Packed full of genre threads: adventure, strategy action
Can one build a strategy game on the core narrative of Jules Verne's Journey to The Center of The Earth novel? Well, it seems so, though not without a hefty base chockfull of additional action, and adventure portions. It's, in a way combination that works as it did in Joan of Arc, a much later release of the same building blocks. Basically, what you get is portions where you only control one character and then, with a perspective shift, you get to experience the game from a more high up perspective, taking control of a larger number of characters. I'd say that it did a moderately good job at combining the elements of all these genres. But, certainly, it's a nice thing to discover these blends of ideas, even if ultimately they leave you wanting for more, in one or more departments. Graphically, also, the game is a bit underwhelming, again, I think, because it wanted to be so many things. Because, as an action game it is a bit underpowered graphically, while the strategy portion is also lacking in all the detail one would expect from a single minded strategy romp. So, with all these flaws to account for it's quite nice that it is playable, in the end, which is the best I can say about it. Download the much nicer Journey to The Center of The Earth adventure, released in 2004.
