by Adrian Miller

Created on: November 12, 2008   Last Updated: July 04, 2011

Lost Enthusiasm in Malathedra

It is unfair in this age of optional secondary realities to call those worlds supported by the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii systems video games. A more appropriate term might be "video adventures," or even "artificial existence." With pixelation and graphics so sharp that it can mimic even the texture of human flesh, it is surprising that elements of a game, i. e. points, lives, health etc., manage to survive. In "The Lost City of Malathedra," EID Games has produced a world that defies this innovation by introducing us to the world of historian Jonathan Wolfe and his daughter Rebecca.

From the outset, the graphics are cringe-worthy. The copy and paste background elements are reminiscent of old school Nintendo. In the few areas where the designers got creative, they cheated by using digital reproductions of cartoon drawings that did not come to life so much as sit as silent, indigent clip-art. A perfect example of this was the moment Jonathan pressed four metal columns to make the jagged stone hanging from a string fall and break the grate to the floor below. There was no movement in the rock, whatsoever. It was as though someone had captured it with their mouse and yanked it down. The explosion that followed was not even on par with the cartoon element, but felt more like a child's sponge painting.

The logo image for this game promises an exciting, dark, puzzle-filled adventure that the game itself never delivers. There is nothing inspired about moving a rock to a plate and adding a coconut to open a barred gate. That is requirement and fulfillment. The fact that brambles obscured both plates did nothing to spark the imagination. There was no brainpower involved. In PlayStation 1's hit game, "Silent Hill," the main character faced many challenges, but nothing so brilliant or original as the piano riddle in the schoolhouse, the one where a poem on the wall discussed birds that are commonly known to be white and black, all flying in different directions. These birds corresponded with keys on the piano, of course, but only the silent keys. In "Malathedra," gaining access to the next room merely involves blundering into the right fixtures.

If only the game had been as interesting as the music. An orchestra of dire sounds offers a glimmer of potential that never quite shines through. The unwieldy mechanics robs it of mystique, reminding the player with every fumbling mouse click that there are better conceived, far less restrictive worlds to explore. "The Lost City of Malathedra" is a disjointed collision of varying game-mythos ranging from the original "Diablo" to "Myst" with an even older point-and-click game engine. One might argue that this game has already been made under the title "Tomb Raider" by Eidos, except that, even for its age, that title remains far beyond this one in scope.

My rating 2/5 just for the music.

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