Road to India: Between Hell and Nirvana

can walk there, or a modified hand if the object can be affected but not in the present state. The gamer can also use gathered objects to affect other objects as well. At times collected items must be combined to be useful.

Gamers can also speak to certain other characters in the game and select from a group of dialogue options. There is no real choice or variation however, as gamers must exhaust all the dialogue options before they are able to stop talking to someone. The order in which in the dialogue is conducted also has no real bearing on the outcome either.

This simple level of gameplay really presents no challenge to the gamer as the game quickly becomes about just entering a screen and moving the pointer over everything to see what can be gathered, and in what direction to travel next. The linearity of the story and the gameplay, although extremely simplistic can be frustrating at times if you are missing an item and can’t find it anywhere. This can occur especially in low-lit areas where items have been strategically placed to blend in to the background. This type of a ‘challenge’ isn’t really what gamers will be thankful for. For the most part though, if you haven’t missed an item, the game is fairly straightforward and you shouldn’t be stuck at any point for long.

The story is quite vague and is not what gamers would call a solid one. The setting changes between Fred’s dreams and when Fred is awake, yet the gamer is never really told what the significance of the events in Fred’s dreams are. Also, without any background to the characters, gamers are forced to fill in the blanks themselves. The opening sequence introduces an explosion from a briefcase bomb and the disappearance of an actress and these are not referred to until the end of the game where they are revealed to be a large part of the story. Now this may be a plot decision by the designers but it just proves to be confusing. There is a continuing reference to the ‘Thugs,’ which are supposed to be an ancient Arabian gang, which is given no background in the game. I have one word for the ending without spoiling it for you: LAME!

The game is not without it’s merits though. It is despite all it’s flaws, strangely involving and not a chore to play. The length leaves something to be desired, but given the level of play it may be just right. I was able to finish the game in about three hours, so be sure to pay a price that reflects the value you will be getting.

I suspect that this is a title which Microids is using as a fiscal buffer so that it can produce other more meaningful titles. The game lends itself easily to translation into other languages, and the gameplay is no doubt, purposely simplistic to appeal to a wider audience. That being said, I saw this game released much earlier in the year when I was in France, and a friend of mine there bought it. I told her to be a wary as she was mostly a strategy gaming fan at that point, and I suspected this game of being a point and click adventure. When she did install it my fears were confirmed as it was a click and point adventure. However, she did enjoy the title and I, now that I have completed it, still don’t like click and point games. So if you know you won’t like this game, playing it won’t change your mind.

- Mark Leung