Developer: Vertigo Games
Publisher: SOEDESCO Publishing
Platforms: PC
Tested on: PC
Adam’s Venture: Origins – Review
Exploring ruins and temples that have been abandoned for eons for treasure, a popular pastime for a number of characters such as Lara Croft and Indiana Jones, is again the subject of Vertigo Games’ new game Adam’s Venture: Origins. Step into the 1920s again for this remake of the Adam’s Venture series, and enjoy your stay- hopefully.
Story
Adam Venture is bored. It’s early in the morning, and his father just keeps staring at books and going on about his old, dull Genesis theory. Yaaaawn. A chance to get out of his father’s study arises, however, when he is asked to retrieve the new assistant and find a book in the library. Seems simple enough, right? With the help of said assistant Evelyn, they find the book- and it opens up a massive secret that finds you delving into the depths of centuries-old structures, looking for treasure- and trying to find a way out. But beware- the evil Clairvaux Company is lurking on the horizon…
Adam’s Venture: Origins offers an enjoyable storyline, although fairly standard for the genre: good guys look for treasure, bad guys try to get the upper hand, and it’s up to the good guys to stop the bad guys from carrying out their evil deeds. It plays its part well, however, and will keep you entertained as you travel to faraway places to retrieve all of the mysterious artefacts you can carry.
Graphics
Adam’s Venture: Origins does wonderfully with its graphics. Made in Unity 5, the environments especially look very pretty. Even if the game doesn’t necessarily allow you much option of free exploration, what you do encounter is all fairly well crafted. Perhaps some minor issues with reference to setting is the fact that even when the story calls for you to walk through water, there are no graphics that indicate you are running through it- no splashing, no movement, nothing. Considering the fact that it’s fair to say a bit of care went into the rest of the game, it seems a bit sad that it fails on water mechanics. Also, the wooden panels in Professor Venture’s home are so shiny. Is wood meant to be that shiny?
The characters themselves aren’t quite as refined as the environments. Whilst they look great from a distance, as the clothes are nicely styled, it’s clear that the facial movement isn’t quite up to scratch. Whilst you can tell they’re speaking, the voices are slightly at odds with the mouth- it’s almost as if they’re chewing some really tough meat. In the age of realistic 3D characters, it becomes really noticeable if things don’t work as smoothly as they can be. It’s a shame, since it lets down on some of the effort put into the other aspects of the game, but it’s not game breaking unless you are really specific about your graphics.
Sound
If there’s anything that Adam’s Venture: Origins falls down upon, it’s the voice acting. Whilst the main protagonist, Adam, has a voice actor who sounds like he has put his heart and soul into making the character into the whiny, cocky son of a professor who wants to explore instead of reading books- the same can’t be said for the rest of the cast. The voices are disjointed, and don’t necessarily fit emotionally with what has been written. Some characters, like Evelyn for example, speak so slowly and awkwardly that it doesn’t even sound like she knows how to speak like a normal human being. The language is also a bit too modern for the 1920’s, so if you like historical immersion, be prepared to be a tiny bit disappointed.
With that being said, the sound effects and music that underscore the story are great. The music, although not necessarily an overriding feature of the game, makes for a nice tone to the game. It would be better however if the melodies had been developed more to accompany the action, and to make it more memorable than it already is. The sound effects are mostly atmospheric, from realistic sounding footsteps to the sound of rain falling onto hard ground, but all add to the overall atmosphere of travelling across the world in this title.
Gameplay
Adam’s Venture: Origins is a third person puzzle adventure game where your primary goal is to gather mysterious artefacts whilst trying to stop the evil Clairvaux Company. The standard controls are as follows: WASD for movement; moving the mouse to look around; E to interact; and CTRL for crouch/uncrouch. This title also adds another level of controls with its grappling hook, with F to fling the hook when a flashing hoop appears; WASD to swing in the intended direction; and Spacebar to let go. Movement in this game tends to be a little clunky at times, especially with the grappling hook, if you’re playing with a mouse and keyboard- so our recommendation would be that you use a controller, as it seems to run more smoothly.
But of course, the title focuses a fair amount of attention on puzzles- fortunately just enough to keep you entertained, and not to annoy you with how many you have to do. The puzzles themselves are fairly easy to work out how to do them, but it certainly takes some time to complete them as you know the solution is just out of your reach. Considering the game is fairly short too, perhaps spending more time on puzzles might make you feel like you’ve got your money’s worth.
The adventure element of the game perhaps could also do with a little work. The story is very linear, so you will only be visiting the areas that the game wants you to- but it would have been great to have more open areas. This would offer so many more options for gameplay then, as you could have extra secrets and chances to even unlock special content. It would also improve the replayability factor for players who like to collect all the content they can.
Conclusion
Adam’s Venture: Origins has a fair bit to offer for what it is. Simple to work out but challenging to complete puzzles, fairly attractive environmental graphics, a decent story, and a real character of a protagonist- these elements all make the game rather fun. However, the forced linear nature of the story which cramps exploration time, the poor voice acting from other characters in the game, and some issues with face mechanics all slightly dampen what could have been a fantastic game. Nonetheless, as it stands, Adam’s Venture: Origins is definitely still a good game, and one for all adventure puzzle lovers to sink their teeth into.
Adam's Venture: Origins - Review,
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