Kama Sutra Review

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            Kama Sutra

Review by Jen

Games are not always kid stuff, are they? Kama Sutra certainly isn’t for kids. Kama Sutra is a French adventure game that is loosely based on the ancient Indian sex manual of the same name. In fact, on the opening screen, one side shows the game, and the other side has what I believe to be portions of the actual Kama Sutra, but of course I can’t tell because I don’t read French. I don’t speak French, either, but that didn’t stop me from, um, enjoying the game.

The main character of the game is a woman named Parva. At the beginning, she gets knocked off her motor scooter by a careless driver. She injures her bum, and the driver loses a package. Parva picks it up and takes it home with her. She sits down and wonders what to do about it, then she phones her friend Lulu to talk about it. Parva then opens the box, and (what else) out comes a talking penis sash. Parva plays with the sash a bit and moons over her favorite saxophone player, Shiva, until Lulu arrives with her boyfriend Laurent in tow. Laurent is ultra-unattractive, but the three of them practice some Kama Sutra positions together, man on woman, woman on woman, and woman and woman on man, and then the feller who lost his penis sash bursts in and breaks up the party. Parva puts the penis belt on and escapes through her bedroom window, still sans pants, and the game’s afoot, or rather acock.  Lulu gets captured by the penis-belt-owning dude, and Parva gets away. I don’t want to give away the whole story here because, believe it or not, there is a story, but this is probably about half of it. The whole game only takes about an hour to play, that’s if you don’t get sidetracked by some of the more interesting pictures.  And some of them are Lulus (pardon the pun).

Kama Sutra is an X-rated game even though there’s no live action—it’s all hand-drawn. In fact, there’s not a whole lot of animation, but there is some. Mostly it’s a lot of still pictures, sometimes one after the other to give the illusion of animation. In a few areas, you can pan around a bit, and in others, you get straight (or gay) puzzle screens. Gameplay is pure third-person point-and-click (you might want to be careful where you put your cursor, though, you don’t know where that thing’s been before).  There are five chapters, and you can start on any of them from the opening screen regardless of whether you’ve completed the previous ones. Which is to say, you can skip the boring parts and get right to the meat of the game. And meat there is, lots of it. Man meat, woman meat, white meat, dark meat, hermaphrodite meat … well, you get the picture. If you choose to play the game linearly, you have to solve various different puzzles, most of them involving sex positions. Your ultimate goal is to rescue Lulu, although apparently coincidentally, and meet and greet your love Shiva, although by the time that happens, you are pretty used up.

Despite the language barrier, Kama Sutra is very playable.  And unique. But it’s not for the squeamish or prudish among us.  Yes, it’s pornographic, but at the same time it’s tasteful. At least I think so … I have no idea what the characters or narrator were actually saying.

You can order it here but I have no idea whether this French store will ship to the U.S. 

(After I posted this review, I was informed by a reader that the man whose artwork was used in the game Kama Sutra is a world-renowned erotic artist named Milo Manara. You can visit the artist’s site for an online gallery and to purchase some of his other works (both books and CDs).) The End

The Verdict

The Lowdown

Developer: Montadori New Media Publisher: Index+ Release Date: 1998

Available for: Macintosh Windows

Four Fat Chicks Links

Player FeedbackWalkthrough

Screenshots(Warning: Some of these screenshots are sexually explicit and most contain some nudity)

Click to enlarge Click to enlargeClick to enlarge Click to enlargeClick to enlarge Click to enlargeClick to enlarge Click to enlargeClick to enlarge Click to enlargeClick to enlarge Click to enlarge

System Requirements

PC: Pentium 100 16 MB RAM Windows 95 4X CD-ROM

Mac: Power PC 14 MB RAM System 7 4X CD-ROM

Where to Find It

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

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17 Responses to First Impressions: Heavy Rain

  • Toger

    I hate QTEs, but Heavy Rain is sitting in my Amazon cart waiting for me to push the button. I don’t even own a PS3, but I plan on buying the game anyway. I do have a good friend who’ll let me play at his house. Of course, I’ll have to drive 100 miles, one way, through the snow to get to his house. His chat-happy birds will cheerfully chirp thereby completely disrupting any atmosphere, but I can play.

  • David

    What!?  Heavy Rain is full of QTEs?  I totally did not see that coming.

    The whole dad experience thing sounds intriguing.  I’m already getting odd looks from my girlfriend for exclaiming over cute kids on the bus or at the mall, something like what you described might send my biological clock over the edge.

  • Lewis B

    My sentiments exactly David!

    Mat has been playing the Heavy Rain demo for a while now, and although he admits he is intrigued by the story, he does constantly complain about the control method.

    R2 + Analogue stick to run? *scoff*

  • Gregg B

    @Lew: DEMO?! PS3 DEMO?! *runs off to PS3*

    That sounds like the Batman: Arkham Asylum controls – Crazy Bonkers Design. The sort of design that puts pull handles on push doors.

    @Steerpike: “I despise children. They are disgusting and annoying. They knock things over. They interfere with everything. They’re not useful until they’re at least 13, when you can get them to mow the lawn and stuff. But you can pay a service to do that for just a few hundred bucks a year and the service won’t vomit on you, shit in its diapers, grow up to resent you, or otherwise suck. Don’t flame me and don’t post comments to the contrary: kids are repulsive. Why anyone would want them is beyond my feeble imaginings.”

    HAHAhahaha- I er, – hahahaha – you’re as outspoken as me about demon spawn children.

  • Lewis B

    Yeah its been on the internet for weeks and weeks Greggi.  I think you have to do a couple of online puzzles etc to get the appropriate code or something.

    Search on Kotaku, they first ran with it IIRC.

  • Mat

    The puzzle code was for early access before it hit the PSN Store. It’s been available to all since last week.

    Regarding the demo, it took me around 3 or 4 attempts at it to appreciate it. First time around I couldn’t have been more dissapointed by it, but after the 3rd or 4th I decided I wanted to stick with it. I don’t think the demo is a particularly great example of what the game supposedly does best either – choice. I also HATE the control scheme and some of the voice acting is so wooden. Creating an immersive, realistic game is fine but having characters stumbling into tables and fridges because of the ham fisted controls, and listening to French voice actors impersonate Americans does remove that realism a little!

    Still, I rushed out to buy it this morning and will rush home from work to play it in about an hour!

  • xtal

    @ Toger: I don’t own a PS3 either, and it’s not like Heavy Rain seems to be “that” game which makes you run out and buy one– like Bioshock made me run out and get a 360– and it’s also not like this game looks groundbreaking in any way, because it really doesn’t. It’s just got me curious…and people tend to do crazy things the week after they get their yearly bonus. Soooooo yeah, who knows; maybe I’ll own a PS3 soon, but like hell I would admit that it was for Heavy Rain. Psh. I’d tell people it was because I wanted to watch BSG on blu-ray; though anyone who knows me would see right through that lie since I am an avid non-format-upgrader: I’ll switch my BSG collection from DVD to blu-ray the day I upgrade my copy of Jurassic Park from VHS to DVD. (Hint: never)

  • Toger

    @xtal: I’m in no hurry to upgrade my meagre DVD collection to blu-ray either, but I have to say the movies I’ve watched on my friend’s PS3 are absolutely stunning. Blade Runner was simply breath-taking in blu-ray and it made me want a PS3. I don’t think Heavy Rain will be a system seller for me, but I’m betting the game from the Ico team will.

  • xtal

    A game from the Ico team, you say? Hmmm. I’ve been making rounds on Kijiji and Craigslist looking for a copy of Ico (eBay prices are so shudder-inducing) for a few days now. I really need to play that game after my experience with the indescribable Shadow of the Colossus.

    It’s good to know they haven’t died some Interplay-esque death in the meantime.

  • Matt "Steerpike" Sakey

    Nope, they’re a small team that works within Sony. Fumito Ueda is the lead and he’s got like ten or so people who’ve worked with him on all his games. Sony pretty much lets them do what they want.

    The Last Guardian is the game that’s coming up from them. It looks more like Ico and less like Shadow of the Colossus to me, which is to say it appears to be focused on platform elements. If I didn’t already have a PS3, it’d be the game that sells it.

  • Gregg B

    @Toger: Ooh, Blade Runner on Blu-ray, gorgeous in all its gorgeosity. In 5.1 it sounds incredible too.

    I bought my PS3 for Team Ico’s unnamed-at-the-time game, Heavy Rain (back when it was just a teaser), LittleBig Planet (yes, yes, I know), Dead Space and Motor Storm: Pacific Rift which sort of pushed me off the fence.

  • Toger

    Gregg, oh yes. The surround sound was spectacular. Did I mention my friend’s HDTV is 72″ (obscene, isn’t it)? It’s like being at a high-class theatre: better food, pauses for bathroom breaks and no one talking through the movie.

    Is Trine up on PSN, yet? If so, that might be my tipping point: Last Guardian, Heavy Rain and Trine.

  • Gregg B

    *spits tea out, despite not drinking any*

    O_O

    72″?! I’m speechless. I can only imagine how awesome that is. Size does matter.

    Not so sure about Trine… hang on. I think it is.

  • Matt "Steerpike" Sakey

    I think it is too, Toger. I’ll check.

    To be honest, though, I doubt you’d be disappointed with the purchase even if Trine’s not there yet. I’ve been way happier with my PS3 than with my 360. Demon’s Souls, Valkyria Chronicles, Uncharted, Folklore, even little games like Flower – I’ve had more concentrated fun with the PS3 than with Microsoft’s console, which tends to gather dust for months between game releases.

    72″???? I thought size didn’t matter!

  • Toger

    Size doesn’t matter. 😀

    In my friend’s defense, it was a great deal: opened box, itty-bitty scratch on the case, not a dead pixel to be seen and it was less $$ than the 60″ he originally wanted.

    Thanks for checking guys. I’ve played a tiny bit of Uncharted, but I’m horrible at the combat. Flower intrigues me. As does Demon’s Souls, but I know that game will crush my soul.

  • Gregg B

    There were certain moments in Flower where it just totally succeeded in conveying a feeling that I can’t say I’ve had in many other games, usually when rushing across a field through the grass or through a canyon or just skimming a pond, but it was never anything to do with collecting bloody petals or fulfilling some rudimentary puzzle. I think my problem with it was that it felt like it was trying to be this deeply emotional piece but in the end there seemed to be too many concessions to being a game rather than just running with the emotive side of the experience. One thing I am sure about though, is the trophies. Don’t get me started on the fucking trophies…

    One of my favourite little games on the PS3 is Everyday Shooter. It’s got a brilliant soundtrack that suits its raw visual style and I love how each level requires a certain tactic or strategy to survive it. It’s a very satisfying game in small bursts.

  • Hanover

    Unfortunately Cage mucked up the ending yet again.  The problem is that the mechanic of the game forced them to have to cheat in order to prevent spoiling the mystery of the game.

    There is also a red herring that makes no sense and is obviously put there to misdirect the player.

    90% of the game is awesome, the last 10% while not as bad as the indigo prophecy, is still sloppy.

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