Review scoopings 3/5 · Jul 31, 2024
Neat Little Puzzle Platformer That's More Of A Platformer Than An Edutainment Game
Preliminary: Hm I was gonna write this off at first, but gosh, 90s games really are taking a step up. The controls are very good for a DOS game, tho the gameplay feels a bit tedious so far. Plus, I have a lot of nostalgia for a later game in this series (Treasure Galaxy!).
OMG! THE MUSIC IN THE WORLD …
Preliminary: Hm I was gonna write this off at first, but gosh, 90s games really are taking a step up. The controls are very good for a DOS game, tho the gameplay feels a bit tedious so far. Plus, I have a lot of nostalgia for a later game in this series (Treasure Galaxy!).
OMG! THE MUSIC IN THE WORLD MAP SCREEN, IT'S SATIE'S GNOSSIENNE 1! OSDJFLAJSDIGASDLGKJ One of my all-time favorite compositions. I want to learn it on piano so badly. I love it so much that I once compiled clips from movies that use it :-p but it appears everywhere, like his Gymnopedies
As absolutely thrilled I was about the use of that song, and the start of a Learning Company series I love, the music of the actual Near East cave was a bit grating and repetitive. And the movement slow. The controls are tight, but I've grown to expect that for 1990 games. And I am never a big fan of puzzle platformers, but I made it through the whole first cave which says something, but it also says something that I was done after that ha. Hm not sure how to rate this one. I made it this far tho 
Look: 8/10 Very excited for this 90s Look and 90s DOS era looks ahhhh. Not perfect but an early example of a vibe I so love.
Sound: 8/10 A bit overrated thanks to the use of Gnossienne, cuz the rest of the Sound was not great ha. The jump sound was a very nostalgic sound effect tho.
Play: 7.5/10 Surprisingly smooth for a DOS platformer, but just not my thing in the end. Still, an early example of a genre I played a lot as a kid and felt I would be excited for (90s DOS platformers)
Feel: 7.5/10
Attachment: 7.5/10 Kinda like that James Bond Operation Sneak game, there is a chance I will return to this cuz these games feel like the start of an era I'm so excited for. Ah!
Overall: 7.7/10
Completion: First Cave/Ancient Artifact puzzle of the Near East area
Playtime: ~20 mins between the 2 sessions