieve.

As an avid action/adventurer, I had followed the progression of Azurik since its earliest screenshots were made available for perusal. The looks of this game were, and still are, incredible.  Adrenium put gobs of creative energy and time into crafting spectacular, flamboyantly colorful, truly gorgeous, and unique fantasy worlds for Mr. Bad Hair Life Azurik to adventure through. Unfortunately, the storyline, game play and horrid camera angles do not live up to the potential of the graphics in this title.

The extremely stripped down plot is told almost in its entirety during the opening cinematic of the game. The story poses Azurik as a fate-embracing Lore Guardian, the sole mage left in a quest for restoring order to the world of Perathia. Azurik’s former fellow mage, the suddenly gone-bad Bathizar, stole and scattered the four discs of the sacred elemental forces that he and Azurik were supposed to be guarding, then Bathizar himself disappeared.  It is subsequently up to Azurik to visit the four realms of their world, recover the four discs, and return each to its rightful place in the Temple of the Elements.

Over and over through four beautiful, spiritually uplifting realms called Fire, Earth, Air, and Water will you aimlessly wander, given little information except as regards certain sparsely placed mechanisms that require repair. You are never offered any explanation as to how they broke down, who put them there to begin with, or what their true function is. In your travels you will jump across chasms and attempt to tippy-toe across narrow bridges, frequently plummeting off them instead because of a horrid camera control system (explained in glowing detail below). All the while you must collect not only the lost discs, but also groups of colored jewels and glowing obsidian that are littered purposelessly throughout the landscape.

There are too few save points in Perathia, resulting in much backtracking when Azurik plunges to a lackluster death off of a cliff. There are also gold and silver circular portals that can be activated and used to shortcut from land to land, but these are few in number as well.

Besides the gem collecting, Azurik’s to-do list also involves killing 98% of the natural inhabitants of each realm in his own defense. These creatures are all inexplicably aggressive from the get-go toward their only Guardian, seeing as how their world will quickly fall to ruins without him. All killing is accomplished with the same few limited jabs from Azurik’s lone, double-bladed staff called an Axion. You do eventually pick up water, earth, air, and fire attributes for the blades of that staff, which do more damage and can be combined for interesting effects, but it takes half of the game to acquire these skills, and most enemies can be extinguished without them anyway. The same rewards are always offered for kills: boosts to Azurik’s health and refills of the various elemental powers for his staff. There will also be a final sparring showdown with Bathizar before the closing credits roll.

Each realm is a graphical showstopper, but awe escalates into fiery frustration at a white-hot pace. The main problem visually is with the camera control system. You must perpetually counteract the sloppy, swerving view of Azurik and his surroundings manually with a combination of the right analog stick and the left directional pad, using the right trigger to center the view behind Azurik.  All this must go on simultaneously while you are controlling Azurik and his weapon with the left analog stick and five of the six game pad buttons. I tried thinking positively: “Hey, after I finish this game I will be so coordinated that I’ll be a shoe-in for a new career defusing bombs and land mines for the military …”

I even tried to blame this aggravation on the behemoth size of the Xbox controller itself, which was obviously made solely for large, manly-man hands. In this vein, I shopped and found a smaller Xbox controller put out by Saitek called the Adrenalin Pad. The salesperson that rang up my purchase had the nerve to blurt out, “All of the third-party Xbox game pads suck!” To which I countered, “Well, it’s better than dropping that high-quality, factory original Xbox game pad every five minutes!”

Alas, even with a smaller controller, the only way I could keep an eye on both Azurik and the threats dwelling within the landscape was to zoom out to the farthest overhead view. That way, when the camera angle slid off to the left or right, I could still see what was going on as I adjusted the view. Only with Azurik more closely resembling a two-inch sprite from a 1998 RPG than his full-screen sized, visually stunning, tattooed self was I able to hack through this game. So much for appreciating the details of the graphic finery!

Even with the extended view, there were areas where Azurik and the enemies were oddly visible in otherwise pitch-black caverns, and it took patience once enemies were felled to find the way out again. When Azurik would turn a tight corner, a mad scramble would ensue to adjust the camera while attacking monsters surged forth from behind, out of view until they struck. Other times, Azurik would get stuck in repetitive thrashing motions, mainly underwater but occasionally also up against walls or corners.  The enemies in this game are extremely detailed and unusual, so much so that I suppressed a gasp here and there at the bigger bosses. Their varying looks and methods of attack are distinctive and filled with visual splendor. Some creatures fly and spit poison, some have huge, crane-like claws that scoop low toward the ground and strike with electricity, and others zigzag their way toward Azurik for a snack or zap him with tentacles. One shy, deer-like creature is friendly by day, only becoming a threat at night.

Azurik does swim up, down, and all around quite well, which is a plus as there are enemies under sea level to deal with as well.  Unfortunately, most of Azurik’s enemies have one commonality: They charge baldheaded at Azurik from wherever they lurk, which is oftentimes right out in the open to begin with. There are few surprises except due to camera angle frustrations, and the battles for the most part get mundane and overly repetitive quickly. Enemies also spawn again every time our hero revisits an area, which he is forced to do often, as keys must be found in other locales that will unlock new sections of certain realms before he can finish with them.

The sound effects are rather scarce, Azurik’s sparring grunt becoming the epitome of repetition. The baddies groan only occasionally, usually choosing instead to remain silent. You do hear Azurik’s footsteps as well as creaky bridges underfoot, and the water rushes down waterfalls, but there is little else. The musical score, however, is theatrical, bright, uplifting and strong, marred only by lack of enough variance.

Had the camera views been acceptable, I guess I could have recommended this title to those who care not about plot but love fabulous graphics, unusual monsters, and very basic, predictable, repetitive slash combat. Veteran consolers have played many a game with obligatory jewel collecting, so this aspect alone isn’t a real turnoff. Even the jumping and balancing acts on ledges are commonplace; it is mainly the futile camera control and lack of a storyline and surprises that deep-six Azurik: Rise of Perathia. I hereby grade it with a rotten egg (and not even a Grade A egg)—saved from the dung heap only by its incredible graphics. The End

The Verdict

The Lowdown

Developer: Adrenium Publisher: Microsoft Release Date: November 2001

Available for: Xbox

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      Copyright © Electric Eye Productions.  All rights reserved.  No reproduction in whole or in part without express written permission.

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14 Responses to Fear Factor

  • Fear Factor | Tap-Repeatedly.com | Reality Topics Blog

    […] nobody@flickr.com (graftedno1) wrote a very interesting post today.   Here’s a quick excerpt:My greatest fear is to be trapped alone in a confined space with a blind human, in total darkness. They have a heightened sense of smell and hearing, and. […]

  • Matt "Steerpike" Sakey

    Lewis, you made me think of the scariest moments I’ve experienced in gaming, and we’re very similar people.

    Bioshock had two moments – the dentist and the flooded room filled with mannequins.

    Thief had Return to the Cathedral, which was terrifying to me. Thief 3 had Shalebridge Cradle, which is so scary it ought to be fined.

    System Shock 2 kept me on the edge of my seat, but it was more lonely panic than true fear.

    Korsakovia was so scary that I uninstalled it.

    And STALKER. Oh, god, the haunted labs in STALKER. The latter two games don’t have scares like that. Few games do.

    It’s especially rare for a game to have more than mere “moments” – for a game to be scary from beginning to end, that’s a triumph.

    Wonderful article. As if Gregg’s review wasn’t enough to convince me that Penumbra is not something I have the courage to play!

  • DPenn

    I’m with you Lewis … I’m a bit of a puss. I just have a hard time wrapping my head around the idea of dread as entertainment.

    Still, I’m drawn to dark stories when they have something interesting to say, whether it’s a game like Thief or a film like, say, Gaspar Noe’s Irreversible. So I’ll push through, sometimes peering through my fingers.

    The trouble with games, though, is that if you look through your fingers, you’re probably just going to have to play through the scenario again. :~)

  • Mike "Scout" Gust

    I wanted to play this game. I downloaded the demo but the controls were just too wonky for me to get my head around. I liked the atmospheric vibe a lot. I think I’m a bit desensitized from an overdose of horror movies in my youth so I don’t so much get the dread thing from these games as a nice creepy vibration. If only the controls were better…

  • Lewis B

    @ Mike, what’s wrong with the controls bud? As someone who despises poor control schemes, Penumbra’s is just like any other FPS, except to examine things you right click on them.  To use things you left click.  I’m not sure that can be considered difficult 🙂

  • Gregg B

    @Steerpike: Yeah my greatest shit-scared moments were with those games too. A few spoilers below people, so beware.

    Bioshock – Haha, I remember the dentist. I didn’t really find the game that scary overall but the bit where you go into the wine cellar and notice a mannequin facing the wall and after upgrading your weapon it’s stood directly behind you motionless and quiet just for a moment before attacking you. I shat a brick. I also missed that bit originally until Lew told me about it.

    System Shock 2 – same as you really, more unremitting tension all the way through rather than specific terrifying moments. Oh actually, theres a bit where you call a lift and it breaks then you realise a service droid is coming to fix it… I do remember having sleep issues after my first encounter with the cyborg ninjas though.

    Thief: The Dark Project – The Sword and Return to the Cathedral and Down in the Bonehoard and well, loads of them. The Sword made me break out into goosebumps though because there was a bit where you could hear this creepy giggling which seemed like it was following me about then it suddenly changed to this horrible throaty noise. What made matters worse was that the EAX (bless you Creative) made my foot steps sound like somebody else was there with me. That level was incredible, a bit too incredible as it seems I missed great chunks of it because I was so eager to leave.

    Thief II: The Metal Age – Trail of Blood where you end up in that opening with those damn tree beasts. God the first time I saw one of those hurtling towards me I actually died shortly afterward. Do you remember that Mechanist child walking around on one of the levels? That was a little creepy.

    Then there’s Penumbra: Overture – quite a few bits but I’m not mentioning them here.

    Oh and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. – The brain scorcher lab just because it was so damn quiet. My imagination seriously got the better of me there. Those stuffed animals and heads I’d seen in various buildings led me to believe that those creatures were lurking somewhere in the Zone, specifically that lab.

    @Mike: My control setup was perfect after some tweaking (as well as the simple weapon swing fix). If you ever fancy giving it another go, give me a shout and I’ll let you know my setup.

  • Lewis B

    I’m not sure why guys, but one of my starting paragraphs had gone missing, even though I copied it straight from the original source, and It was fine earlier. 

    Incase you missed it due to some technical issue you might want to re-read just after “Well no she wouldn’t in truth, but in Penumbra: Overture you don’t want to move anyway.” at the very start for those who’ve already read the article. Apologies 🙂

  • Mike "Scout" Gust

    Lewis, it was the weapon swing. It had this terrible, unresponsive feel to it, like trying to hit through molasses. I couldn’t stand using it. I tried the .ini fix as mentioned in the review but it didn’t seem to help. Of course this was the demo…but that shouldn’t have made any difference. I might try the second game instead as I guess they did away with the weapons thing.

    I’m see your first paragraph just fine. It’s the dialogue, right?

  • jdeuel

    I like the argument that weapons can remove fear, but even loaded to the teeth with ammo in AVP’99 the Marine missions were frightful because the enemy was anywhere at any time.

    As for Penumbra Overture, if the controls are anything like the original Penumbra they need to hack in some Wii-Remote 3d controls. I did not like using my mouse for 3d movements.

  • Gregg B

    @Mike: I’ve read that many people avoided conflict altogether in Overture which incidentally is something forced upon you in Black Plague. As somebody who has been renovating a house over the last 6 months with no DIY experience I can safely say that swinging a hammer is significantly easier in real life than it is in Overture without the fix. The fix balanced that for me.

    I’d highly recommend completing the first Penumbra because it’s one big build up to Black Plague which spoils the ending to Overture in the intro. And it’s a great ending too. Just so you know!

  • Lewis B

    @ Steerpike, those moments you mention are all my worst too!!  Do you remember the Robot labs in SS2? Absolutely terrifying, waiting for robots to burst out on you! 🙁 oh and have you ever player Condemned?

    @ Mike, The use of weapons in Penumbra is different to say HL2, where the player is physically holding the weapon, as in Penumbra it floats slightly infront of you.  However, if you change the control method to normal weapon swing, it’s no different!  Speak to Greggi and he’ll tell you what to do 🙂

    @ jdeuel, AVP the original and its sequal were scary however what type of fear do you think it is? I don’t think it’s anything more than sheer tension.  Having a Smart Gun makes you feel incredibly powerful.  I can honestly say in Penumbra the fear is sheer unrivalled terror, where you actually have to force yourself to play on.  It genuinly is that scary! 🙂

  • Jason Dobry

    It’s so true, an arsenal of weapons and ammo rapidly deflates any sense of horror or uneasiness in any game for reasons you already mentioned. Sakey, I thought Bioshock was more “lonely panic,” while I was pretty much always terrified in System Shock 2. I really, really, REALLY did not want to enter The Many’s nursery, and my weapons were so unreliable and ammo so scarce that I never felt safe.

    Silent Hill was terrifying for the same reasons. Ammo was rare and I frequently had to rely on my pipe for self-defense.  Even when I had ammo, the game mechanics prevented my character from being anything other than marginal with any firearm.

    Fear had one moment for me: I was climbing up a ladder, and as I reached the upper platform, my guy briefly looked down as he climbed off. As my perspective looked up again, that Ring-esque little girl was RIGHT THERE, reaching for me. I screamed and she was gone.

    What else…the original Aliens vs. Predator sent me into a locker room and I could only hear the facehuggers scurrying about somewhere within. I had to go in there. I advanced about three steps before the damn thing screamed and filled up my screen with its repulsive underside as it implanted me with its spawn. My roommate made fun of me for weeks for screaming like a girl child.

    Korsakovia–meh.  I was too annoyed and frustrated by the box rearrangement/jumping puzzles to be scared. I uninstalled it after an hour of play, I think. Maybe the scary parts were later, but I doubt it.

    As for Penumbra, I did play through about half of it before other games distracted me. I remember unease and creepiness, but no sweaty fear. I think I’m to blame here, or, more precisely, my daughter, who was still an infant at the time and generally allowed me only to play during the day for 45 minutes at a time. I was denied total immersion and the fear effect suffered. Maybe I should give it another go after I finish Call of Pripyat since she sleeps through the night now. With any luck, Penumbra will keep me from doing the same.

  • Gregg B

    I played the demo of F.E.A.R. but that ladder scare is the only bit I remember. Christ, that made me jump. I’m not too good with cat scares.

    Also I felt exactly the same about Korsakovia. It was creepy at first but then it began to irritate me far too much and it just soured the experience. I stopped playing as a result. Not to mention, when I realised I could bash those smoke-things with my crowbar they didn’t bother me nearly as much.

  • Online Up

    Great article. I look forward to reading more in the future.

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