Chronicles of Mystery: The Scorpio Ritual

FREE DOWNLOAD LAPTOP | It's amazing how many games are made about archaeologists. The large number of Indiana Jones/Lara Croft titles out there is baffling really, considering the high boring quotient of dusty potshards. Of course the Indy/Lara brand of archaeologist is more likely to be punching thugs than writing dissertations. In third-person adventure game Chronicles of Mystery: The Scorpio Ritual, publisher City Interactive presents a scholarly take on a swashbuckling game profession, betting that gamers will dig an artifact-hunter heroine even without the cutoffs and cleavage.

Despite being named like a sassy coat check girl from a '40's movie, Sylvie Leroux is the anti-Lara Croft. Not only does she wear long pants, she forgoes traipsing through the jungle for working quietly in Paris. One day she receives an urgent phone call from her archaeologist uncle urging her to return to her childhood home, a seaside village on the island of Malta, to witness an incredible discovery he's made. Arriving in Malta, Sylvie discovers her uncle's run afoul of the government and vanished, along with several priceless artifacts. To find him, Sylvie will have to use her wits, her charm and every bit of her scholarly expertise.

Let's skip the obvious joke here.The Scorpio Ritual's simple point-and-click approach lets you jump right into the mystery. To help you make sense of the clues you find, Sylvie comments on everything you examine and the name of the highlighted item appears at the top of the screen. Useful objects are put into your inventory and can be used alone or in combination with one another. Don't go thinking you'll win the day though just by walking around stuffing your jeans with bent wire and fish. Success also depends on revisiting old haunts and buddying up to the locals. Most of them remember you as the lawless hellcat you once were so you'll only gain information and allies (like James, your uncle's linguist assistant) if you do a little something for them first. Be careful whom you talk to though or you're likely to gain as many adversaries as allies. For instance, Granc, the local police chief, seems to think you're up to no good.

A good mystery pulls you through a variety of unexpected scenarios and in that regard, The Scorpio Ritual doesn't disappoint. Your investigations lead you to several countries and uncover more of your uncle's secret, the core of which is an 11th century organization called the Knights Hospitaller (I keep imagining a bunch of mace-wielding Mother Theresas), a group like the Templars who built hospitals for the sick and poor while also protecting an object of unearthly power. To keep this artifact from falling into the wrong hands, you'll have to dodge a menacing, shadowy figure, outmaneuver the police, go toe-to-toe with thieves on the streets of Istanbul and infiltrate Vatican City. Not bad for a bookworm.

The Scorpio Ritual isn't unusually innovative but with a maximum of situational puzzles and a minimum of game play contrivances, it's very well done. Not only will the game keep you involved, the graphics will knock your socks off. The environments are detailed and crisp, brought to life by little touches like sparkly fireflies and curtains moving in the breeze. The characters look good too, especially Sylvie who's attractive without being ridiculous. What really makes the look of the game though is the lighting which is some of the best you'll see in any game, adventure or otherwise.

How can you call yourself an archaeologist? You don't even have a whip.If only I could say all of the game was this high quality but alas, I can't. The cutscenes, which should be where the real "wow" factor comes from, have a multitude of issues. City Interactive primarily serves a European market so the game was likely first made in another language. There seems to have been no attempt at all to match the English VO to the visuals and it's bizarre watching Sylvie carry on the majority of a phone conversation without opening her mouth. Maybe they couldn't sync the VO because they couldn't see her mouth due to excessive blurriness? Sadly, the bad compression on the cinematics makes them look like they were shot through a vaseline-coated lens.

Luckily, the cutscenes are a minor flaw on an otherwise polished title whose quality is reinforced by the game play. Progression through the story makes sense, as do the tasks you perform throughout it. You'll never find yourself stumped by a puzzle then think "no way!" when you finally find the answer and an elegant feedback system prevents you from ever going too far astray. Sylvie's verbal commentary makes it clear when you've chosen the wrong solution to a puzzle, and when an item is no longer needed, she'll automatically get rid of it. Best of all, the game lets you know if you still have more to do in an area so you don't waste a lot of time unnecessarily revisiting places. Great game play, great art, great feedback, it's shaping up to be an all-around great game eh? Well...almost.

With an intelligent heroine and variety of exotic settings, The Scorpio Ritual reminded me at first of my favorite adventure games like Syberia and The Longest Journey. If only it could've sustained the comparison! The web of danger was drawing me in, the mystery was getting thicker, I couldn't wait to see what would happen and then...the game ended. So abruptly in fact, it felt like the development team ran out of time and was ordered to wrap up multiple unresolved narrative threads via cutscene in two minutes or less. Ultimately the end failed to live up to the game's initial standard of quality and that's not only a disappointment, it's unfair to an otherwise excellent title.

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