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Beyond Extraordinary

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 52 / 53
Date: June 29, 2000
Author: Amazon User

NOTE --- I played the U.K. version of this game, which was released a few months ago under the title of "Atlantis 2." The U.S. version (the one available here) may contain slight differences.

PROS --- 1. Beyond Atlantis reminds me of Big Sky Country -- everything in it is larger than life, more fully realized, vaster than in the usual graphic adventure. The game takes you on a spectacular quest through three historical worlds, each complete with a can-you-solve-this dramatic dilemma, plus unexpected links to alternate dimensions full of mystery, plot twists and surprises.

2. The game has the largeness of spirit and the generous gameplay of "Riven," but spices up the environments with fantastical monsters and heroes reminiscent of a mythological movie epic (a bit like "Dragonheart" meets "Jason and the Argonauts"). Although at heart a traditional adventure, in some places Beyond Atlantis almost feels like an action game. In fact there are some action sequences, though you usually don't have to click madly with the mouse to control the outcome -- you've already established the way the action will end with your wits (or, um, lack thereof).

3. Both the graphics and the music are unforgettable. Ancient Ireland is serenely beautiful, with haunting pipe melodies playing in the background. And the Shambhala sky islands are as strikingly surreal as the floating palace in "Obsidian". Sometimes in adventure games I am surprised by the solution of a certain puzzle, but here I was consistently surprised by the imaginative colors, shapes, sounds, and creatures in the alternate worlds. And did I mention that the cut-scenes are dazzling? This game really goes all out to get absolutely everything right.

CONS --- 1. I encountered an autoplay bug that caused the Installation program to load whenever I inserted Disk 1. To get out, you just hit cancel and exit setup, and then you can access the game (I hope this problem is fixed in the U.S. version).

2. The character movements during dialog sequences are rather odd-looking. Also, a warning: you can't always trust the dialog icons. Occasionally, when the icon is greyed-out, there is still dialog available. If you are stuck, try clicking again on all of the icons.

3. Beyond Atlantis has its fair share of puzzles than can be solved just by messing with stuff (easy puzzles -- my favorites!); however, there are a few puzzles in this game that require close observation and/or inspired, creative thought. Some of the puzzles are especially innovative (the rainbow bridge, for example), which makes it hard to find quick solutions for them (unless, of course, you don't mind consulting a walkthrough). Further, the game really could do a better job of letting you know whether you are progressing correctly, or if you are pursuing a dead end.

BOTTOM LINE --- This is a magnificent game with tremendous breadth of appeal -- an instant classic.

not too shabby

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: July 01, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I thought this game was OK. Being a big fan of Myst and Riven, I knew it probably wouldn't be as good. However, it was interesting and the puzzles were challenging. I wish it would of had better animation, the way it was presented was a bit cheesy.

Good work, Cryo

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: August 10, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I waited several months for this game to be published in US (it sells since November in Russia) and I am not disappointed. Puzzles are challenging, graphics is amazing, music is beautiful (especially in Ireland). Regarding drawbacks: manual is just tiny and changes in cursor's color are not described in it. Some dialogs are not repeatable.

Incredible games from Dreamcatcher!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 13 / 13
Date: August 20, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I've introduced my wife to computer gaming. She used to hate all the shoot and kill. I gave her a copy of Riven, and Myst, and her life changed forever. We had so much fun playing those. Now, we try a few games I thought we could like, and Beyond Atlantis is definitely one of those we loved. We've played Crystal Key and Lotus Spring, and Beyond Atlantis combines the best of both.

The graphics are stunning, Cryo's 3D engine (found in all the dreamcatcher games I've seen so far) is very good. One little regret: you can bypass the animation by clicking in the middle of it, but you cannot bypass the loading time with the cdrom. That prevents fast moving through sequences.

All the worlds in Atlantis are beautifully crafted, and the underlying story line (you have to perform good actions to tilt the balance between good and evil in the world) is very well rendered. You won't regret it, just for the story! And unlike Crystal Key which had such a disappointing ending (a screen of ``Congratulations''), the reward in Atlantis is high. Some ideas are so creative, you will be Alice in Wonderland. And the final sequence blew us away! Welcome to Paradise!

The puzzles are very challenging. Interestingly, we managed to pull through the Maya world without hints. But we did need a walkthrough in China, for the disc/bridge puzzle. Anybody who can explain the solution, please email! You should expect to be able to solve the whole game in a week or two. We got stuck on the rainbow bridge because we didn't know about rotating the tiles. It's not in the manual. So don't hesitate to try clicking everywhere. You will never die or be penalized. Everything can be reversed and replayed. All the sequences.

On the negative side, the manual is very skinny, and it's hard to know what we're doing wrong. The punchline in this kind of games is TALK TO EVERYONE ALWAYS. They sometimes find new things to talk about, after something happens (and you don't always notice, so you might assume you've already gotten all the juice out of them). Another subtle thing is that the game always tries to make some kind of connection so things don't turn random. But it's hard to notice, and sometimes the connections are very tenuous. When something goes wrong, you have to go back and try to make sense of everything. Little things like ``I could have helped you but..'' in a dialogue are supposed to let you know you did something not right a couple of steps before. Try and find out what! The game always allow for the brute-force solution (try all combinations) but it's always skilfully at the edge of impractical (granted, you could try 400 combinations, but it's faster to think!). Lastly, you can get some hints by the color of the cursor, but as another reviewer regrets, the manual doesn't tell you what the colors means. Simply be alerted by a change in the color of the cursor.

I am looking forward to probe into the Sacred Amulet, the latest Dreamcatcher. If you don't want to wait, Atlantis is yours! You must try it!

At least it looks good

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 5
Date: September 01, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I agree with the reviewer that said that. This game gives you very little to work with in way of clues. You wander randomly through locations and try to figure out what to do. I don't know, maybe I'm just not as smart as some people are, but the puzzles seem very hard to me. The concept is very intriguing though, and the graphics are beautiful. All together it is not a bad way to waste your time. I liked the mayan place, and how they incorporated in China and Tibet and Ireland. And I love games with good graphics, so this game is very nice to look at.

Help! I think someone gave me the wrong game!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 5
Date: September 04, 2000
Author: Amazon User

The game I loved from all the games I ever had, the first quest I ever played (I got my first PC two-three years ago) and not like all my other games, I didn't cheat. Not even one walky. And I finished it and watched one of the amazing and good ending movies. When I heard that there is going to be another game like Atlantis (not that stupid Pompeii games which is ugly and boring, or Odysee which is fine, but so buggy it almost messed up my PC), I went crazy

So as soon as I could I got something called "Atlantis2", which is excectly like this one, but has really bad graphics, and you can't get the piece of skull from the well. I spent 3 hours looking and looking for it... And don't think I looked how to get the pieces! When I was playing it on another PC I found the skull and turned into a head.

Did I get the wrong game?? Please someone reply me! just write a review and tell me what's wrong!! I love Atlantis!! I want it to work!! Please help me because I am about to cry, but I will not because I am a big boy :(

too few clues

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 13 / 13
Date: November 06, 2000
Author: Amazon User

It's too bad Dreamcatcher Games' games all have the exact same gameplay. I think they're trying to re-create the style of Myst, but they don't realize that there is a subtle art to making a game like this. The first rule they violate is to make the game possible to figure out on your own. They provide almost no clues for any of the puzzles (It's impossible to figure out where to use the crystal ball in each place unless you try every single screen). They make it so difficult you pretty much have to use a walkthrough. I was able to get through Myst without any help, but I didn't last five minutes in Beyond Atlantis.

The only good part about the game is the way it looks. All the worlds look amazing (which is good, because you'll be spending a lot of time in each one).

Unless you like to spend countless hours trying to figure out puzzles with absolutely no clues at your disposal, you should avoid this one.

Please

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 0 / 5
Date: November 13, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Were Can i find a walkthrough for this game? i mean yesh it gives you no type of background info that would lead you to find the answer, at one ppoint (xilgalga rainbow thing) i started looking at the sky for clues, and that lil bat is uglier then snot, but anyways back to the walkthrough, please if u know were to get one from email me at firebat02@hotmail.com or pschofreak@hotmail.com (pscho spelled as it is)

good stuff

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 3
Date: November 20, 2000
Author: Amazon User

the puzzle is excellent in graphics and easy to get around from place to place.if you get stuck in one area you just work on another country for a bit.puzzles are my favorite and this one sure is a favorite with me.

Is It Just Me?

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 10 / 11
Date: November 27, 2000
Author: Amazon User

First off, let me just say the graphics and music in this game were absolutely wonderful. Very relaxing and almost magical in a calming way. However, whatever calm relaxing feelings that our conjured up through graphics and music quickly fade away in frustration. Walk-through's are a must have for this game, not because the puzzles are that difficult, but because the game doesn't give you enough clues to figure out what, where or when you are supposed to do something. Simple instructions or hints from the many dialogue conversations would really help this game along. I was also a bit disturbed by the 'fish-bowl' look of some of the many character's faces. The Mayan & Celtic worlds were fascinating and a lot of fun, but frustrating in areas. I still haven't finished the game because I missed one of the "have to do" actions and I don't feel like redoing everything. Get this one on sale. It's worth the time to play, but don't expect to get through this one without some outside help.

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