Aura: Fate of the Ages
by Dreamcatcher Interactive
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Our Price: $19.99 Availability: Usually ships in 2 to 4 weeks Buy Used: from $9.99 (click here) Category: Video Games See more product details |
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Video Game Reviews of Aura: Fate of the Ages
Customer Review: Fun puzzler for those who like Myst-like games
Summary: 4 Stars
In Aura, it's hard to avoid the comparisons with Myst. Parallel worlds for you to explore. Puzzles that range from imaginative to tedious. Clicking around, searching for clues.
If you love the Myst series, you'll feel right at home here. You're tossed into the world with pretty much no explanation, and really, you know that you need none. The plot is pretty silly. The graphics are gorgeous. All you are doing is wandering from room to room trying to solve the puzzles.
Some puzzles involve pulling levers to turn machinery on. Some involve spinning lights to turn machinery on. You get the general idea. Clues are strewn around to help you - it should never be a random clicking to get something to work. Of course if you *interpret* the clues properly, it works. If you are baffled by the clues, you can get quite stumped.
This is definitely a game that benefits from team play. The more brains you have looking at something, the more likely it is that ONE of you will spot what should happen. Sometimes it just involves looking more closely at the details of the screen.
Like all Myst-like games, there are some ANNOYING puzzles where you have to look down and sideways to see that lever hiding in the corner. If you don't spot it, you can waste days wandering from room to room, having no idea what you've missed.
Still, when you finally get the puzzle, it's a great sense of achievement. In general most of the puzzles make at least SOME sense, and the graphics are nice. I've found this in the bargain bin recently, so if you see this at a cheap price, pick it up. It could help exercise your little grey cells for a while!
Customer Review: A very good Myst 3 clone
Summary: 4 Stars
Have you played Myst 3 Exile? If so, you exactly know what to expect from Aura: the interface, the gameplay, the various contraptions, devices and machines, even the landscapes and architectures are strongly derivative. But I DON'T consider this as a criticism! On the contrary, Aura is a good, solid game, very welcome after the dismal disappoinment (IMO) of Uru. Not much of a story, and I have read many reviews stressing the fact that Aura is only a string of puzzles. That's basically true, but don't think to the nearly impossible mathematical puzzles of games like Schizm I & II (but the first Schizm was a great game); rather, almost all of Aura's puzzles (never terribly difficult) are visual, based on manipulations of symbols and patterns; they require attention, logic and observations, and solving them is very satisfying. All in all, I'd say Aura is one of the best among Myst and Myst-clone games as to the quality of the puzzles. Add an intriguing atmosphere, very nice visuals and an excellent price: what you get is, maybe, not a groundbreaking masterpiece but certainly a solid, entertaining (may I say intelligent?) game, deserving success. My only complaint is the comparative brevity of the game; but even that is O.K for me if prelude to a (welcome) sequel. Customer Review: Puzzle Fanatics-This game is for you
Summary: 3 Stars
This was an ok game. For people who love puzzles this is a must have..Has puzzles galore. The graphics are ok, if not fullscreen. Basically you wander around solving the puzzles to get to the finale. I wasn't really impressed, liked both Syberia games much better.