Reviews / previews
I have a confession: I am an opera fanatic. I am just
as likely to be listening to Verdi, Rameau or Wagner
as I am to Charlie Parker, Clannad or Nine Inch Nails.
So when my editors heard about a new graphical
adventure based on Wagner's four-opera cycle, The
Ring, they naturally threw it my way.
Would that I could
throw it back at
them, for Cryo's
Ring is beautiful but
oh-so boring.
It's set in the far
future, when a
single representative
of the human race
has to recall the
distant mythic
memories of the
human species by reliving four of the starring
character's lives in a re-staging of Wagner's Ring
Cycle-each life on a separate world and each with its
own goals. Then, you'll be able to free humanity.
Makes sense, right?
Like Riven, Ring has an attractive but sterile feeling.
Its exotic worlds are devoid of life. You have a
360-degree 3D view, but almost nowhere to travel.
While you can switch among your four characters
anytime, gameplay remains unimaginatively linear.
Each puzzle has one solution and most have to be solved in a particular
order. It's a lackluster get-object-use-object graphic adventure with a
Wagnerian soundtrack and imaginative graphics.
Unlike Riven, it's possible to die in Ring. Now, I don't mind my character dying
through some stupid action on my part-but I take exception when I click on a
passageway like any other, only to be told that my character's rushed
headlong into a locked door and died. The
End. The fun in graphical adventures derives
from the results of responsible actions. If the
game takes away the responsibility, the
results cease to amuse.
Elegant artwork, good animation sequences
and orchestral passages from Wagner do
not make up for poor gameplay and
interminable non-interactive dialog in Ring. If
you want a good, non-linear adventure,
check out Dark Side of the Moon.-- Barry Brenesal / GamePro
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