The Watchmaker
Sold Out		(Win95/98/Me/2000/XP) (DVD Case) (WATCHMAKPR) This item also includes 2 complete additional games, The Black Mirror and Journey to the Centre of the Earth.

Publisher: Got Game Entertainment

Developer: Trecision

- Mild Language

Ratings:

from Four Fat Chicks

3:00 a.m. London

Lawyer Victoria Conroy and Darrel Boone, an expert in paranormal phenomena, meet for the first time at a London law office.

8:40 a.m. Austria

A taxi deposits Victoria and Darrel at the gates of a mysterious and imposing castle in present day Austria. Their assigned mission is to recover a device resembling a large pendulum. The device has been stolen by a fringe group of religious fanatics and is believed to be hidden in the castle. The pendulum's ability to maximize the earth’s energy, coupled with a rapidly approaching solar eclipse, now poses a serious threat to human survival. Victoria and Darrel must find the pendulum and stop it before midnight to avoid a catastrophe of potentially global consequences.

Why and where is the device being hidden? What is its true significance? Will Darrel and Victoria succeed in a mission that becomes more difficult and intriguing by the minute? As the two "detectives" meet the castle's inhabitants, they realize that an intricate web of deceit, magic, and danger is woven around the castle, a web that spans centuries and continents.

Game Description

The Watchmaker is a 3D real-time puzzle-based adventure game set in and around an ancient castle in present day Austria. Join London lawyer, Victoria Conroy, and paranormal expert, Darrel Boone, on their mission to foil the plans of a fringe group of religious fanatics. The goal is to recover a mysterious pendulum device that could be used to destroy the world.

Gameplay Features

Unlike many traditional adventure games, The Watchmaker frees you from the sensation of moving along a single given path, allowing the freedom to explore the world around you at your own pace.

"Gorgeous" 3D graphics bring the castle and characters to life, transporting you to a mystical world of intrigue and adventure.

Control the two main characters independently, with each character exhibiting different personalities, traits, and skills. You can choose between dynamically moving cameras in a third person point-of-view, or subjective first person to examine objects and environments in detail.

Characters

The Cook
He performs his duties as a cook admirably, but is he hiding secrets from the past?

The Caretaker
His years of experience could make him a good source of information about the castle.

The Supervisor
An untiring worker, but she is generally not well-liked by the staff.

The Wife
There are signs she may not be enjoying her lonely life as "princess" of the castle.

The Housekeeper
Shy and introverted, her age and attitude could cause problems with the supervisor.

The Administrator
What does he know about the castle's new owners?

Requirements:

Windows 95/98/Me/2000/XP: Pentium II 266 MHz or similar, 64 Mb RAM, 3D graphic Card with at least 8 Mb video memory, 150 Mb free hard disk space, 8x CD Rom, DirectX7.

Suggested: Pentium III or similar, 128 Mb RAM, 3D graphic card with 16 Mb video memory, 400 Mb free hard disk space, 24x CD Rom, sound card with full support for DirectX7.

Reviews:

Four Fat Chicks by Old Rooster

"Let me save some suspense, and the effort of scrolling to the last paragraph, by saying right up front that The Watchmaker is a very fine adventure game—one of the best I've played in the last couple of years..."

"Another of the fine characteristics of The Watchmaker is the free roaming of the castle that is allowed and even encouraged—except for initially locked areas. You're encouraged to explore. Monsters aren't jumping out of hallways (a la Alone in the Dark 4) and there is no rush, at least in terms of your gameplay. I found that visiting the various floors, exploring accessible rooms, having a few conversations, and letting Darrel or Victoria identify various locked doors saved time later when I remembered an area or object that might be needed. In other words, Darrel's a bit lazy; make your own map!"

"The Watchmaker is one of the best pure adventure titles released in the last two years, and it is my pick, at this point, for "Adventure Game of the Year" (given its 2002 North American release date). We adventure reviewers are sometimes accused of wearing rose-colored glasses. Well, there are thorns, and all is not perfect. Indeed, my scoring result is a thumb up rather than a gold star due to a couple of thorns. Voice acting is generally dreadful; pixel-finding is sometimes very picky; the game is hard. But if you wear your gardening gloves, the roses far outshine the thorns.

"The Watchmaker is a beautiful game to behold, with an excellent and efficient interface and control management scheme. The story is compelling, the puzzles are logical, and the characters are interesting. You'll have moments of frustration, puzzlement, even boredom, in your 40+ hours of mystery unraveling, but, at the end, I'm convinced that you, like me, will find the journey well worth the effort. We're grateful to Trecision for making the game and to Got Game Entertainment for releasing it here, and we truly hope this will be the first of other Darrel and Victoria adventures!"

Quandary Review by Gordon Alpin

"Given the recent spate of adventure games that ‘feature’ dreaded timed sequences it’s a delicious irony that a game called The Watchmaker, with time as a theme and more ticking clocks than you can swing a pendulum at, manages to avoid the overuse of this feature. ... Time in The Watchmaker moves on only when you have completed certain actions. It’s a handy way of keeping track of your progress similar to that used in games like the Gabriel Knight series and the much older Cruise for a Corpse. Indeed, The Watchmaker has a lot of the ‘feel’ of these games as for much of the time you can relax, explore your surroundings, talk to other characters and investigate the mystery."

"The Watchmaker really is a game for savouring. You can explore at leisure and think about what you have learned and what you might need to do to progress. The intricacies of the story unfold slowly as you investigate and the magnitude of the conspiracy sort of creeps up on you. A small conversational clue may lead to a startling revelation if you ask the right person about it. Items you find may seem insignificant at first but may be crucial later. Seemingly unrelated historical information could be just what you need to get your mind focused on the next piece of the puzzle. It’s up to you to make the connections."

"As well as impressive graphics there is also a good sound track that is at times haunting and dramatic. In certain scenes the music quite reminded me of the Gabriel Knight games. Unfortunately, the voice acting of several characters is below par for this type of production, though I thought Victoria was quite good and I tended to take her for most of my exploration. Speaking of voices, a few times during conversations the speech would suddenly fade out for no apparent reason. This was no big deal as I had enabled subtitles, and quitting and restoring always fixed the problem. Also, as both Darrel and Victoria can ask the same questions there was some conversational repetition that could have been remedied by ‘greying out’ redundant questions for both characters. You can click through repeats at any time so I took advantage of this. Interestingly, there was some strong language in the subtitles that was toned down in the spoken dialogue, and while I'm giving warnings, there are a couple of gruesome scenes towards the end that may upset some players."

"The Watchmaker shows clearly that traditional mouse controlled adventures can work in 3D without sacrificing the inherent gameplay qualities that many of us appreciate. Rosemary and I played this one together and we both thoroughly enjoyed it. And we hope that Trecision will be encouraged to make a sequel."

Mr. Bill's Adventureland Review

"...Because this was no ordinary Watchmaker ..... and so this is no ordinary game. It is a spellbinding paranormal mystery, created by the talented people at Trecision who gave us Nightlong, and it contains all of the elements that make for a totally engrossing game: a great story, a beautiful setting, challenging puzzles, and music worth listening to all by itself."

"The story is one that evolves slowly, only gradually building to a crescendo as you discover the truth, so you have a lot of time to look around this beautiful 3D world. And the castle and grounds are magnificent: lush and richly detailed, a joy to explore. We were particularly impressed with the close attention to accuracy in the period furnishings, and with such realistic special effects as the moving cloud formations and mirror reflections, and the ever changing play of light and shadow on the characters faces. And the music that accompanies you is wonderful: atmospheric and unobtrusive, yet good enough to make you pause occasionally just to enjoy it. We especially liked the selection chosen for the main menu screen.

"Time of day changes only when certain puzzles are solved, and so serves mainly as a measure of your progress in the game. And the puzzles are excellent. They are inventory based and yet story related, so their solutions can only be deduced as you unravel the mystery. There are a couple of timed puzzles, where you can die, but once you figure out what to do, you find that you have plenty of time to do it. And be forewarned that there are also a couple of gruesome scenes. But thankfully they are brief, and are presented with as little direct observation of the event as possible."

Copyright © 1993-2000 CDAccess.com, Inc.
Questions: info@cdaccess.com