Azada Ancient Magic is the follow up to the hugely successful Azada to be released on hard disc from Focus multimedia. While Azada Ancient Magic is officially categorised as a hidden object game it is more akin to an inventory based puzzle adventure. By that I mean that any objects you do acquire have a purpose and you’re not searching individual screens for dozens of objects.
Storyline
In the first Azada Titus the magician was held captive by a mysterious spell in a story that unfolded one magical page at a time and, once again Titus calls upon your puzzle-solving skills as you explore classic tales in search of hidden clues in his great-uncle Argus’s library and it’s up to you to defeat the evil that’s invaded it !
Sifting through Argus’s library you get to meet many legendary characters from classical literature. From Robinson Crusoe, Rapunzel, Captain Nemo etc., Azada Ancient Magic brings together a wealth of diversity and for a brief moment you get to enter their worlds to assist them in whatever hardship they’ve encountered.
The mission then is to banish whatever evil resides in Argus’ library this is the basis of the ‘main’ story but there are over 20 mini stories to complete before you can accomplish this
Gameplay.
Each segment or chapter is divided into the completion of an individual puzzle in three or four books. Within each of the books you have access to several pages. You will meet the character on the first page who will tell you what needs to be done to complete that stage of the game. You then have access to more pages by using the arrows at the bottom of the screen or by moving the cursor to the extreme edges of the pages, and really you will only be picking up a handful of objects each with a purpose that may need to be carried to other pages to function. Once each book is completed a character card will release the book’s character and a machine on the upper level of the library will identify a suspect from each group. Then it’s back down to the bookshelves to solve more puzzles
The inventory is straightforward and all objects will default in when collected. There is also a menu button, a back button, a timer and orbs (can be used to skip puzzles) and Titus will let you know once a page is complete.
Time limits are set and be careful not to be wasteful or try not to ask Titus for help as this can shave precious seconds and even minutes off. However you will just be transported back to the beginning of that book to try again should you run out of time.
Visuals and audio are of a suitably high standard and I didn’t have any difficulties trying to locate objects etc. The environments were well crafted as were the character models.
Summary.
Azada Ancient Magic ties the adventure and puzzle solving aspects together beautifully and for this reason think it will appeal to a wide audience crossing the genres. The variety and uniqueness of the puzzles is outstanding and better than some of the full price titles I’ve played recently !
Marks out of 10
Sound:9 – well produced considering the diversity contained within each book
Graphics:9 – Individual styling for each environment and objects were not difficult to locate
Gameplay: 9 – Lovely flow to the whole game and couldn’t wait to see what the next book contained
Lifespan: 8 – A bit short but nevertheless good replay value
Top Star goes to the unique puzzles. Brilliant
