The AGON (Ancient Games of Nations) series of adventure games has gained something of a cult following over the last year or so
26 February 2008 | By Andi Hamilton
The AGON (Ancient Games of Nations) series of adventure games has gained something of a cult following over the last year or so. It’s an episodic adventure about an inquisitive British professor, Samuel Hunt, seeking a series of long lost board game. As part four of the to-be fourteen part series is set to arrive, we take a sneak peek at what developer Private Moon studios is calling their “biggest and best adventure yet”.
Parts one to three of the AGON saga were originally available through download only, but have since been distilled into a standalone game, available at general retail. This, however, is one long adventure, at least the size of the first three instalments put together.
Toledo is a wonderful backdrop for this adventure. Set at the turn of the century, Toledo is an unassuming Spanish town, full of sun bleached buildings and the occasional guitar playing local on a street corner. Much like the semi-legendary Myst series, you jump from one pre-rendered area to another, clicking to interact with the various items and people that are found scattered throughout the town.
These areas, although pre-rendered, look lovely and the characters you meet on your way are well realized and excellently voice acted. Unfortunately, the 3D models that make up the characters are far from cutting edge, but the dialogue is clearly quite a much bigger deal here, given the planned fourteen parts, so delivering the story to the player in an interesting and compelling way is far more important than stunning visuals, and so far, successful.
The demo we played is taken right from the start of the game, explaining why the professor has come to Toledo and sets you about meeting the inhabitants and solving a few puzzles. The story revolves around "a young man formerly known for his honesty has recently been caught stealing treasures, and now some families have renewed wounds of past grievances”, the website proudly boasts, but what this means to us gamers is that the professor is going to need to solve a lot of puzzles to get to the bottom of this mystery. These make up the main crux of the game, and thankfully don’t involve any ludicrous leaps of logic to solve them, which has been the downfall of many an adventure over the years.
The preview disc also featured a digest version of the previous games’ events, which is helpful in getting new players and ignorant journalists alike up to speed with the story before tackling this latest quest. It’s a great idea, and a feature that will hopefully make it into the full release.
So, with this being the self proclaimed “biggest and best” AGON yet, it could be a grand jumping on point for gamers looking for a little bit of adventure in their lives, whilst longterm fans of the genre appear to be in for a treat. It’s hardly likely to convert the hardcore Gears of War junkie, but for the adventure game fan there may be something here to fill the gap between Sam and Max episodes perfectly.
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Parts one to three of the AGON saga were originally available through download only, but have since been distilled into a standalone game, available at general retail. This, however, is one long adventure, at least the size of the first three instalments put together.
Toledo is a wonderful backdrop for this adventure. Set at the turn of the century, Toledo is an unassuming Spanish town, full of sun bleached buildings and the occasional guitar playing local on a street corner. Much like the semi-legendary Myst series, you jump from one pre-rendered area to another, clicking to interact with the various items and people that are found scattered throughout the town.
These areas, although pre-rendered, look lovely and the characters you meet on your way are well realized and excellently voice acted. Unfortunately, the 3D models that make up the characters are far from cutting edge, but the dialogue is clearly quite a much bigger deal here, given the planned fourteen parts, so delivering the story to the player in an interesting and compelling way is far more important than stunning visuals, and so far, successful.
The demo we played is taken right from the start of the game, explaining why the professor has come to Toledo and sets you about meeting the inhabitants and solving a few puzzles. The story revolves around "a young man formerly known for his honesty has recently been caught stealing treasures, and now some families have renewed wounds of past grievances”, the website proudly boasts, but what this means to us gamers is that the professor is going to need to solve a lot of puzzles to get to the bottom of this mystery. These make up the main crux of the game, and thankfully don’t involve any ludicrous leaps of logic to solve them, which has been the downfall of many an adventure over the years.
 |
 |
|
The preview disc also featured a digest version of the previous games’ events, which is helpful in getting new players and ignorant journalists alike up to speed with the story before tackling this latest quest. It’s a great idea, and a feature that will hopefully make it into the full release.
So, with this being the self proclaimed “biggest and best” AGON yet, it could be a grand jumping on point for gamers looking for a little bit of adventure in their lives, whilst longterm fans of the genre appear to be in for a treat. It’s hardly likely to convert the hardcore Gears of War junkie, but for the adventure game fan there may be something here to fill the gap between Sam and Max episodes perfectly.
