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A Good Puzzle Game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: January 26, 2007
Author: Amazon User

There will always be games with gameplays similar to Myst's.Some of these "Myst Clones" are terrible, but The Crystal Key is one of the better ones.
In the Game, Earth has intercepted a message from an alien race (the Arkonians) that an evil being called Ozgar has been defeated(but not destroyed). This being appears in Earth's skies several days later, and wreacks havoc with sattelites that disturb Earth's infrastructure. You are sent in a ship to the place where the message came from.
The story is not the best, but pretty good, although its a bit hard to trace in some places. Most of the puzzles are well done and possible to solve but some can be so difficult that it may take a long time to solve them. Many are inventory based, and these are handled well.
The worlds featured in the game are beutiful and fun to explore. The graphics are good (but a little fuzzy in some places). The backround music and sound effects fit with the mood well, the music is lonely sounding, beutiful and mournful, although in a few places there is none at all. The navigation is done by point-and-clicking to puzzles and hotspots. There is almost no character interaction aside from holograms, attacks by Ozgar's guards and shots of Ozgar. However, the diologue in the holograms helps you understand the story and makes you feel for the people. All of the worlds have an abandoned feel to them.
There are a few cons, the ending is a little abrubt and doesnt answer any unanswered questions, the disc switching is annoying and there are some annoying dead ends you can come to. But on the whole it is a well done game.
Graphics:4/5 Interface:3/5 Gameplay:4/5 Intelligence:4/5 Sound effects:3/5 Music:4/5 Characters and Voice Acting:3/5 Overall:4/5

Not Good at All

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: July 14, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Confusing and impassable. Think I'm talking about NYC traffic? No, this was the Crystal Key. In my opinion, this was the worst game I have ever played! I couldn't even get past the first "land", even after following two walkthroughs! The plot didn't make sense, and wasn't exactly great. I would advise to play the real Myst instead, instead of some spinoff trying to live up to Myst.

The second-worst Myst ripoff ever!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: December 15, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Okay, maybe not. But it's the second-worst I've ever played, Entombed (a $3 game so awful that Amazon doesn't even have it) having worse graphics and even more nonsensical puzzles.

STORY: WEAK
Who is Ozgar? Who are the Arkonians? Why do they hate each other? Why does Ozgar hate you? Is Ozgar really Darth Vader or does he just act like it?
These questions, alas, shall go unanswered. I don't think I'm willing to buy the second game to see if there're any new revelations.

Graphics: Mediocre
Am I unique in not liking when when the resolution is better during movement cutscenes than when you're standing still? I don't think so. "Wave that picture around, I need to get a good look at it."

PUZZLES: What?
Much too simple and uninventive. What is all this stuff and what's it for? If I can figure out a code simply by trying random combinations, it's too simple.

ENDING:
You get one screenshot. It doesn't even move. That's your reward for slogging through this awful game.

REPLAY VALUE: Why?
If you're really bored- and I mean REALLY bored - maybe you might see how fast you can run through it or something. But only if your friends are all sick, your internet connection is down and you've played all the Minesweeper you can stand.

VERDICT: STAY AWAY. STAY FAR AWAY. Play Myst. It's better.

Beautiful, but lacking a story and a good payoff

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: September 14, 2003
Author: Amazon User

The Crystal Key has environments just as breathtaking as the ones shown on the box. Exploring them is a joy. However, there is practically no story. You crash land on a planet and basically puzzle your way "out", which involves transporting to other worlds, etc.

The puzzles are interesting, but often too easy and too linear. This is the type of game where finding a screwdriver on the ground means you'll be needing it for a puzzle around the corner.

Some environments, like the subway and the corporate skyscraper in the lake, are so well designed you want to see them populated with people. At the very least, you want some sort of character interaction. But there is none whatsoever.

Don't expect a good payoff ending. An anticlimactic ending is a pretty common complaint with most adventure games, but this one is pretty bad. It just suddenly ends. The only adventure game with a more abrupt ending is "Lighthouse", but at least that one had a few mythical characters living in its rich environments.

Still, if you love exploring awesome settings, this is the title for you. It's definitely worth the low Amazonian price. Just don't attempt to compare it to the great adventure games, like Riven, Morpheus, and Obsidian.

A Game?

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: July 26, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I have to agree with my fellow reviewers this game was highly disapointing. The graphics aren't that impressive, the easily motion sick people I suggest that you stay away from this game for when you move the graphics get quite blurry and the movement is quite wreckless.
I got extremly board with the game and have yet to finish it (which I don't think I ever will.)
This game (if you could call it that) is a waste of money and time. As many others have mentioned this game has little point and no clues as to where to head next.

You have got to be kidding me

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: July 01, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I am an adventure gamer. I love this style of game and I have quite a collection. This game is near the BOTTOM of the list.

The "puzzles" are way too simple, the "plot" simply stupid and the ending anticlimactic. I am used to dreamcatcher games being very hit-or-miss, but I never expected this bad. I blew through most of this in half a day. The only reason it took as long as it did is that I had to download a few patches to even run the thing, ...

HUH?

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: December 05, 2002
Author: Amazon User

this is probably the worst role playing game ever made. while the graphics are somewhat, i stress somewhat, satisfying, the game play is awful. the "puzzles" are so simple that my ferret solved most of them for me while i was off doing some thing a bit more entertainig, like stabbing my self in the eye with a sharp object. aside from the "puzzles" there were no hints what so ever on what to do next. you wander around aimlessly untill you finally stumble across the smallest little thing. at least in other role playing games, even the bad ones, there is some sort of central thought pattern and things to find that lead you along your way, this is just a lot of aggravating wandering. then when you finally figure out that you should've ducked in the alcove to the left and gone back to the place you were befor that you did every thing at and so on and so forth, the ending is far less then satifying... no battle no thought behind it, no follow up on how you saved your race of cowering humanoids...NOTHING, just a cheap lil 3 line text something to the effect of " you won." with the credits rolling over it. and it has no replay value what so ever. i would not buy or play this game for free at that, while dream catcher does have other good games, this is definately not one of them..

ugh

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: October 08, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This definitely was not one of your better role playing puzzle games. There was no real goal for the game. You just sort of wandered around trying to find your way out. Many good graphics, although many of the scenes were way too dark. There was no incentive to go on except that you were hoping something interesting would happen. In games like myst and safecracker, you have indirect interaction, people leave you messages so you know there is life out there. Here, you're on your own. And the end was disappointing, there was no cute little mini-movie making sense of it all. The only reason I gave it two stars instead of one is because there were a few interesting surprises like an alien guy who walks passed you (the only time you can possibly die in this game). Also, there were too many nice graphics that couldn't be grabbed or touched. I thought that was disappointing. No easter eggs in this one. I recommend the Myst series (Exile is a little rough on your computer), safe cracker, riddle of the Sphinx (excellent!). Time machine and Harry Potter are very good too but they are third person and you can get zapped in both.

An Absorbing, Cohesive Experience

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 6
Date: September 26, 2002
Author: Amazon User

A colony has suddenly evacuated its cities in order to avoid the wrath of an angry Ozgar. The player's object is to locate Ozgar and stop him before he destroys this planet. The colonists have developed a remarkable technology for hypertravel from one world to another. Through the course of the game, the player gains control of this technology in order to find and defeat Ozgar.

By virtue of this narrative, the player is afforded the opportunity to jump freely (after gaining the technology) from any of four worlds. The worlds are quite disparate and very beautifully rendered. It does take some time and effort to obtain the technology, but the process of doing so is engaging, interesting, logical, and rewarding.

There are very few non-player character interactions. In fact, in most cases an encounter with another character usually means trouble--some encounters result in a sudden "game over". This game, consequently, is a very solitary experience, with very little dialogue and with most clues being found intuitively and through exploration. I enjoyed this aspect of the game very much. Some reviewers have felt that the sudden "game over" encounters were unnecessary and distracting. Perhaps, but if you save often (as you should anyway), you can easily return to the gameplay, and the game makes it fairly clear fairly quickly that you should avoid ALL beings. Once the first serious encounter is made, the player is fairly well clued in that nothing about these worlds is particularly friendly.

The scenery is just splendid. The worlds are very different--one lush and green, one arid and dry, one partially submerged underwater (and in which the player enters one building and goes several floors down beneath the surface of the water outside). The player's progress is extremely linear--most things must be done in a particular order, and in some cases the player may be significantly hindered if she has missed some element. However, the ease with which the player may jump from world to world more than makes up for the linearity. Exploration is multidimensional in this regard.

Toward the end, I did find it necessary to go to a walkthrough online. The puzzles became to some degree inhibitive rather than contributing to the game experience. Once solved (by cheating a little), the storyline and graphics were rewarding enough for me to forgive myself my indiscretion. The final puzzle, I must agree with other reviewers, is unnecessarily convoluted and the end is rather seriously truncated. In this way, I was a little disappointed.

I give this game four stars for its creative way of mitigating the problem of linearity by giving the player free rein (after gaining the technology) to explore several beautiful worlds; for its inventive artwork in rendering the worlds; for its pensive, solitary feel; and for its science fictional (as opposed to fantasy) concept. I give this game no more than four stars because I sense that it was cut short, because the linearity sometimes interferes with how much exploration the player may engage in each world, and because I felt it necessary to turn to walkthroughs in order to complete the game. All in all, I come away from The Crystal Key feeling mainly that I spent my time well in these worlds.

The Crystal Key

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 1 / 3
Date: September 15, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I found this game to be just so so. With computer graphics you'd think that they'd be able to make the aliens more alien. They remind me of stormtroopers in black armour. I feel this game was limited to 1930's stile imagination.

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