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Review

Anachronox

8.0

Format PC

Developer Ion Storm

Publisher Eidos Interactive

Genre Role Playing

15-Aug-2001 If looks could kill, Anachronox would be a fluffy bunny. Hiding a rocket-launcher

You've waited three years to do this. You select new game. It loads. Your excited grin fades. The graphics look pants, like something from the mists of gaming history. That's because they are - they're using the Quake 2 engine. But don't reach for the receipt just yet. There's goodness beneath this mouldering eye-candy.Anachronox isn't your usual PC game. It's an epic role-player with its roots in quality console titles like the Final Fantasy and Chrono Trigger series, has the kind of puzzles you'd expect to see in a point-and-click adventure and plays like a sci-fi comedy.You start off with Sly Boots, a private detective in the city of Anachronox who is up to his neck in debts and spends more time drinking than solving cases. In your quest to get some cash you end up travelling to other planets, fighting all sorts of creatures and, of course, saving the universe.
The city of Anachronox is a hive of activity and, despite some awful textures and the really dated graphics, feels like a living, breathing environment. You're free to wander and talk to anyone you want, discovering in the process loads of hidden jokes and side quests. Combat belongs to the Final Fantasy school of turn-based action, complete with special moves and colourful effects. But it's the witty dialogue and original puzzles that make this one a winner.

Stephen Fulljames

Overview

Verdict

The combination of console-style role-playing, quirky humour, clever puzzles and a believable and incredibly interactive environment manage to overshadow the ropey graphics and old technology. Nowhere near the stature of Ion Storm's Deus Ex, but still a great game.

Screenshots

This poor gal sends you off to find old man Grumpos	Grumpos sends you off to find a size 5 security guard	And then down some caves to release some aggression
Each character has a special skill. Sly can pick locks via this windowed mini-game	Paco the superhero packs a mighty punch. Shame he can't fly	Film influences include Bladerunner and Total Recall
Like in Final Fantasy, there are loads of subgames. In this one you have to escape though a 2D scrolling screen	When you stop moving, a cursor comes on screen allowing you to click people and objects	Combat becomes very tactical later on in the game