80 Days

Foolish pride, it has a way to make men risk all to prove what need not be proved … well, most of the time. For Ethan Lavisheart, his pride made him bet that he could retrieve the documents as proof of his part in major inventions, and to do so within 80 days. The problem is two-fold. These documents are scattered throughout the world and should he fail to get said documents, his engineer title will be revoked (along with his land, pension and nest egg).

Enter Oliver Lavisheart, the nephew. Oliver is trying to avoid an arranged marriage, but his uncle has another idea. He has asked Oliver to journey around the world and to locate the documents in four major ports. This will require stops in Cairo, Bombay, Yokohama and San Francisco.

Now the title might make one think of the famous Jules Verne novel, Around the World in 80 Days. While there are references to the famous trip of Phineas Fogg, this is not that adventure. And do not expect this title to be long on action. It is very much a keyboard-oriented adventure title that will entreat players visually, and have them employ their brains to solve the puzzles that you will be presented with. The puzzles range from very simplistic to piecing together a string of events to move forward with the tale.

Early in the game, you may be tasked with sneaking from the docks past roving guards. Frogwares Game Development Studios and Tri Synergy have ensured that, even here, the challenge will not deter you from continuing by endless repeating this until you get it right. On the contrary, if you are caught, you can bribe the guard and keep moving. But then again, this occurs early on and you cannot expect to simply buy your way through the game. Funds are limited, and Oliver must conserve his stamina through eating and resting.

As the cities are rather large and you will be scouring almost every nook and cranny, you will need to make certain that you are well rested. However, you can take that with a grain of salt. There is a deadline here, and spending your days wandering aimlessly will eat away at it in quick order. You don’t simply pop from one city to the next, but you must navigate your way there using several different modes of transportation. Of course, no trip is smooth sailing and you will be confronted with a variety of problems aimed at slowing you down.

One of the major problems with this title is that you need to hit checkpoints in order to save your progress. Fail an objective and you will start at the last checkpoint, which can be a touch frustrating. There are mini games that are simple and even the in-game mini map helps make navigating the game somewhat easy. And as with many games in this genre, if you encounter stumbling blocks, you are treated to aural repetition in which Oliver will repeat phrases to tell you that he can’t do what you are asking him to do.

However, graphically this game is very well done and a real treat for the eyes. This is a well-realized three-dimensional world that is wonderfully textured, holds to the themes for the cities very well and will have you luxuriating in the lavish settings. However, it is best to play the game pushing the threshold of your graphics card as the lesser settings won’t render everything you need to be able to see. The musical score is also nicely done and keeps the mood of the game very upbeat. When it comes to the voice acting, it is – for the most part – solid.

There is a lot to like about this game but some failings pop up that prohibit it from being a truly amazing adventure. There are a few instances where the lighting effects falter ever so slightly to undercut the immersion and some of the audio can clip at inopportune times. The game is also mostly keyboard driven, which can add to some frustration as you are trying to solve puzzles.

All in all, though, 80 Days is a solid adventure game that tries to do a few things different and succeeds, for the most part. It would have been nice to have implemented the mouse a little more, or to make puzzles consistent with the difficulty level, rather than having them all over the map from easy to your-guess-is-as-good-as-mine/oops, I somehow figured it out.

Gameplay: 7.0
This game is mostly keyboard driven, and while it is a nice turn on the adventure genre, it can cause a few problems when you are trying to solve the puzzles that require you to piece together certain objects in the appropriate order.

Graphics: 8.3
Some minor problems with directional lighting and shadows, but the different settings are a real treat for the eyes.

Sound: 7.5
A clip now and again in the narrative, but the music is very nicely done.

Difficulty: Easy/Medium
There are three difficulty levels – tourist, globe-trotter and adventurer that should allow players to match their skill.

Concept: 7.5
A different take on the adventure game in that this title is mostly keyboard driven. However, auto-save checkpoints can be frustrating and there are some minor problems in both the graphics and sound departments.

Overall: 7.5
There is a patch for the game available at http://downloads.gamezone.com/demos/d14522.htm that helps with some of the problems encountered in the retail version and it is highly recommended that anyone picking up the game makes certain that this patch is implemented as – among other things – it helps with the game’s stability. Other than that, 80 Days is a very nice adventure that takes a few chances and succeeds on several levels. There are some frustrations with saves and puzzle implementation, but the game does have solid entertainment value.