Developer: Deck 13 Interactive
Publisher: Nordic games
Platform: PC, Steam
Jack Keane 2 – The Fire Whitin – Review
Again a point and click game you say? Yes sir! This time it’s Jack Keane 2: The Fire Within. The follow up game from Jack Keane, which was released in 2007. But Jack Keane isn’t your typical point and click game, it’s so much more. You have control over your characters to walk around while finding clues, fight opponents, instead of just static screens where you just have to click on the items. The game also contains a lot of humor which can really crack you up sometimes.
Story
The story takes place a few years after the original Jack Keane game. This time Jack broke into a prison to find out clues about a great hidden treasure from a locked up shaman. But breaking out of the prison seemed much harder as breaking in. This is when you enter the story, after the shaman imprinted his knowledge of the hidden treasure in your mind. But while imprinting it, the shaman dies of a heart attack. It’s now up to you to unlock the information in your mind and go on a great adventure to discover the treasure. But what would an adventure be without a bad guy, Prof. Umbati, who is also after the treasure. All this while two women are competing for your attention. Suspense and female attention, what more do you expect from a story?
Graphics
This game wasn’t created with high quality graphics in mind. But nonetheless the cartoonlike graphics, which are very colorful, help creating the humorous atmosphere of the game. Don’t think the graphics are terrible because of that, they still look perfect for this kind of game. For a €29.99 game it actually looks pretty good.
Sound
The intro song is very adventure like and it does make you remember the good old Indiana Jones days. In game there isn’t much music, mostly is just the background noises of the scenery which makes the setting very believable.
But the best part of the sound are the dialogs, they’re very well spoken, full of humor and don’t seem forced at all. The dialogs of this game are the one of the best I’ve encountered in a long time.
In most dialogs you can choose between options as what you want to say. Some of the options are as so hilarious that you are afraid to choose them if you want to get the other guy to cooperate.
Gameplay
As in many point and click games you’ll be looking around the screen for clues and items that you’ll need to solve puzzles or to help another guy out so that they help you.
But Jack Keane is a little bit different than other point and click games. In this game you can actually control your character and make him walk around on the screen in 3rd person view. This means you’ll be running around a lot to find your clues. You also sometimes have to combine items or take an item apart into a few items. If you forget the latter, sometimes a puzzle can seem impossible because you can’t seem to find the right items. So don’t forget the combining and taking apart of the items, they can spare you a lot of frustration.
You’ll be able to play as Jack, Amanda and Eve. But you can’t choose who you’ll play, so one scene you’ll be Jack and another scene you’ll be playing Amanda or Eve. Jack’s the adventurer, Amanda always has Jack’s back with her rifle and Eve’s a photographer.
The game takes places in two worlds, the real world and Jack’s mind. In Jack’s mind you’ll have to solves puzzles to get the next clue for the amulet and to escape back to the real world. In the real world you have to find clues and items and have to get people to cooperate to find the next part of the amulet. Every time you find another piece of the amulet Jack gets transferred back into his mind in order to get the next clue.
Sometimes you have to make a choice that either benefits Amanda or Eve. The importance of these choices affect your relationship with the ladies. And eventually have an impact on the ending of the game.
The one irritating part of the game is the controls with which you move your character. If you walk with the keyboard keys it goes fine at first, but if you turn around a corner the screen turns with you and while you were walking forward before you now are walking to the right. This can be really frustrating at times.
So the better option is to control your character with your mouse, you just click and your character runs towards where your mouse is pointed. Sadly enough this doesn’t always work perfectly either.
But honestly, I played the game with the mouse and after a while you’ll get used to it and it won’t bother you anymore.
Conclusion
This new formula of point and click, where you’re able to control your character, really works. Too bad about the little bit buggy controls, but don’t let that scare you. This game offers you a few hours of really fun gameplay, a lot of humor and a great story. It is more than just a point and click game, it’s the greatest adventure of your life.
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