Adventure at the Chateau d´Or Review

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Adventure at the Chateau d’Or

Review by Orb

Adventure at the Chateau d’Or is the freshman game from KarmaLabs, a company based in New York. The game itself is very short, and it took me just one evening to finish. Definitely in competition with The Forgotten and Isis for the shortest game ever.

The story is straightforward. A modern-day princess is summoned to the estate of her uncle, a duke who just died. Your job is to solve the mystery of the Chateau d’Or, thus securing the princess her inheritance. That’s pretty much the gist of it.

The game has slideshow-style graphics with prerendered screens.  There is a modicum of freedom of movement. The player, while indoors, can go for the most part only in areas that will or have effected game progression. There are two rooms that the player moves though but is not allowed to explore at all. I for the most part have been a consistent proponent of slideshow-style games and have also for the most part given high marks to games with beautiful prerendered art and lots of puzzles. But I have several problems with Chateau as regards this.

Firstly, there is an outdoor courtyard that the player can travel around the edges of, to explore the various rooms in the chateau.  One of the problems of this is that the screens turn you around so quickly, and some of these are drawn so similarly, that it is easy to get confused as to which direction you are facing. Additionally, it seems like some of the movement in transition when you are turning in these areas has just been omitted, so there is actually a learning curve where the player must adjust to this minimalism in design. 

Another design shortcut that I didn’t care for is that there is water in the center of this same open area, and the game allows the player to cut across the center of the courtyard to move between buildings. Instead of moving along drawn paths, the player is flown across this water. It is highly unrealistic and actually knocks the player out of the feeling that she is “there.” Anyone who’s played a number of adventure games knows what I’m talking about—that feeling that you are actually walking around in the game environment—notably missing from this game.

There are doors opened by puzzles that must be redone any time the player goes back through them, which was very redundant.

The rooms in the game were all nicely designed and colored. The chateau overall is quite pretty and a good piece of eye candy.

The music has wild variance in degrees of appropriateness. Some clarinet music in an entrance hall I thought went well with the environment. Music with a Latin flavor in an artist’s loft was clever.  There’s a room where soundtrack switches to a xylophone and a small combo orchestra; the designers apparently have been to the same cheesy wedding receptions I have. The endgame sequence has something that sounds suspiciously like disco accompanying it.

The actress playing the princess sounds like she had her parts recorded in a shower stall, as she echoes. This is really distracting and unrealistic when her character is speaking outdoors in the courtyard.  The other character, a French duke, is played, inexplicably, by an Englishman.

The puzzles overall were very disappointing. The first major puzzle in the game requires that the player win a history quiz. And this quiz is not dumbed down for the American player a la The Weakest Link. This quiz involves tedious note-taking by the player.  The worst part of the quiz, however, is that much more care was put into developing details of this historical narrative than into developing and increasing the story of the characters in the actual game!

Another puzzle is timed, the only timed point in the game and so totally unexpected. Once in the timed area, the player is required to do multiple actions, including a pixel hunt, in about a 60-second period. And to reload this area and try again, the player must redo a very tedious section that requires the same set of actions redone four times in a row.

There are just way too many game areas that the player is never really allowed to explore, including an entire dining hall with a long, elaborate table, and a room with three ornate doors the player is never allowed to explore behind. This is, as far as I’m concerned, a cardinal sin in adventure game design, to have the path so narrowed that exploration is severely limited. I think that one of the reasons for this may very well be the designer’s decision to not put a lot of puzzles in the game, so that there is never really any reason to have extra areas to explore.

The game has multiple difficulty settings, for the areas of Knowledge (the quiz) and Game Play, a design feature that I really liked.  Under Knowledge, the more difficult setting gives the player more to discover about the city of Paris in order to solve questions and complete the game. Game Play increases the difficulty of puzzles.

The interface includes a Map feature, always appreciated, and an index of all of the knowledge that the player has acquired. This is used to answer questions in the game successfully.

The concept for this game was excellent. But I really feel that something was lost between concept and execution, which I really hate to see in an indie game like this that people have obviously put their heart into. But good intentions do not change the quality of the result. What kept coming to my mind throughout this was two other games, The Castle for the Mac, and the recently released hybrid, Riddle of the Sphinx. Both of these were well-designed, incorporating many of the features adventure players crave, and both were indie projects brought about by one or two hard working people. So to me, there is really no way to excuse the result based on the fact that it did not come from a bigger company.

Maybe adding a maze would’ve helped. The End

The Verdict

The Lowdown

Developer: Karma Labs Publisher: Karma Labs Release Date: March 2001

Available for: Macintosh Windows

Four Fat Chicks Links

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Screenshots

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System Requirements

Mac: Power PC System 7.5.5 or later 32 MB RAM 70 MB hard drive space 4X CD ROM drive Thousands of colors

PC: Pentium 100 or faster Windows 95/98/ME/2000 Thousands of colors 32 MB RAM Windows-compatible sound board 70 MB hard drive space 4X CD ROM drive

Where to Find It

Playing Games 14.95 Prices/links current as of 11/07/02Links provided for informational purposes only.  FFC makes no warranty with regard to any transaction entered into by any party(ies).

      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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