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Important new game for girls--finally!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 40 / 44
Date: April 27, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I thought about whether this game should really get 5 stars, and I decided that it should, because it's about time someone created a game for women: i.e., a game that takes some intelligence to "win," and that doesn't necessitate killing everything in sight. My eleven-year-old daughter and I have both been playing this game, and I think we both have a feeling that it has its flaws, the main one of which is that the main character barely exists; but it is TRULY a work of art, exquisitely beautiful, and the music is poignant, as is the entire mood of the game. It is an important contribution to this genre, which almost invariably insults women in its attitudes toward them, their roles, their images and their intelligence.

Star-Crossed Lovers in a Paradise Lost

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 70 / 72
Date: May 01, 2000
Author: Amazon User

PROS: ---- 1. The Legend of Lotus Spring takes place in the 19th Century Garden of Perfect Brightness, where the Chinese emperors housed the women they were forbidden to take as official concubines. This is a Myst-style game, with interiors reminiscent of a string of piercingly-lit, palpably inviting, 3-dimension-like shadow boxes. It feels as though you are making yourself at home in a historical summer palace, where for once it's okay to clamber about on the furniture. Here you find fascinating objects to examine and (sometimes) use -- a dragon's head seismograph, a dim sum picnic lunch, bonsai, jade figurines, ancient musical instruments -- every item in itself a work of art. Each room also has a key animation showing the Emperor Xian Feng and Lotus Spring when they were together; and occasionally there are hints that point to the tragedy that will soon separate them.

2. The Garden of Perfect Brightness, which was destroyed during the Opium Wars, was reputed to be one of the most beautiful places ever created. The attempt to recreate it here is intricate and splendid -- paths that wind lazily through delicately structured, astonishing, color-drenched scenes.

3. The Legend of Lotus Spring is contemplative, absorbing, and mysterious; it is set in a world so detailed that you see new things every time you visit.

CONS: ---- 1. The opening is a bit too sentimental, the music is repetitive, and the cursor can be annoyingly cute. Also, the Emperor looks pretty young to be acquiring (and losing) concubines. It took me awhile to realize that this game is not so much an actual reenactment of a historical incident as it is a myth-like drama, with the Garden as a stage and history as a backdrop.

2. Even though there aren't any difficult puzzles, it is possible to become "stuck" if you happen to miss an important directional arrow, inventory item, or hot spot.

BOTTOM LINE: ---- If you enjoy historical romance, or if you have any interest in art, gardening, or interior design, you will love this game.

Beautiful graphics

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 13 / 16
Date: September 13, 2000
Author: Amazon User

The graphics are pretty, but the animations are boring and cheesy. The cursor looks like a fisher price person to me. I was totally lost in the garden of perfect brightness, the place was like a maze and I found myself constantly coming back to the same places over and over again. I like the way the scenery begins to darken with approaching night as you get further in the game, but all together while I was playing this, I found myself thinking, what exactly am I supposed to be doing in this game? Like I said before, the scenery is great, and I don't know much about China, but I would say they did a good job reproducing it. It was also a nice history lesson. Maybe more of a plot and less aimless wandering and I would have liked it more.

Lotus Spring is Lame!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 21 / 24
Date: November 27, 2000
Author: Amazon User

If you like playing games like Myst or Riven, you'll be bored to tears by Lotus Spring. It only gets one star because the buildings are pretty, and I laud the attempt to make a computer game appealing especially to women. But women who like to play computer games deserve much more than Lotus Spring. The story could have been acceptable -- except we're told in the beginning it ends tragically. So what's the point of solving the truly mindless puzzles and reading bad copy (and worse poetry) in Lotus Spring's Diary that must have been written by a non-native English speaker? There are women gamers out here who enjoy playing intelligent, challenging games that aren't fueled exclusively by testosterone-induced blood lust. If you're one of us, don't buy Lotus Spring--instead go to an online aution site and look for a (now out of print) copy of Obsidian.

save your money

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 10 / 13
Date: December 30, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Lotus Spring has beautiful graphics. The End. The story is vague. Moving through the game is frustrating. The icon selector is "just tooooo cute for words" as well as annoying. If you have played even one other computer game, Lotus Spring will wean you from ever playing another.

Not tough, but pretty

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 7 / 9
Date: April 09, 2001
Author: Amazon User

While fans of action games may be bored by Lotus Spring, I found it to be beautiful and engaging. The puzzles were fairly easy, but the maze-like layout of the garden added some interest, and it was full of beautiful images and sounds. The in-depth stories behind many of the objects in the garden offered a fascinating glimpse into Chinese legends and customs. If you like a lot of explosions, this isn't for you, but I found it to be quite enjoyable.

Pretty, but patronising.

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 10 / 11
Date: July 12, 2001
Author: Amazon User

If what you like about adventure games is pretty scenery, then by all means buy this game. If you actually like using your brain, look elsewhere.

I was totally offended that Lotus Spring was advertised as "geared towards women," and contained no real puzzles. Like, women don't like to do puzzles? Or is it just that we aren't smart enough to solve real puzzles? I also found it odd that you were playing a male character. What kind of message is that?

This game might be amusing to girls under the age of nine, and it might be a good parent-child activity, but it has nothing to recommend it to an adult on her own.

Plodding and static!

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 5 / 7
Date: July 14, 2001
Author: Amazon User

One of the single most boring games I have ever run across -- couldn't hold my attention for half an hour. Gameplay consists of moving around an almost silent, unoccupied, uninteresting Celestial Palace, making tea pour and flowers bloom. Characters are static, story is dull, puzzles are monotonous. For the faint of heart and the extremely patient only.

Good for girls, falls short for the women

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: August 15, 2001
Author: Amazon User

The Legend of Lotus Spring is almost like an interactive, historical museum rather than an adventure game. Designed as a CD-ROM for women, this game will appeal to girls turned off to games focused on running and shooting, and art historians who favor Chinese history. As an adventure game, it has almost no adventure, relying instead on heavy "emotional" story content, much like a romance novel. The settings and animated movies are wonders of historical reproduction and lovers of Chinese antiquity will enjoy opening cabinets to examine robes, playing traditional instruments, or doing sumi painting, but action fans will most likely abandon this before finishing. I would've loved this as a junior high girl, but as an adult techno-goddess, it's back to the boys' games for now.

sorely disapointed

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: September 09, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I am like most of the women here. I was excited that they were making a game for us.I get the game and you play as a man?! What's up with that. If you can call it play. Mostly the only value is learning about another culture. I was happy I found it on sale for only ... dollars. I was only cheated out of ... bucks, a pregame excitement and some time.

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