By Dale Farris, Reviews Coordinator
Golden Triangle PC Club
September 2006

Game Overview

Viva-Media, the supreme children's software distributor, announces their newest, super game for those interested in computer adventure games. ANKH continues the new lineup from Viva-Media, more known in the past for their wonderful children's edutainment titles. Now, with this exciting new game, Viva-Media strengthens their commitment to the larger market of older children, teens, and adults who want to experience the excitement of adventure games.

ANKH provides classic adventure game features and combines clever, witty dialogue with numerous interesting, as well as hilarious non-playable characters (NPCs). Players point and click their way through an unusually designed Cairo and the desert in search of an answer to an age-old curse that has been placed on the main character.

Sneak into the pharaoh's pyramid and meet up with Assil and his crew of crazy friends. Just as the party starts to get hot, a silly accident turns life upside down! Unleashing a deadly curse and discovering a precious amulet, as Assil you will be immersed in Ankh's amazing ancient world. From the narrow streets of Cairo's bazaar to the banks of the Nile, this comic adventure will have you running from the mad Osiris on your mission to meet the Pharaoh.

Features

Over 45 comic characters

More than 80 awesome puzzles

State-of-the art 3D graphics

Breathtaking in-game cinematics

Dazzling Egyptian landscapes

With this latest new venture, Viva-Media moves even more into the rapidly emerging software market that is demanding higher end hardware. Be sure you are aware of the system requirements of this super game, and remember that due to its detailed display, you will need to run this game on a machine that meets at least the game's minimum system requirements. In the many other marvelous Viva-Media edutainment, learning games for children, parents could for the most part trust that these games would run on relatively older machines. With this game, Viva-Media is ratcheting up the hardware requirements. However, if you do have the hardware that supports this game, you will not be disappointed in the awesome gameplay.

Minimum Specifications

1.5GHz processor
Windows 2000, XP
256MB RAM
Graphics Card GeForce 3 with 64MB VRAM
DirectX 9.0c
Mouse
Speakers

Recommended System Specifications

2GHz processor
Windows 2000, XP
512MB RAM
Graphics Card Radeon 9800 Pro or GeForce FX 5900 XT with 128 MB VRAM
DirectX 9.0C
Mouse
Speakers

Note:

I managed to get this game to run on my now legacy machine, even though it is now a woefully designed system. The game includes a feature that will let you run the game on minimal settings, meaning that the resolution is very low and the details are turned off. However, I suggest that you run this game on at least the minimum recommendations in order to experience more of the colorful aspects of the design and to speed up the reading of the files. This feature allowing the game to at least run on minimally configured systems, although not at its most brilliant settings, indicates how this company strives to make sure their software will work with most of today's machines, even those like mine that are way overdue for a massive makeover.

Age Group

ANKH is an adventure game that has been designed to appeal to all ages, including very young children. However, some of the game's more cumbersome puzzle solving and item fetching quests may be more relevant to older children and of course teens, along with many adults who enjoy playing adventure games. I suspect that teens will be the most relevant minimum age group in order to grasp the game's many times very witty dialogue and NPC interactions, as ANKH tries to include many current era hip notions and phrasing that may pass over the heads of the very young.

Game Play

ANKH is a classic point-and-click adventure game that is controlled by the mouse using both left and right buttons. This game has all the usual adventure game features, including moving through pre-rendered backgrounds and the need to move the mouse all over the screen to find the hot spots that require you to either look at, pick up, or otherwise perform some sort of action on the items. In addition, ANKH sometimes has items that you have to find that are very difficult to locate, which could frustrate some players who would otherwise not have the patience to carefully and slowly pan their mouse over the screen.

The game also presents many interactive dialogue options with the NPCs, but thankfully you cannot click on the wrong dialogue option, which means in many of these situations you will have to open these dialogue options more than once in order to be sure you have exhausted all the possible options.

In ANKH, you will find yourself moving back and forth from setting to setting looking for and finding the right object that will need to be brought back to a NPC you met earlier in the game, in order for that NPC to hand over another object you will need later in the game, or to place in a screen. The game has no timed puzzle solving and you cannot run into a dead end in the game, a sign that the developer was carefully aiming this game at younger audiences who would otherwise be frustrated by these elements found in so many other adventure games.

The game is not designed for gamers more interested in first-person shooter action, role play scenarios, or strategy games, but instead is directed at the computer adventure game fan who loves solving puzzles and moving their character back and forth from one screen to another finding and returning with key objects that open up the rest of the game. The background designs are very colorful and although not that detailed, are vibrant and help set the mood for the game.

You eventually open up another playable character and this second character will need to be controlled in conjunction with the other character in order to solve some of the game's puzzles and to complete the game. This partnering of these 2 characters may especially challenge very young players, so parents are advised to plan accordingly and to set aside time they may need to help their younger children work through these more challenging parts.

The game has its own adventure game logic involving the use of certain objects on certain other characters or items, as well as its own style of combining objects in order to create still other objects that have to be used at later points in the game. Experienced adventure gamers will of course already have come across this aspect of the game in many other adventure games, but these sometimes illogical steps may not be that obvious to very young gamers.

The voice acting for the most part is clever and appropriate to the many characters and it seems that the developer at least went to the trouble of finding enough people who could create enough different voices that help add to the mood and style of the game. However, some of the voices sound amateurish, but younger players may not notice.

The dialogue is frequently very clever and witty, and reflects a lot of modern era slang and colloquialisms that will help the game relate to today's modern era players. There are many in-game references to various of today's well known celebrities and personalities, as well as popular culture, which older players and adults will probably find very humorous. The main plot line is unique and will keep players interested enough to keep playing until the end.

Walkthrough

The company makes available at a minimal additional price an official walkthrough strategy guide. However, I found a very good online guide at www.gameboomers.com that should help you get through the game's more challenging parts.

Price

$29.99

About Viva Media, LLC

Viva Media, LLC is a privately owned New York company dedicated to publishing a wide array of interactive content of the highest standards. The company's collection of more than 40 multimedia titles tout more than 30 awards for excellence in publishing. Viva Media features the award winning line of Tivola Publishing CD-ROM games and the Viva range of titles including:

Viva Chess
Viva Astronomy
Viva Kids
Viva Adventure
Viva Music

Contact Information

John W. De Feo, Media Coordinator
Viva-Media
580 Broadway, Suite 604
New York, NY 10012
212-431-4420
FAX 212-431-4537
john@viva-media.com
www.viva-media.com

You can also order from other retailers or online vendors.