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An unfortunate failure

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: July 27, 2006
Author: Amazon User

This is probably the only item I have reviewed here or elsewhere that has received such a dismal rating. It pains me, but I must agree with the other negative reviewers in calling this game quite dissapointing.

Pros:
1. The game starts off quite well and the graphics really are beautiful.
2. The alien language translation system developed in the game is extraordinary, nay unique and stands apart as arguably one of the best adventure game features developed.

Cons:
1. The slow animations (not performance-wise; simply stylized) get irritating after a while.
2. A lot of pixel hunting at times. The puzzle where you have to hunt for "pieces" is pure torture.
3. The translation system is not perfect and this actually affects gameplay quite a bit. The usual case of too many ways to interpret the problem and one "magic" answer.
4. The story is intriguing to begin with and slips into mundane "overlord" fantasies in the end. Gamemakers: GIVE UP ON MARS. It is just not mysterious anymore. Also, the talking alien head has HORRIBLE english, but perhaps that's just because it's an alien?
5. The combined irritations led me to actually give up on this game even though a part of me wanted to continue.

I would say, give it a try. Maybe it just wasn't for me :(

I should mention that I had no technical problems at least. This was a couple years ago on Win 98. Dunno how it works on XP.

neat

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 3
Date: December 17, 2001
Author: Amazon User

When I first saw this game I thought it was great, it was a little dissapointing. The moving was slow and the cd switching was a little anoying. It had great graphics and a great storyline. The puzzles are hard, I had to look at cheats. It is a neat game but it has it's drawbacks.

A refreshing change...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: May 17, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I have played several adventure/action games in my time, but Lightbringer is by far the most innovative and unique. I usually refrain from using superlatives to describe most of today's games, but I was extremely intrigued and impressed by this game. My wife and I spent several hours of fun playing this game and trying to figure out its puzzles. The fantastic story line is well supported by excellent graphics and integrated puzzles. I will recommend this game to all of my friends.

It was fun

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: March 14, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I'll get the bad overwith first. There were mainly three things that bugged me about this game:
1. The box boasts of 70 hours of game play. It took me about 10 to finish. (Ten hours of entertainment for [money] isn't bad, but I expected more.)
2. The game got VERY slow. Not the action, but the actual game itself. For some reason, it would freeze for a few seconds each time the inventory or menu was accessed. It was a minor inconvenience, but annoying with puzzles that used the inventory a good bit.
3. The graphics skipped, especially in cut scenes.
Now for the good. I enjoyed this game. I didn't have the problems that many people did. I didn't have to download a patch, and when I finished I did get a 'success' movie. (I'm assuming there were multiple endings depending on how well you played the game) The puzzles were usually fun, and not too hard. Something to keep in mind, though, is that this game is ALL puzzles. You very rarely talk to anyone else, and you don't solve many problems with inventory items. That's not a complaint, I'm just letting you know.
I don't feel like I wasted my money - it was entertaining and for the most part made sense. So, if you're looking for a decent game and don't feel like paying much, this will do just fine. Just don't expect greatness.

I liked this game!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: November 19, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I'm surprised to see some of the negative reviews, so I had to put in my two cents. This game was very challenging, and I play lots of adventure games. I especially liked the challenge of deciphering the martian language with a decoder and alphabet! While it became a little tedious to travel from one cite to another, as this involved graphic sequences and CD changes, the puzzles and the storyline were intriguing and complex enough to keep me engaged for hours at a time.

To Consider

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: May 24, 2000
Author: Amazon User

This is a beautiful game and well worth finishing. The graphics linking the three environments are repetitive, however. There is also a patch to download. I found two items to be significant problems. First, some of the puzzles are HARD as they seem arbitrary, and not based on what you learn as you go. I had to use a walkthrough. Second, the game features a language which was actually invented decades ago and plays no real role in completing the game, but seems to be important as you play it.

Pretty good for Dream Catcher

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: January 13, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I own several of the Dream Catcher games and this one is by far one of the best. The rating is more 31/2 than a four, however I enjoyed the graphics and the story line. The puzzles were challenging but not to hard. Further, the game wasn't hampered by continual technical problem like some of Dream Catcher's products. The game was boring in places, and the game could have used more dialogue. Over all, I thought it was worth the investment.

Very Average

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: July 16, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I ran into one glitch in the game--well into the game. After I finally located "dreamcatchergames.com" (not dreamcather.com) and sent two e-mails, I was informed by their tech support of a patch. Fortunately the patch did not erase the game as is often the case.

I found the storyline was interesting. The puzzles at the beginning were very logical and integrated well in the story. Once I left the ship and ventured onto the Martian landscape the puzzles were more obscure and movement could be done only in certain directions much of the time. I became VERY tired of having to switch disks to use the hovercraft. I also disliked walking around and around the temple because the movements were awkward.

I did have the game crash to desktop a couple of times--so I recommend saving prior to entering the hovercraft.

The Martian puzzles got progressively less logical and just became a guess--press a random button. I was disappointed with end--not even a "success movie".

All in all it was okay--if you need a game to play and don't expect too much out of it. It will not be on my "favorites" list,

Choppy and annoying game play, may not work with XP Home

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: July 04, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I purchased this product without having gone to the Dreamcatcher website first to check XP compatibility. Unfortunately they describe this software as being NOT compatible, and there is no form of patch available at the time of me writing this review.

Despite this, I installed the software, and began playing the game. Although swapping the 5 CDs becomes cumbersome very quickly (there needs to be an option to load more on the HDD to eliminate the swapping and choppiness caused by frequent cd access, but there is not), the colours and images seem crisp, though all pre-rendered. When characters talk, their mouths just do a random open close motion, but that really wasn't a big deal to me.

You can't interact with a lot of the environment, and wide open spaces that you'd think you can move towards aren't available. There are three major zones of interest for your character, and I had no issues with exploring two of them, with no game play issues. Every so often, the game will "zoom out" and show your actual character doing something, like getting in or out of the hovercraft, or running across the desert. I'm not sure what the purpose of that is, other than to add a little cut-scene to the game. You can't play the game in 3rd person like that.

The puzzles are mostly easy, and do not provide brain killing challenges like those in Schizm for example. Ringing gongs in a certain order based on translations of the martian text using your in-suit computer was interesting. I like the concept of the in-suit computer, it's got a dictionary, translator, mission logs and archives, as well as real data from the NASA programs.

The showstopper for me, which I've yet to find references to on their website (because XP isn't supported), was when i went to the third location and used the remote arm to remove the top of the capstone, allowing me down into a chamber to perform an incredibly tedious process to get a translation disc.

After performing the same process 9 times to get the pieces of the disc, i wanted to leave the building and move to the next phase of the game, unfortunately, my hovercraft, which had no problem climbing up the mountain to get to the capstone, is now stuck on top with no way of moving. Therefore, game over for me. My character can't walk down by himself, and since the hovercraft won't move, it's all over.

Another issue is that when you use the jumpers in your hovercraft, the craft spins to the right because the mouse is so close to the right of the screen, it thinks you want to move right.

If you want a Dreamcatcher game with better graphics, get schizm on DVD...the graphics are very crisp, but the gameplay is disappointing and the puzzles are too einstein-esque for me. Perhaps they will come out with a new game that blends good dvd imaging and gameplay with an actual lengthly storyline and indepth characters. Unfortunately, this one isn't it.

As an addendum, I tried the website recommendation to set win98 compatibility mode on the program. This did not change the gameplay, or allow my game to continue. Nor did installation of the patch (the patch actually caused my game to crash, as you apparently must start a brand new game to use it).

Gameplay is not open enough

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 8 / 9
Date: May 28, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I was first attracted to Lightbringer by the storyline, in which you explore the famous "artificial" structures located in the Cydonia region of Mars. However, after playing, I found that "explore" was a bit of a stretch. You have a very limited range of movement, travelling only in one or two directions that the game will allow. The graphics are nice, but they get repetitive, and are also a bit too dark to make out detail. This inability to see detail will lead to problems in some of the puzzles. I also had to use a walkthrough to play, as most puzzles have no real explanation of their prupose or the goal. Without a walkthrough, it seems the only way to get through most of the game's puzzles would be random clicking until the puzzle is solved.

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