Byzantine: The Betrayal Review

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Byzantine: The Betrayal

Review by Skinny MinnieAugust 2002

I can remember it all like it was yesterday. The initial horror that gradually transformed into anticipatory distaste. The procrastination that pricked at my sense of duty and loyalty. The final acceptance of that inevitable journey … Well, maybe I should start back a little further, at the very beginning. Then perhaps you will come to understand.

It was a warm summer morning in the year 2000. The trees rustled softly, releasing tiny dewdrops that sparkled gently in the emerging rays of sunlight … No, wait! Actually, it was stormy and dark, a distant flash of lightning vividly crackling toward the heavens … Well, how should I know? I was busy getting a “flourescent tan” while sitting at my computer desk!  Anyway, there I was, when the phone rang. It was Christine, a pal for whom my husband and I had recently put together a PC.  Newly introduced to its hypnotic allure, she had just returned from a gaming software shopping spree. (See—I remember the important stuff!)

“You will never guess what game I just found,” she sang excitedly into the phone. “I was at Ames, and …”  My head jerked upright. My eyeballs convulsively rolled up into the back of my head of their own accord. It hurt. Ames, for the love of Pete! One just did not shop at discount clothing department store chains for gaming software. It was the eleventh commandment.

Christine’s unsuppressed glee drowned out my anguished moans.

“It only cost me five dollars, and it’s called Byzantine: The Betrayal,” she patiently explained. “It’s first-person, point-and-click, full-motion video, ‘edutainment’ software put out by the Discovery Channel.” Oh boy, so she’d get to watch Turkish birds swoop down into Istanbul’s bordering seas in pursuit of those stalwart gaming protagonists, the fish.

“It has six whole CDs in it, and guess what it says right on the front cover? ‘Make one mistake …'” she paused for dramatic effect, “‘and you’re history!‘” she breathed. (Apparently it really was the fish thing!) I clenched my eyelids shut against any further independent displays and flipped my nervous system the bird. I was her friend and I would support her emotionally in this, her time of impending social ostracism.

“They’ve still got a couple of copies left, and if you get down there right away …” Ah! Emotional support via a private, secure phone line was one thing, but an actual physical appearance in unchartered (and fishy) waters was quite another!  What to do, what to do? Would she call me next week and wonder why I hadn’t gone yet? Hey—maybe a Turkish fishermen’s convention tour bus would break down right in front of Ames and they’d wipe the place out …

Eventually, I searched for and found my dark glasses, sighing resolutely. Wrapping a kerchief securely around my head like a sultan’s turban, I donned my leather trench coat and began my trek to the store …

To Boldly Go Where No Gal Has Gone Before

After a quick 55 MB install, I plunged myself into Byzantine: The Betrayal’s opening movie. Indeed, most of the game was filmed in full-motion video, on location in Istanbul. The story began with my old college friend, Emre Bahis, imploring me via letter and accented voiceover to hop a plane there from the USA for first dibs on a story of potential Pulitzer proportions. As a rebellious, sarcastic, freelance journalist-type character (which of course bore no resemblance to the real-life, fish-loving, unassuming journalist me), I took the bait. It wasn’t fish bait, either.

That first destination of Emre’s apartment may have been somewhere no gal had gone before (as evidenced by the discombobulated masculine decor), but plenty of men were familiar with it. They were bilingual Turkish policemen, as it happened. Their head detective began questioning me with a native accent so strong you could cut it with a sword. My cross-shaped mouse cursor had become a lips icon, and at each pause, multiple answers appeared at the bottom of the screen that I could click on in response. None of the conversation paths seemed to help. The detective didn’t like the fact that I showed up to meet Emre after all these years just as he was under suspicion for involvement in an international crime ring.  He didn’t like the fact that my friend had eluded capture yet had managed to communicate freely with me. He didn’t like the fact that four previous visas had been cancelled on my rebellious, sarcastic passport. What a nitpicker! He then planted a spy outside Emre’s apartment, called off his troops, and left. I shrugged (in an unassuming way, of course) then started nosing around. 

My cursor changed to a hand icon as it landed on a photo lying on Emre’s desk; I clicked on the Polaroid snapshot of Emre and a mysterious female. The hand icon then looked like it was holding a ball; in response, I picked up the photo. The picture was immediately whisked into the always-visible inventory bar at the bottom of the screen. I dragged the photo to the magnifying glass at the bottom left to examine it more closely. I should have known by the very fact that a gal was in the picture that it wasn’t snapped in the apartment, but hey, it never hurt to double check!

Curses—I Mean Cursors!

I waved the cursor around on screen and clicked, following the forward arrow to move around. A magnifying glass indicated closer inspection of certain items was warranted, the backward arrow pulled me out of closeups, and amidst all of this I began to find veiled clues as to Emre’s whereabouts scattered around the place.  A triangular shell puzzle gave one hint. A colorful, shape-coded locked box revealed another clue once I decoded it. I decided to save the game, just to test out the “save anywhere” feature. (Call it journalistic paranoia, but I have never trusted the timing of any game’s auto save.)

Then it happened. The phone rang. It was Emre! Before I could respond, nay, before I could barely breathe another breath, I was … dead! I had been killed by UFOs: Unidentified Furious Oppressors. During my second attempt through that area, waving the mouse cursor a tad more hysterically I admit, I noticed several things. First, I noticed that not only could I go forward or back out of closeups, but I could slide the view up toward the ceiling and down toward my cement shoes. Second, I noticed that I could also view the room in 360-degree rotational fashion by moving the cursor to the left or right edge of the screen. Third, I noticed that the one thing I had forgotten to take on my trip to Istanbul was a huge bottle of Dramamine. Whew, that whip-around-the-room interface must have been part of a gaming engine called “Verti-Go.”  I even tried slowing down my mouse in the Windows 98 control panel, to no avail.

Naturally, as I was dizzily scrambling to dig up even so much as a sharp-looking pen out of Emre’s desk, I was bumped off again (so to speak) to the load/save game screen. It was then I noticed that this screen had an automatic note-taking area, which I suddenly felt inclined to peruse. I subsequently added a mental note to self: A built-in hint section was also available if a weapon could not be found … I needn’t have worried, for a journalist scared for her life could eventually puzzle through even the most deadly of problems sans violence, and Emre left more puzzles in his apartment than the entire Toys-R-Us chain sold that whole year.

Have Attitude, Will Travel

At any rate, once the final section of the explorable area was exited (in the calm fashion of a mentally stable writer, of course) via a special long arrow, I was deposited to the map screen. New areas like bars, underground catacombs, stores, and churches opened up via the continual triggering of story events, and then they could be clicked on from the map and visited. These new locales were introduced through short cutscenes, then I was left to freely explore them. What was up with the alleged “conspiracy ring” thing with Emre, anyway? I wasn’t sure, but apparently neither were the police, who could be found in the most unlikely places!

My trusty eyeball icon would alert me if I could casually sneak up to people and eavesdrop on their conversations. Otherwise, I meandered into merchants’ markets, and marveled at marble and mosaic mosques and museums. Many more puzzles (I’m out of “m” words; sorry!) awaited me as well. Some involved playing brain-bending ancient Turkish board games or using high-tech equipment. Others required creative inventory manipulation, mechanical repairs, or even finding a hidden message arranged with domino-like gambling pieces!

There was also much cryptic conversation and enlightening information to be had. Centuries of rich Turkish history and culture were offered via voiceovers and close-ups of gorgeous artwork, graceful statues, poetic stained glass, intricately carved woodwork, and ornate metal accouterments. (Of course, I only listened and absorbed the beauty for the sake of any future questioning from my friend Christine.)

Everybody I met, from museum curators and business owners to Emre’s college mates and his own family members, seemed to know or have heard of Emre but yet not know where he had vanished to.  Each person also seemed to have something to hide, one way or another! Multigenerational conspiracy and intrigue, futuristic computer equipment, international thefts, professional competitors, greed and double crosses—where would it all end? I was told to seek out “Klio” for help in finding Emre. Could that be the mysterious female in the photo?

Being the inquisitive type, I clicked and dragged certain of my many acquired inventory items onto the locals as I conversed with them. Sometimes I got help, and sometimes I got hell. (Remember that save-anywhere feature? Use it!) I also developed the bad habit of snooping around the hotels, offices and back rooms of Istanbul without formal invitations to do so. Perhaps if Byzantine: The Betrayal had offered a cat as a lead character, I would have had enough lives to make it through this game in one shot, but, alas, no such luck.

And the Beauty Pageant Winner Is … Miss Istanbul

Visually, this game offered some computer-rendered virtual locations featuring additional intrigue and interesting puzzles that supported the story woven throughout the filmed locales. These virtual scenes had the same type of cursor movement but did not have the beauty of the filmed parts of the game. They were, however, decent-looking considering Byzantine: The Betrayal’s original 1997 release date.

The music was strongly ethnic, reflecting Turkish-sounding stringed and percussion instruments. It added much ambiance to Byzantine and underscored the building tension and busy tempo of life in Istanbul. Sound effects also increased the feeling of reality within the game; bells on shop doors jingled, crowds murmured and swelled, water dripped and echoed in underground caverns, and pots and pans clanged in the restaurants. Voice acting was generally very good, albeit thick with Turkish accents that were sometimes difficult to understand.

Every Silver Lining Has a Drop of Rain on It

Wending my way through both the virtual areas and the lavish filmed portions of the game never proved disorienting, except for a somewhat nasty timed hallway maze at game’s end. I did wind up with a couple of unused inventory items, but I hesitated to label them red herrings as I questioned whether I just missed fully completing a scene or two in the game. This may possibly have been because I had half of Istanbul gunning for me by the end, but perhaps your trip through the game will be somewhat different all around. There were multiple conversational options, which occasionally prompted different responses from interviewees, and maybe different final choices at those times could have redirected my path through the game.

Outside of the dizzying swirl of the 360-degree panning and the occasional quick jerks up or down, there was not a lot for me to complain about in this fabulous game. There were a few stealthy scenes where I couldn’t figure out what to do quickly enough the first time through and was subsequently killed. A quick game reload usually had me back on track, though. Those untimely demises truly supported the exciting tale and were avoidable without violence in all cases, once the proper actions were carried out. I did not need super reflexes to complete those sequences, but merely good focus and calm rationality.

This game ran with only an occasional video stutter on a Windows 98 Pentium III 500 MHz PC, with an NVidia TNT2 video card and 128 megs of PC100 SDRAM. I did adjust my CD-ROM cache down to its lowest setting, which lessened the stutters to practically nothing.

I absolutely loved the many layers of Byzantine’s thrilling tale; they slowly swelled to a final climax, explaining a lot and wrapping up the loose ends in a very satisfying way. The many puzzles were all very organic to the plot while still being varied and original, as well as appropriately challenging for a seasoned adventure gamer. Its educational aspects were mostly optional via museum tours and the like, but I felt compelled to soak up every last bit of this engrossing game.

In case you couldn’t tell, Byzantine: The Betrayal quickly planted itself among my top-10 favorite computer games of all time—a star among stars. My only regret is that there was never a Byzantine 2 … Well, okay, I do have a second regret. It is that Ames won’t allow me to leave my rollaway bed in front of its entrance doors … The End

The Verdict

The Lowdown

Developer: Discovery Channel Multimedia Publisher: Discovery Channel Multimedia Release Date: 1997

Available for: Windows

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Screenshots

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System Requirements

Windows 95 (works fine in Win98) Pentium 90 MHz processor (133 MHz recommended) 16 MB of RAM (32 MB or higher recommended) 55 MB hard drive space Video/audio cards compatible with DirectX 5.0 or higher 2 MB video card 16-bit color 4X CD-ROM drive

Where to Find It

Links 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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