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The Odyssey: Winds of Athena |
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Developer: Liquid Dragon Studios Publisher: Liquid Dragon Studios Genre: Strategy > General Released: Mar 28, 2006 Players: 1 |
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I don't plan on wasting anyone's time on pleasantries here. Right now, as you read this text, you are wasting valuable time that could be spent playing or purchasing The Odyssey: Winds of Athena. Seriously. Don't bother reading to the end. Go get it.
Okay, okay. So you've decided to stick around. Well, that can only be because you love two things. Gametunnel and my writing. And gaming. Three things. You love three things. Long walks on the beach, too? Okay. Fine. You love four things. Point being: you're still reading this review, which means I should explain to you why I've instructed you so early on to make your purchase.
Winds of Athena is based, as one would expect, on Homer's classic Greek epic (The Odyssey) detailing the journey of Odysseus who, conveniently named, is attempting to return home after the legendary Trojan War (which his crafty mind brought an end to). Gone at war for a decade, Odysseus' only wish is to return home to his wife Penelope and his son Telemachus. Poseidon, however, is less than pleased with Odysseus and engineers one hell of a road-trip for our beleaguered hero. If you're going to borrow a story, there is possibly no richer tale in history to take from than the Odyssey. The tale is filled with nearly endless adventure and imagination.
But what kind of a game is Winds of Athena? It's an arcade-puzzler, essentially. Each level consists of attempting to get a requisite number of Odysseus' ships and men from Point A to Point B. Along the way are many obstacles and enemies that attempt to stop the men from returning home. Sounds pretty normal, right? Well, so far, it is. The real magic of Winds of Athena comes in the way the game is controlled.
You, the gamer, are a God with a top-down omniscient view of the seas that the men sail upon. You also have the power of a God to influence the world below... but you can only influence. By clicking and dragging through the water you can create swirling ocean currents that force the ship in particular directions. By clicking the mouse inside your wind circle on the screen and rotating in a clockwise motion you can call forth great wind that pushes boats directly towards their goal. Each of these central movement mechanics have their dangers, though. Currents react in a surprisingly realistic and capricious manner. They don't merely form a straight line as the gamer draws it. They begin straight, but begin to fade out in swirling vortexes that might send your ships whipping back in the complete opposite direction. Much care must be taken with forming currents. Winds, too, fade over time and must be maintained to be of any use at all.
Enemies in the game are revealed in stages, each pertaining to chapters from the Odyssey. At first the gamer must defend against
Cyclops, who hurl huge boulders at the ships and can sink many at a time if the vessels are bunched up. As a God, the gamer can pluck these boulders from the sky and toss them where they please. Later obstacles include errant whirlwinds (to be wrangled and tossed away), malicious harpies that attempt to steal ships and must be clicked on to be scared away, the Lotus blossom which attempts to lure sailors astray, the witch Circe who turns ships to fish who must be clicked upon and returned to their normal state before they vanish forever... the list goes on and on.
Never before have I played a game that blends so seamlessly its themes and content and its control scheme. The mesh of game and game world in Winds of Athena is nearly flawless. There's no clunky clicking of arrows or WASD to move ships around and control the action. There's no drop-down magic menu to select. There's the winds, the sea and the hands of the Gods. It's simple and wickedly challenging at the same time. Gamers frequently take movement for granted. Press left, move left. Press jump, then jump. Winds of Athena forces the gamer to take care and plan not just their movements, but the way in which they make those movements. Too much wind and you might beach your boats on a shoreline. Carelessness with currents could swirl your ships directly into a deadly reef. And this is to say nothing of the enemies. The need to continually abandon navigation efforts to do battle with the forces that face the ships leads to some truly manic and awesome gameplay. A level highlight for me was a straight shot canal where my ships had nothing but a straight line to traverse. I whipped up my wind to 100% percent and let those boys roll along€”and then the harpies came. Hundreds. The struggle to continually click the deadly harpies away, moving my mouse like mad until I could find a free second to try and keep my winds up to get my sailors to freedom was a colossally challenging good time.
If there's a downfall to the game it's that it can at times be frustrating because at heart it is a puzzler, which can have some real stumpers in it, but it's also an arcade game, which means frantic action. Combine solid level puzzles with action madness and you can be in for some real struggles to advance.
In short, so I can stop keeping you from making your purchase, The Odyssey: Winds of Athena is a well-crafted, beautifully executed and inventive title. With a fresh control scheme that blends seamlessly with the game world and a great level of variety that makes use of one of history's greatest stories, I can't say enough good things about this game.
Graphics:
The graphics are solid throughout in Winds of Athena. The inter-level drawings depicting the next challenge to overcome were the highlight for me, with a very historic Greek portrait look to them. The rest of the game is, if not inspired, well done. The environments are clear and I didn't have a hard time differentiating my units and enemies from the backgrounds.
Sound:
The music in Winds of Athena takes a distinct backseat to the game itself. I found myself ignoring it completely in my concentration on the challenges at hand, but it is a nice lilting Greek-ish tune. The sound effects themselves in the game are fun; from the cheers of liberated boats to the scream of a smacked siren, the sound has a lot character.
Gameplay:
The gameplay is top-notch in Winds of Athena. Things can get more than a little frantic, but with the mouse controlling all of the action it's fairly difficult to get things confused at all. At times, the control can be frustrating, but that's mostly because it asks for a delicate touch in some very stressful scenarios.
Concept:
The story concept for the game is a classic, but like all classic, means that it's just a retelling. However, the way that the environment and story is weaved in with the gameplay of Winds of Athena gives the game a very fresh feel. This is a method of control that I've never seen in a commercial title and its originality should be applauded.
Value:
Value is always the trickiest category to calculate. I'm of the mind that at $20, Winds of Athena is a steal. However, the game isn't priced cheap (it isn't priced expensively, either) and after 50 levels of play the only real replay is the chance to better one's score. I think the game's worth every penny, but I wasn't knocked on my ass by the price and number of levels.
Fun:
Winds of Athena is hard. At times, it can be maddeningly hard. However, anytime a gamer has had to restart a level too many times, the game will give them the option to skip along to the next level. This takes what could become an exercise in abject frustration and makes it something palatable for the average gamer and not just the hardcore.
Overall:
Read the first paragraph people. If you read all the way to here, you're wasting your time.
Okay, okay. So you've decided to stick around. Well, that can only be because you love two things. Gametunnel and my writing. And gaming. Three things. You love three things. Long walks on the beach, too? Okay. Fine. You love four things. Point being: you're still reading this review, which means I should explain to you why I've instructed you so early on to make your purchase.
Winds of Athena is based, as one would expect, on Homer's classic Greek epic (The Odyssey) detailing the journey of Odysseus who, conveniently named, is attempting to return home after the legendary Trojan War (which his crafty mind brought an end to). Gone at war for a decade, Odysseus' only wish is to return home to his wife Penelope and his son Telemachus. Poseidon, however, is less than pleased with Odysseus and engineers one hell of a road-trip for our beleaguered hero. If you're going to borrow a story, there is possibly no richer tale in history to take from than the Odyssey. The tale is filled with nearly endless adventure and imagination.
But what kind of a game is Winds of Athena? It's an arcade-puzzler, essentially. Each level consists of attempting to get a requisite number of Odysseus' ships and men from Point A to Point B. Along the way are many obstacles and enemies that attempt to stop the men from returning home. Sounds pretty normal, right? Well, so far, it is. The real magic of Winds of Athena comes in the way the game is controlled.
You, the gamer, are a God with a top-down omniscient view of the seas that the men sail upon. You also have the power of a God to influence the world below... but you can only influence. By clicking and dragging through the water you can create swirling ocean currents that force the ship in particular directions. By clicking the mouse inside your wind circle on the screen and rotating in a clockwise motion you can call forth great wind that pushes boats directly towards their goal. Each of these central movement mechanics have their dangers, though. Currents react in a surprisingly realistic and capricious manner. They don't merely form a straight line as the gamer draws it. They begin straight, but begin to fade out in swirling vortexes that might send your ships whipping back in the complete opposite direction. Much care must be taken with forming currents. Winds, too, fade over time and must be maintained to be of any use at all.
Enemies in the game are revealed in stages, each pertaining to chapters from the Odyssey. At first the gamer must defend against
Cyclops, who hurl huge boulders at the ships and can sink many at a time if the vessels are bunched up. As a God, the gamer can pluck these boulders from the sky and toss them where they please. Later obstacles include errant whirlwinds (to be wrangled and tossed away), malicious harpies that attempt to steal ships and must be clicked on to be scared away, the Lotus blossom which attempts to lure sailors astray, the witch Circe who turns ships to fish who must be clicked upon and returned to their normal state before they vanish forever... the list goes on and on.
Never before have I played a game that blends so seamlessly its themes and content and its control scheme. The mesh of game and game world in Winds of Athena is nearly flawless. There's no clunky clicking of arrows or WASD to move ships around and control the action. There's no drop-down magic menu to select. There's the winds, the sea and the hands of the Gods. It's simple and wickedly challenging at the same time. Gamers frequently take movement for granted. Press left, move left. Press jump, then jump. Winds of Athena forces the gamer to take care and plan not just their movements, but the way in which they make those movements. Too much wind and you might beach your boats on a shoreline. Carelessness with currents could swirl your ships directly into a deadly reef. And this is to say nothing of the enemies. The need to continually abandon navigation efforts to do battle with the forces that face the ships leads to some truly manic and awesome gameplay. A level highlight for me was a straight shot canal where my ships had nothing but a straight line to traverse. I whipped up my wind to 100% percent and let those boys roll along€”and then the harpies came. Hundreds. The struggle to continually click the deadly harpies away, moving my mouse like mad until I could find a free second to try and keep my winds up to get my sailors to freedom was a colossally challenging good time.
If there's a downfall to the game it's that it can at times be frustrating because at heart it is a puzzler, which can have some real stumpers in it, but it's also an arcade game, which means frantic action. Combine solid level puzzles with action madness and you can be in for some real struggles to advance.
In short, so I can stop keeping you from making your purchase, The Odyssey: Winds of Athena is a well-crafted, beautifully executed and inventive title. With a fresh control scheme that blends seamlessly with the game world and a great level of variety that makes use of one of history's greatest stories, I can't say enough good things about this game.
Graphics:
The graphics are solid throughout in Winds of Athena. The inter-level drawings depicting the next challenge to overcome were the highlight for me, with a very historic Greek portrait look to them. The rest of the game is, if not inspired, well done. The environments are clear and I didn't have a hard time differentiating my units and enemies from the backgrounds.
Sound:
The music in Winds of Athena takes a distinct backseat to the game itself. I found myself ignoring it completely in my concentration on the challenges at hand, but it is a nice lilting Greek-ish tune. The sound effects themselves in the game are fun; from the cheers of liberated boats to the scream of a smacked siren, the sound has a lot character.
Gameplay:
The gameplay is top-notch in Winds of Athena. Things can get more than a little frantic, but with the mouse controlling all of the action it's fairly difficult to get things confused at all. At times, the control can be frustrating, but that's mostly because it asks for a delicate touch in some very stressful scenarios.
Concept:
The story concept for the game is a classic, but like all classic, means that it's just a retelling. However, the way that the environment and story is weaved in with the gameplay of Winds of Athena gives the game a very fresh feel. This is a method of control that I've never seen in a commercial title and its originality should be applauded.
Value:
Value is always the trickiest category to calculate. I'm of the mind that at $20, Winds of Athena is a steal. However, the game isn't priced cheap (it isn't priced expensively, either) and after 50 levels of play the only real replay is the chance to better one's score. I think the game's worth every penny, but I wasn't knocked on my ass by the price and number of levels.
Fun:
Winds of Athena is hard. At times, it can be maddeningly hard. However, anytime a gamer has had to restart a level too many times, the game will give them the option to skip along to the next level. This takes what could become an exercise in abject frustration and makes it something palatable for the average gamer and not just the hardcore.
Overall:
Read the first paragraph people. If you read all the way to here, you're wasting your time.
By: Michael Scarpelli
Posted: Saturday July 29, 2006
Posted: Saturday July 29, 2006
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