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Awesome game

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: April 11, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Amerzone is a really engaging game. If you liked Syberia, Longest Journey, Myst, etc. and want to play another game in the same vein, try this one.

The storyline is interesting and the tasks are fun, although not very challenging. The "puzzles" consist of having and using the proper inventory items and they are pretty logical so you won't have to consult a walkthrough, and pixel-hunting is minimal. The only drawback was really that the graphics aren't up to par with those in more current game, so it is a bit distracting at times. The video cut-scenes are really pixelated, but obviously the game was made a while back so the graphics won't be like those you'll see in more current games. Otherwise, the surroundings and artwork are very beautiful and interesting. The game goes by really quickly (my boyfriend and I finished it after playing it a few hours for 3 or 4 nights). I gave it less stars due to how short it was. I think this game would be perfect for someone new to adventure games.

Pros: Logical and engaging tasks, little pixel-hunting, beautiful artwork

Cons: Extremely short, pixelated graphics, puzzles not very challenging

ancient pc technology

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: March 29, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I can't really rate the game because the game engine was terribly outdated. I'm running a state-of-the-art pc and video board and this game barely worked at all. It was apparently designed for Windows 95 or 98... but even a computer-setting of Windows 98 didn't help one bit.

Probably a good story, but... forget it... it doesn't like Windows XP Pro!

If you loved "Syberia," you'll be sadly disappointed by "Amerzone"

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: January 27, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Let me say at the outset that I rate Benoit Sokal's "Syberia" as my all-time favorite adventure game, and "Syberia II" pretty close. If I hadn't expected "Amerzone" to be a worthy successor, I might have enjoyed it more, but for me, most of what made Sokal's earlier games captivating and memorable is missing from this one.

There is no music. There are precious few characters, and no choices to be made in interacting with them. The voice acting is overdone for all but one character, and she says only five or six words. There is little reasoning needed and no puzzles worth the name; most of the play is pixel-hunting for a small number of objects to make the devices work. And the interface is inconsistent; in at least two places where you need to pick up an object, the game shows the "work on me" cursor instead of the reaching hand. Overall, the play is dull, and more frustrating than challenging.

More's the pity, because otherwise Sokal's genius is on diplay here. The settings are beautiful, if less bewitching and varied than in the "Syberia" games. Sound is magnificent. The creatures are brilliantly imaginative and great fun to watch. The hydrofloat is a charmingly implausible contraption. And although the game failed to draw me into it, the story is plenty intriguing.

My last gripe is the graphics. The resolution of the scenery has been compromised to allow you to pan continuously around each scene, and I think it's a bad tradeoff. I'd rather see a finite number of sharp, clean views (as in earlier games) than an infinite variety of pixellated ones. I think "Schizm" sets the standard here, with seamless, intuitive panning among razor-sharp scenes.

I give "Amerzone" three stars overall because it's a decent game in its own right. It has an interesting story, nice settings, and great sound and animals, but it's light on puzzles, heavy on pixel-hunting, and the interface gets in the way. I give it two stars for fun, because I expected "Amerzone" to captivate me as "Syberia" did, and it failed utterly. There's just too little breadth or texture in this game to do the job.

A game to play and finish in one day....................

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: October 24, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Me and my girlfriend enjoyed a Saturday playing this game. While not the greatest game, it was worth the time and energy spent. Very linear in play and not to hard to figure out. A Myst type game but no where near as challenging.

Pretty Good but not up to Syberia

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: September 23, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I got Amerazone because I was crazy about the Syberia games. This one is ok, but the game itself is a bit choppy and the puzzles a bit more obtuse (especially getting the flying machine to work, which I could not do without numerous hints). You also play in first person, rather than third, so you can't hear yourself speak (none of that snappy Syberia dialoge), and the game is quite linear. The story is interesting, but I had trouble getting into the game in the beginning. However, when I went back to it I'll admit it did get better. I'm just hoping Sokol makes a new one along the lines of Syberia.

Amerzone is fun..

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: September 12, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Amerzone is fun, but there are times that you need to go back and forth, back and forth, to accomplish a task. That may get old to some people, but for the most of it, the game is easy enough to not need hints, and hard enough to keep you up all night playing.

Kinda short, rather predictable

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: July 09, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Nice graphics, puzzles in the easily workable and nicely challenging area, kind of short and a little predictable.

As linear as a yard stick

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 7 / 10
Date: June 09, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This game's packaging made it look promising, but while the graphics are beautiful, the linearity of the "puzzle" solving astounded me (I have NEVER played a game before that required such an absolutely linear progression) and the puzzles were far, far too simple for experienced gamers. I had my pad of paper and pencil all ready, and only ONCE did I actually record any information there.

My husband and I (we always play games as a team) were also amused by the fact that while you retrace this man's steps from his journey in the 1930s, at each step of the way, you pick up a computer disk to help you to the next stage. Marvelous 1930s technology, those computer disks.

Even for one of the mass-produced games coming out of Dreamcatcher, this one was disappointing.

Loved it! Loved the beauty!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: January 27, 2005
Author: Amazon User

A bit difficult at times and I used a walkthrough.
But this game is a must for the pc gamer. Not to be missed.
More specifics seemed to be already described.
There are scenes of such beauty that I still recall!
A+++++

Pretty much a computer adventure game for beginners

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 9 / 9
Date: September 14, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I played "AmerZone" after having enjoyed playing "Syberia" and "Syberia II," so I had heard of the Amerzone, having had to root around the train station at a university town in order to find some flowers from that distant land. So I was looking for a similar sort of adventure game and was surprised to discover some significant differences in this earlier game from Dream Catcher, which I would have to characterize as a "beginner" level computer game of this genre.

Promising "A Secret Place...An Incredible Discovery," this game starts in Brittany in France and then sends you off to the Amerzone, an imaginary Central American country ruled by a brutal dictator. Your goal is to find the fabled egg of the legendary "White Birds" of the Amerzone, who are born to live and die in the sky without ever landing. The egg was taken from the natives and the tribe has been cursed since that day. You are a reporter, who learns the location of the original sacred egg of the White Birds and has to return it to the jungle and put an end to the suffering, which suggests a surprising amount of altruism on your part (although I suppose there will be a story to tell if and when you get back).

Your journey begins with a conversation between your character and a mailman, who asks you to take the letter he left in the mailbox of the house down the road directly to its owner, an old man who will explain to you enough information for you to get a clue as to what you are going to have to do. After the mailman rides off you are into the general interface for "AmerZone." This means a statis screen with a cursor at the center where you move the mouse to have a full range of 360-degree movement. However, you are not going to be able to move around in each environment, but just view everything from the fixed vantage point. Consequently, what you have is more in terms of a slideshow progression than a 3-D environment you can fully explore. This approach tends to make me a bit dizzy from time to time, especially when you are wandering around checking every square inch in all directions to see what it is you are missing to do whatever you have to do next.

You primary mode of transportation is a Hydroflot. You have to find it and get it working at your first location and then it will then fly you to the Amerzone, where it will also serve you as a motor boat, a sailing ship and a submarine as the situation demands. The Hydroflot will get you to each location as you go deeper into the jungle, where you will then get to walk around and do what needs to be done. There are only eight slots in your inventory so you do not need to worry about collecting a whole bunch of things. In fact, for the most part it will be easy for you to figure out what you need to find and what you are going to do with objects when you find them. For example, getting gas for your Hydroflot and finding computer discs are going to be almost constant concerns and relatively easy to accomplish with dogged exploration of each locale. Unlike "Syberia" and other games of this type there are not a lot of conversations with other characters. You will only need one hand to count the number of characters there are to talk to and you just listen to what they have to say (there is no choosing of topics or any talking at all on your part).

Ultimately, the only thing that is going to frustrate players, especially young players, is going to be going through screens looking for the one thing you are supposed to pick up. In my case that happened to be with the penultimate task of the game as I wandered around and around a lava pit trying to find what there was to pick up. But that is a standard concern with such adventure games and young players will not be confronted by complex puzzles beyond their ability to solve, hence the idea that "AmerZone" is a game well suited for beginners. More experienced players are not going to find it much of a challenge.

The graphics based on Benoit Sokal's artwork are pretty good, as is what music there is, but overall "AmerZone" is a pretty simple game and not especially challenging. If that is what you are looking for, then this is an okay choice. The emphasis is on deduction and problem solving, not being big and strong or having good hand-eye coordination. There are over 200 screens to explore, even when there is nothing to do in most of them but point and click on the adjacent screens, which explains why there are four discs in this game although the number of locations you visit is relatively small. Young players who move on to "Syberia" after tackling "AmerZone" are going to enjoy the increased challenge, the superior graphics, and the vastly improved story line.

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