Mystical adventure fun
Games such as Beyond Atlantis and its predecessor, Atlantis: The Lost Tales, are a bit of a tough one. There's obviously a fairly large fanbase for this kind of thing but you have to be in the right frame of mind to enjoy it and if you're looking for something a bit cerebral and unusual, this could be worth a look. It's one of those slightly odd interactive adventures, like Myst or Amerzone, which finds players embarking on a very strange quest. You're thrown into the shoes of Ten, the Bearer of Light, as he travels to Shambala in order to confront the Bearer of Dark so that balance can be returned to the universe. To get to Shambala, you have to venture through various time periods, such as China, Mexico and Ireland, looking for the pieces of the puzzle which together form the road to this mystical land. You start out in Tibet but venture forth and inhabit different characters in each of the different zones, which each feature plenty of unusual people to interact with and of course, puzzles to solve. The game is one of those point and click adventures, where you investigate the screen in order to chat with the locals and figure out the puzzles. As far as these things go, this is fairly compelling stuff. The story might be a bit New Agey for some but it proves to be quite interesting if you're into that sort of thing. The visuals aren't the strongest in the genre, but are reasonably well done, with some good detail, if a touch awkward looking. The puzzles are generally well implemented and are certainly enough to keep you playing, so if you fancy something to test the old grey cells, you might find this worth a look.
